[3] The county is named after an American Revolutionary War hero, General Jethro Sumner.

The county is made up of eight cities, including Gallatin, Goodlettsville, Hendersonville, Millersville, Mitchellville, Portland, Westmoreland, and White House.

Prior to the European colonization of North America, the county had been inhabited by various cultures of Native Americans for several thousand years.

Nomadic Paleo and Archaic hunter-gatherer campsites, as well as substantial Woodland and Mississippian-period occupation sites and burial grounds, can be found scattered throughout the county.

The majority of these sites exist along natural waterways, with the highest concentration occurring along what is now known as the Cumberland River.

Long before Europeans entered the area, Native Americans made use of the natural springs for their medicinal and healing properties.

[1] Sumner County was organized in 1786, just 3 years after the end of the American Revolutionary War, when Tennessee was still the western part of North Carolina.

[citation needed] During the 19th century, the county was developed for agriculture: tobacco and hemp, and blooded livestock.

Middle Tennessee had fertile lands that could be used for similar crops and supported high-quality livestock as well.

In 1873, the county was hit hard by the fourth cholera pandemic of the century, which had begun about 1863 in Asia.

It eventually reached North America and was spread by steamboat passengers who traveled throughout the waterways, especially in the South on the Mississippi River and its tributaries.

[7] The sole survivor, left in critical condition, died in 2022 due to major health problems after the injuries.

[11] Sumner County is located in Middle Tennessee on the state's northern border with Kentucky.

It has voted for the GOP solidly in every election back to 1984, with the sole exception being Bill Clinton's victory in the county in 1992.

On October 15, 1863, Hunley, along with seven other crewmen, drowned while making a test dive in Charleston Harbor near Fort Pinckney.

On the night of February 17, 1864, the Hunley sank the USS Housatonic, making it the first submarine to sink an enemy vessel.

[23] Watergate prosecutor and criminal defense trial lawyer James F. Neal was born and raised in Oak Grove and graduated from Sumner High School in Portland in 1947.

[citation needed] R&B National Recording Artist Nacole Rice was born in Sumner County.