It was named after North Carolina legislator Willie Jones, who had supported the state's westward expansion across the Appalachian Mountains.

East Tennessee was especially an area of Unionist leanings, made up of subsistence farmers who raised tobacco as a market crop.

They held relatively few slaves compared to landowners in Middle Tennessee or the plantation areas of the Delta near the Mississippi River.

Brownlow and rival editor Landon Carter Haynes, who was also a Methodist preacher and circuit rider, brawled in the streets of Jonesborough in May 1840.

Haynes left the newspaper business in 1845, and Brownlow, who later was elected as governor, moved the Whig to the larger city of Knoxville in 1849.

Part of the fourth cholera pandemic that started in India and spread west into Europe and across the Atlantic Ocean, it was believed to have been introduced to the Louisiana port by immigrants or other travelers.

[13] The Herald & Tribune had already published a warning about cholera, and many people had left the town for what they thought were healthier locations.

[13] Today, Jonesborough attracts heritage tourism because of its status as Tennessee's oldest town and its rich architectural fabric, protected by local historic preservation efforts.

Past storytellers included Carmen Agra Deedy, Syd Lieberman, and Kathryn Tucker Windham.

The festival inspired the development of a successful storytelling graduate degree program at nearby East Tennessee State University.

Jonesborough is surrounded by low hills and elongated ridges that are characteristic of the Appalachian Ridge-and-Valley Province.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 4.3 sq mi (11 km2), all of it land.

The Jonesborough Repertory Theatre produces community theater and hosts educational workshops for aspiring actors.

A local legend holds that the ghost of Andrew Jackson occasionally appears in the vicinity of the Christopher Taylor House, a historic log cabin now in a town park.

In 1788, the future U.S. president spent several months practicing law in Jonesborough while awaiting a caravan to modern-day Nashville.

During this time, he lodged in a cabin belonging to Major Christopher Taylor, which was located about a mile outside of town.

In 1974, this cabin was removed from its original spot and reconstructed in the town's park, within the city's historic district.