Chilhowie

K-22

About 1748, Col. James Patton patented land here and reportedly hoped this site would one day become a town. The region became known as Town House for a house known by this name that stood nearby. By the Revolutionary War, a settlement of the same name began to develop around the house. In 1856, the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad arrived and the settlement was renamed Greever's Switch for a local resident. The community's name was changed to Chilhowie in the late 1880s at the suggestion of George Palmer. Chilhowie is believed to be an Indian word meaning either "home of many deer" or "valley of many deer." The town was incorporated in 1913.

Department of Historic Resources, 2000

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References/Bibliographic Citation:

Joan Armstrong, ed., Smyth County, Virginia, Volume 2 (Marion, Va.: Smyth County Historical and Museum Society, 1986); Downtown Chilhowie Historic District, National Register of Historic Places File (189-1), DHR, Richmond, Virginia, James Hagemann, The Heritage of Virginia: The Story of Place Names in the Old Dominion (Norfolk and Virginia Beach, Va.: The Donning Company, 1986), 49; Mary F. Lane, A Story of the Settling and Growth of Chilhowie, Smyth-Bland Library, Marion, Va., n.d.; Raus McDill Hanson, Virginia Place Names: Derivations, Historical Uses (Verona, Va.: McClure Press, 1969), 193; Elizabeth Lemmon Sayers, Smyth County, Virginia, Volume 1, Pathfinders and Patriots: Prehistory to 1832 (Marion, Va. : Smyth County Historical and Museum Society, 1983); Town House Ruins, Survey File (189-16), DHR, Richmond, Virginia; Goodridge Wilson, Smyth County History and Traditions (Kingsport, Tn.: Kingsport Press, 1932), 282-295.