Situated along the Nolichucky River, the park consists of 105 acres (0.42 km2) centered on the traditional birthplace of legendary Tennessee frontiersman, soldier, and politician Davy Crockett (1786-1836).

Davy Crockett grew up in the hills and river valleys of East Tennessee, where he gained a reputation for hunting and storytelling.

As a congressman, Crockett vehemently opposed many of the policies of President Andrew Jackson, most notably the Indian Removal Act.

Crockett's opposition to Jackson's policies led to his defeat in the 1835 elections, prompting his angry departure to Texas shortly thereafter.

Almost immediately downstream from its Big Limestone Creek confluence, the Nolichucky enters a stretch of rocky shoals just as the northwestward flowing river is bent sharply to the southwest by a series of low, steep hills.

David Crockett Birthplace State Park is located near the modern community of Limestone, approximately 10 miles (16 km) east of Greeneville.

Route 321), which is well-marked with directional signs and a Tennessee Historical Commission marker, passes just north of the park.

Substantial Native American settlements existed at the Nolichucky's Big Limestone Creek confluence as early as the Woodland period (1000 B.C.

The settlement aligned itself with the nearby Watauga Association during the American Revolution and became part of Washington County, North Carolina in 1777.

[6] Crockett related an event from his very early childhood in which his brothers almost drowned in the Nolichucky trying to paddle over "a fall in the river, which went slap-right straight down.

"[9] Test excavations conducted at the birthplace site by the Tennessee Division of Archaeology in 1977 failed to locate evidence of an 18th-century cabin.