Historic Bristol

Bristol County · dedicated 2023 · Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, just north of intersection with State Street

Evan Shelby settled here about 1770 on a tract called Sapling Grove and established a fort and trading post. By early in the 19th century, James King and Samuel E. Goodson owned hundreds of acres of farmland in this area. Anticipating the arrival of the railroad, King’s son-in-law Joseph R. Anderson bought 100 acres from King in 1852 and laid out the town of Bristol, spanning the state line. Goodson founded an adjacent town named for himself on the Virginia side. Bristol, TN, and Goodson, VA, were each incorporated in 1856, the year the first passenger train arrived. Goodson became the City of Bristol, VA, in 1890. The community prospered as a regional center of commerce and industry.

David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

Example

under a mile from where William Gabby lived in the 1760s

what this marker records spans 1777 to 1789, overlapping William Gabby's years here

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More markers nearby

Bristol Union Railway Stationunder 1 mi
Lee Street Baptist Churchunder 1 mi
Dr. Charles Spurgeon Johnson (1893-1956)under 1 mi
Walnut Grove Plantation4 mi

On the National Register nearby

Bristol Railroad Station330 ft

Places within about 300 feet of this marker that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. A nearby listing is not always the marker's own subject.