The bustling city of Elizabethton, Tennessee, located on the convergence of the Watauga and Doe Rivers, is the product of a long and rich history. For centuries its fertile ground and ample wildlife sustained the Cherokee Indians, who later leased and sold a vast amount of land to settlers in the mid-1700s. In 1772 these settlers formed the Watauga Association, becoming what Teddy Roosevelt called the first "men of American birth to establish a free and independent community on the continent." The era of industrialization resulted in severalfactories and mills all along Elizabethton's rivers, creating a commercial paradise that continues to thrive today.