The area in and around Haletown is rich in history from Native Americans like Cherokee war chief Dragging Canoe, who in the decade preceding his death in 1792, lived nearby at Running Water (Cherokee: ᎠᎼᎦᏳᎾᏱ, romanized: Amogayunayi), a Chickamauga town (now known as the community of Whiteside, Tennessee).

The dam powerhouse, designed by John Bogart in the Classical Revival style, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2008.

The community was thriving for many years during the construction of Hales Bar Dam and in the years that followed, with several community schools operating in the area including a school for children of color, along with two post office locations (Guild and Haletown), several churches and some small stores and businesses.

[4][5] Being along a major route east to west and eventually by highway, a crossing at the Tennessee River was a necessity.

The community of Whiteside, Tennessee lies to the southeast of Haletown on the southern edge of Aetna Mountain bordering I-24.

The once popular small convenience and bait and tackle store that operated for those enjoying fishing and outdoor recreation along the lake for many years, the locally-legendary 'Anchor Inn Bait & Tackle' (and its in-house restaurant), closed in late 2021 after the property was purchased for future development related to planned luxury mountaintop residential development on nearby Aetna Mountain.

What remains in Haletown are a few small, locally-owned, restaurants along with a thriving outdoor recreation scene with those fishing it's riverbanks and taking advantage of the nearby marina.

Due to this public utility being in place for the community, Haletown has been served with some of the fastest internet speeds in the area thanks to the utility's expansion into the telecom industry and offering fiber-optic network connections for internet, television, and telephone service to its customers, including Smart Grid technology.

Haletown has enjoyed becoming an extension of EPB's "Gig City" as they became the first company in the United States to offer one gigabit-per-second Internet speed to more than 175,000 homes and businesses.

"[13] Serodino, Inc. is the only major industrial commercial business in the community,[14] operating an inland shipyard that builds and repairs towboats, excursion boats and barges.