Butler

History

The town was originally located on Roan Creek at its confluence with the Watauga River. After the Civil War, it was renamed in honor of Colonel Roderick R. Butler of Johnson County, who then represented the area in the state legislature and had been a commander in the 13th Tennessee Cavalry in the Union Army. Aenon Seminary, a secondary school, was established in Butler in 1871. In 1906 it was purchased by the Watauga Baptist Association, which renamed it Watauga Academy. It operated under that name until 1948, when the town was inundated by the formation of Watauga Lake. Butler was the birthplace of U.S. Representatives B. Carroll Reece of Tennessee and Robert R. Butler of Oregon (grandson of the town's namesake). The original town of Butler was subject to frequent flooding, experiencing major floods in 1867, 1886, 1901, 1902, 1916, 1924, and 1940. The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) began the construction of the Watauga Dam in 1942 which created the Watauga Lake. The construction was delayed because of the ongoing World War II, but was finished in 1948 when the water steadily began rising and the town slowly became submerged under the lake. Butler was the only incorporated town inundated by a TVA reservoir. In 1948, before the reservoir was filled, the town, which at the time had a population of about 600 and included more than 125 homes and 50 businesses, was relocated to higher ground. The town's new site is located on Tennessee State Route 67 at . The original town is now known as "Old Butler." Old Butler, called “the town that wouldn’t drown,” is commemorated in a museum in Butler and by "Old Butler Days" which is an annual festival held each year in August right in the heart of the town. In 1983, a drawdown of the lake exposed the remains of Old Butler for…

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  2,520
• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  2,213
• Carolina Wren

  Thryothorus ludovicianus (Latham, 1790) · Aves
  2,087
• Carolina Chickadee

  Poecile carolinensis (Audubon, 1834) · Aves
  1,974
• Tufted Titmouse

  Baeolophus bicolor (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  1,936
• Song Sparrow

  Melospiza melodia (A.Wilson, 1810) · Aves
  1,901
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  1,803
• American Goldfinch

  Spinus tristis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  1,701

Largest nearby schools

• Doe Elementary
  Elementary · Mountain City · 217 students · 12.8:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 2.59 — 2022-10-25
  Virginia-North Carolina border region
• M 2.56 — 2021-11-21
  9 km SSW of Abingdon, Virginia
• M 2.65 — 2021-08-17
  6 km N of Morganton, North Carolina
• M 2.79 — 2021-02-12
  8 km SW of Banner Hill, Tennessee
• M 2.58 — 2021-02-12
  9 km NNW of Richlands, Virginia
• M 2.56 — 2021-02-04
  1 km SSW of Sparta, North Carolina