The earliest known European-American settler in what is now Carthage was William Walton (1760–1816), who arrived in the late 1780s after the United States achieved independence in the American Revolutionary War.

The road, which was roughly paralleled later by the construction of what is now U.S. 70, was influential to the development and early settlement of the Cumberland region.

[10] Walton operated a ferry across the Cumberland River and a tavern nearby along the road, around which a small community developed.

[11] Carthage's location at the confluence of the Caney Fork and Cumberland rivers made it an important shipping and steamboat port throughout the first half of the 19th century.

During the Civil War, Carthage became an important post in the Eastern Highland Rim area of Tennessee.

[13] The town is situated amid a series of low hills at the confluence of the Caney Fork with the Cumberland River, and just southwest of the latter's Cordell Hull Lake impoundment.

U.S. Route 70 passes east-to-west through South Carthage, connecting the area with Nashville to the west and Cookeville to the east.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 2.9 square miles (7.5 km2), all land.

They include: The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild to cool winters.