Acts of 1779 Chapter 29

COMPILER'S NOTE: Sullivan County was created by the legislature of North Carolina while what was later to be Tennessee, was a part of North Carolina. The statute set out here is from the acts of North Carolina. The reader should note that there were other acts altering the boundaries of Sullivan County while Tennessee was part of North Carolina but which are not included in this compilation.

SECTION 1. That whereas by the great extent of the said county of Washington, and the great number of inhabitants therein, it becomes highly necessary that the said county should be divided into two distinct and separate counties, by a line beginning at the Steep Rock; thence running along the dividing ridge that divides the waters of the great Canawee and Tennessee, to the head of Indian Creek; thence along the ridge that divides the waters of Holston and Wataga,to the mouth of Wataga, thence a direct line to the highest part of the Chimney Top Mountain, at the Indian boundary; and that all that part of said county of Washington, which lies northwardly of said dividing line, shall be erected into a new and distinct county by the name of Sullivan County, and that all that other part of said county which lies southwardly of said dividing line, shall continue and remain a distict [sic] county by the name of Washington.