Pinson, Tennessee

Pinson is an

In 1820, a group of five surveyors including Joel Pinson and Memucan Hunt Howard discovered a Middle Woodland period platform mound in the Pinson area while surveying land grants for Colonel Thomas Henderson. The surveyors dubbed the mound Mount Pinson after Joel,^[7] and a post office was established there under that name in 1827.^[8] In 1866, the post office was renamed "Pinson" with the foundation of the town of Pinson near the site of the mounds on land originally belonging to A. S. Rogers.^[7][9]

Pinson High School was established in the area in 1873, and by 1875 had a student body of nearly 150 scholars.^[10] Country music singer Eddy Arnold attended the school and performed locally during his early years.^[11] The institution endured until it was consolidated into South Side High School with several other area schools in 1956.^[12]

A destructive tornado struck Pinson on March 11, 1923, destroying 50 homes and killing at least 18 people.^[13] It has since been estimated that the tornado was an F5 on the Fujita scale based on damage reports.^[14][15]

Pinson Mounds

Pinson is the site of the Pinson Mounds, an extensive archaeological area including three distinct mound groups of the Middle Woodland period.^[16] Covering 400 acres (1.6 km²), the area contains at least 30 mounds, 17 of which have been identified as being completely or partially constructed by prehistoric peoples.^[17] They are located on an upland above the banks of the South Fork of the Forked Deer River, and are thought to have been originally constructed for religious ceremonial purposes.^[18]

The mounds were discovered by surveyor Joel Pinson in 1820 but remained of only local interest until

• Eddy Arnold, country music singer that attended Pinson High School

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