Kyles Ford, Tennessee
| Kyles Ford, Tennessee | |
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| Unincorporated community | |
Edward R. Talley bridge over Kyles Ford
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 Kyles Ford, Tennessee
Kyles Ford, Tennessee
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| Coordinates: 36°34′15″N 83°02′36″W / 36.57083°N 83.04333°WCoordinates: 36°34′15″N 83°02′36″W / 36.57083°N 83.04333°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Tennessee |
| County | Hancock |
| Settled | 1790's |
| Named for | Robert Kyle Sr. |
| Elevation | 1,175 ft (358 m) |
| Time zone | Eastern (EST) (UTC-5) |
| • Summer (DST) | EDT (UTC-4) |
| Zip Code | 37765 |
| Area code(s) | 423 |
| GNIS feature ID | 1290427 |
Kyles Ford is an unincorporated community in Hancock County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is located along the Upper Clinch River and houses the TWRA's Kyles Ford Wildlife Management Area. A portion of Kyles Ford is included an 850-acre (3.4 km2) parcel of land referred to as the Kyles Ford Preserve. The parcel was acquired by TWRA in partnership with The Nature Conservancy and other conservation groups in a combined effort to preserve the area's rare, threatened, and endangered species of freshwater mussels. The concerned area of the Upper Tennessee River watershed that includes the Powell River Tributary, contains the most biologically diverse concentration of freshwater mussels in the Continental United States. It is also among the most degraded and threatened concentrations of mussels, containing some species that are globally unique.
Clinch-Powell Resource Conservation and Development has been instrumental in working with the Kyles Ford Community in developing portions of the preserve with educational and low-impact ecotourism facilities such as The Clinch River Conservation Retreat and River Place on the Clinch as a means of raising awareness and supplementing the funding of ongoing Appalachian cultural and biodiversity research and preservation efforts related to the area.
Prior to any European settlement, a few Cherokee hunted along the Clinch River. Longhunter Elisha Wallen (born 1732) and his brother Joseph Wallen (born 1734) explored the area in 1762. Later in 1787, Joseph obtained a 640-acre land grant from the state of North Carolina (#401) for his service in the Revolutionary War. This land was located on the north side of the Clinch River of what was then Hawkins County, North Carolina (now Hancock County, Tennessee). The Trail of the Lonesome Pine runs through Highway 70 just a few miles from the Wilderness Road in Virginia. Early settlers from Virginia took this trail during the 1790s. Others from the Carter Valley settlement traveled north and crossed Clinch Mountain. Robert Kyle Sr. (born 1751) and his family moved to the area in 1801. A ford on the Clinch River was named after him. The community of Kyles Ford was part of the Wallen District of Hancock County in 1860 (which today is the 4th district).
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