Occupying the northeastern corner of the Tennessee Highlands, Jackson County is located mostly on the Eastern Highland Rim, with the Cumberland River and its tributaries cutting into the Central Basin.

The county was created in 1801 and was named for Andrew Jackson who had served in Congress and was then seated on the Tennessee Supreme Court; he later went on to garner national fame as a military hero and 11th President of the United States. Gainesboro, the second county seat, was named for his friend and comrade, General Edmund Pendleton Gaines.

The first white settlement in the area was Fort Blount, constructed near the mouth of Flynns Creek to guard the pioneer road connecting East Tennessee with the new settlement of Nashborough (now Nashville). Around the fort grew up the town of Williamsburg, which served as the Jackson County seat from 1807 to 1819 when the court relocated to Gainesboro.

The most popular tourist destination in the county is Cordell Hull Reservoir on the Cumberland River which draws fishers, hunters and campers. Other areas of interest include three state scenic rivers, the Roaring River and its tributaries, the Blackburn Fork and Spring Creek. Magnificent Cummins Falls has been designated Tennessee's newest state park, and this has the potential to draw thousands of new visitors.