Why Maynardville? Because a bright young lawyer named Horace Maynard, who had come to teach at East Tennessee College that later became The University of Tennessee, was sympathetic to the cause of the establishment of Union County, Tennessee. After the Act creating Union County, Tennessee, was passed on January 13, 1850, Knox County filed a lawsuit because Knox County did not want to lose a significant valuable land base. Horace Maynard agreed to defend Union County without charge and walked from Knoxville to Liberty to do so. He usually spent the night at the home of Mr. And Mrs. John Buckner in Ailor Gap and walked on to Liberty the next day. The meetings were held at the Liberty Meeting House, now First Baptist Church of Maynardville. After the lawsuit was settled in 1856, the name of the town of Liberty was changed to Maynardville in honor of Horace Maynard and in recognition of his valuable work to form the county. Maynardville, Tennessee, is the only town named Maynardville in the United States.

Bonnie Heiskell Peters
Union County, Tennessee, Historian