Hendersonville is the most populous city in Sumner County, Tennessee, on Old Hickory Lake.

The city was settled around 1784 by Daniel Smith, whose house Rock Castle, completed in 1796, is maintained as an historic site.

[7] In 1784 Daniel Smith received a land grant from the state of North Carolina in payment for surveying Middle Tennessee.

(North Carolina at the time claimed its boundaries extended to this territory across the Appalachian Mountains.)

Due to his surveying trips, he frequently was gone on long journeys, and his wife supervised much of the construction.

It was a trading center for the county, which was devoted to the production of tobacco and hemp as commodity crops, and blood livestock: both horses and cattle.

During the Civil War, Monthaven was used by Union troops as a field hospital, as they occupied Middle Tennessee from 1862 to 1870.

Even before the Emancipation Proclamation of January 1863, refugee slaves with their families found their way to Union lines in the state in search of freedom.

[citation needed] The small city was not incorporated until 1969, as the area continued to be rural and devoted to agriculture and related activities.

The lake attracted sportsmen and people seeking recreation; some became residents or acquired second homes here.

Since the late 20th century, it has become the most-populous city of Sumner County, and one of the most populous suburbs of Nashville, along with Franklin and Murfreesboro.

Indian Lake Village is a business, shopping, residence, and recreation complex located in Hendersonville.

It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Tennessee Civil War Trail, and Ring of Fire, and exhibits visual art, music, workshops, wine tastings, crafts, culinary demonstrations, performances, and cultural activities.

[citation needed] The Hendersonville Performing Arts Center[17] is a non-profit theater founded in 1996.