Lewis County, Tennessee

Lewis County, Tennessee
Lewis County Courthouse, April 2014
Location in the U.S. state of Tennessee
Tennessee's location in the U.S.
Founded	December 23, 1843
Named for	Meriwether Lewis
Seat	Hohenwald
Largest city	Hohenwald
Area
• Total	282 sq mi (730 km2)
• Land	282 sq mi (730 km2)
• Water	0.4 sq mi (1 km2), 0.1%
Population
• (2010)	12,161
• Density	43/sq mi (17/km²)
Congressional district	7th
Time zone	Central: UTC-6/-5
Website	www.lewiscountytn.com

Lewis County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2010 census, the population was 12,161. Its county seat is Hohenwald. The county is named for explorer Meriwether Lewis, who died and was buried at Grinder's Stand near Hohenwald in 1809.

Lewis County was formed in 1843 from parts of Perry, Hickman, Lawrence, Maury and Wayne counties. It was named for explorer Meriwether Lewis of the Lewis and Clark expedition. Lewis's grave is located at the geographic center of the county. The bill for its creation was proposed by Powhatan Gordon in the Tennessee State Senate.

On October 7, 2009, a ceremony was held at the cemetery to commemorate the bicentennial of Lewis's death. A bust of Lewis was presented to the National Park Service, which manages the site.

Lewis County was the site of the Cane Creek Massacre.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 282 square miles (730 km²), of which 282 square miles (730 km²) is land and 0.4 square miles (1.0 km²) (0.1%) is water.

As of the census of 2000, there were 11,367 people, 4,381 households, and 3,215 families residing in the county. The population density was 40 people per square mile (16/km²). There were 4,821 housing units at an average density of 17 per square mile (7/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 97.07% White, 1.45% Black or African American, 0.20% Native American, 0.18% Asian, 0.29% from other races, and 0.80% from two or more races. 1.20% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.