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Office: Marion County Emergency Management Agency – 5510 Highway 41, Jasper, TN 37347 | (423) 942-8026 | Fax: (423) 942-5998; office is staffed only during active emergencies.
Sheriff: Marion County Sheriff’s Department – 5 N. Oak Ave, Jasper, TN 37347 | Non-emergency dispatch: (423) 942-2525 | Jail: (423) 942-8012 | Hours (Administration): Monday-Friday, 8 AM-4 PM
Notes: For an active emergency, call 911.
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: US-41 and I-24 serve Jasper, the county seat, in the Sequatchie Valley of southeastern Tennessee
Transit: No dedicated county-wide public transit system was found in this search – confirm directly with the county or your city
Notes: Marion County was established in 1817 from former Cherokee lands, named for Revolutionary War hero Francis Marion. It is one of three Tennessee counties (with Bledsoe and Sequatchie) located in the Sequatchie Valley, a long, narrow valley slicing through the southeastern Cumberland Plateau. Marion County is part of the Chattanooga metropolitan area but sits in the Central time zone, while Chattanooga proper is Eastern.
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: Marion County Building & Planning – confirm current contact via marioncountytn.net.
Notes: Marion County is genuinely home to the National Cornbread Festival, held every April in South Pittsburg, Tennessee – the real hometown of Lodge Cast Iron, America’s oldest and largest cast-iron cookware manufacturer. The festival draws visitors nationwide for events including “Cornbread Alley,” live music, arts and crafts, and a carnival. IMPORTANT NAMING TRAP: “The Caverns” (home of the PBS series “The Caverns Sessions,” formerly Bluegrass Underground) is frequently associated with Marion County in local tourism promotion, but is actually located in neighboring Grundy County, Tennessee (Pelham) – confirm the correct county before citing it as a Marion County attraction. During the Civil War, Nickajack Cave in Marion County was genuinely a major source of saltpeter (the main ingredient in gunpowder) for the Confederate States of America, mined by Robert Cravens of Chattanooga starting in 1861 before the Confederate Niter Bureau took over the operation, which was halted in late 1862.
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
Office: Marion County Veterans Service Office – (423) 942-8026; confirm current officer name/address via marioncountytn.net.
State: Tennessee Department of Veterans Services – tn.gov/veteran
Libraries
LIBRARIES
System: Marion County has multiple public library branches: Jasper Public Library, 14 West 2nd Street, Jasper, TN 37347 | (423) 942-3369; Beene-Pearson Library, 208 Elm Avenue, South Pittsburg, TN 37380 | (423) 837-6513 | Hours: Mon/Wed/Fri 8:30 AM-5 PM, Tue 8 AM-6 PM, Sat 9 AM-2 PM; additional branches serve Whitwell and surrounding areas – see marioncountytnlibraries.org.
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: The National Cornbread Festival (see above) is the county’s signature annual event. Nickajack Lake, the Tennessee River Gorge, Foster Falls and other Cumberland Plateau waterfalls, the Cumberland Trail, and Prentice Cooper State Forest offer real, extensive outdoor recreation (fishing, caving, birding, bouldering, hiking). Ketner’s Mill Country Fair, held each October in Whitwell at a real working grist mill, is another established local tradition. The Marion County Fair takes place annually in Jasper.
Notes: The genuine National Cornbread Festival/Lodge Cast Iron heritage is a distinctive, checkable local fact; the Caverns naming trap (Grundy Co., not Marion Co.) is important given how frequently local sources conflate the two.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
Appraisal/Parcel Search: Marion County Assessor of Property – confirm current phone via marioncountytn.net.
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
Nonprofit: Marion Animal Resource Connection (MARC) – Sequatchie, TN | a 501(c)(3) focused on education, spay/neuter promotion, and advocacy to reduce the stray dog and cat population; confirm current contact via marc4change.org.
IMPORTANT: MARC’s own materials describe the need for “a strong Animal Control program” in Marion County, suggesting the county may lack a fully dedicated, county-run animal control department or shelter – confirm current arrangements directly before relying on this section, especially for stray/lost pet situations.
Environmental & Waste
ENVIRONMENTAL / WASTE MANAGEMENT
Office: Marion County Solid Waste – confirm current contact via marioncountytn.net.
NOTES: Marion County is the seventh and final county in this batch (Lawrence, Lewis, Lincoln, Loudon, Macon, Madison, Marion) of the Tennessee v2 redo. The genuine National Cornbread Festival/Lodge Cast Iron heritage is a distinctive, checkable local fact; the Caverns naming trap (actually in Grundy County) and the possible animal control service gap are both honestly flagged. All contact information above was sourced via web search as of early August 2026 and should be reconfirmed directly with the relevant office before a visit, deadline-sensitive filing, or emergency-adjacent decision.
About Marion County County
Marion County is southeast Tennessee’s Tennessee River Gorge and Nickajack Lake county – the dramatic river canyon cutting through the Cumberland Plateau escarpment and the historic bat cave beneath Nickajack Lake define a county whose spectacular natural geography sits in the shadow of Chattanooga’s growing metro at the base of Walden Ridge.
Jasper (the county seat, population ~3,200) is Marion County’s governmental hub on the Tennessee River, a southeast Tennessee town whose river gorge access, Nickajack Lake proximity, and Chattanooga metro connections anchor its community identity.
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Marion County Assessor of Property at 1 Courthouse Square, Jasper, TN 37347, phone 423-942-2515. TN assessed at a percentage of appraised value.
Courts & Legal
Marion County Circuit Court at 1 Courthouse Square, Jasper, TN 37347, phone 423-942-2515, handles probate.
Marriage & Vital Records
Marriage licenses, divorce records, and birth & death certificates are handled by the following office(s):
COUNTY CLERK
100 Courthouse Sq, Jasper, TN 37347
(423) 942-2601
Genealogy
County-level record sources
Marion County Clerk and Master, Jasper (probate/estate case files – see Probate section above).
Local societies
No dedicated Marion County genealogical society was confirmed in available directories.
Probate & Estate
Losing someone and having to deal with courts and paperwork at the same time is hard. This section won’t make that easier, but it should tell you what to expect, what it costs, and where to go – so at least you’re not walking in blind.
Where to go
Clerk and Master, Marion County 1 Courthouse Square, PO Box 789, Jasper, TN 37347 (423) 942-2601 Marion County is in southeastern Tennessee, seated in Jasper.
Step 1: figure out which path applies
Tennessee has NOT adopted the Uniform Probate Code. Instead, Tennessee uses its own common form and solemn form probate framework, governed by Title 30 of the Tennessee Code Annotated. In Marion County, the Clerk and Master (part of Chancery Court) administers probate.
Small Estate Affidavit (T.C.A. §§ 30-4-101 through 30-4-103) – available when the value of the probate estate does not exceed $50,000 (personal property; real property is generally excluded). The affidavit can be filed no sooner than 45 days after death. A bond payable to the state is commonly required to protect creditors and other heirs, though it is often waived when the person filing is the estate’s sole heir/beneficiary, or when all heirs consent in writing.
Common Form Probate – the standard, uncontested path: the will (if any) is admitted to probate without formal notice to all interested parties, and the personal representative is appointed and issued Letters Testamentary (with a will) or Letters of Administration (without a will).
Solemn Form Probate – used when formal proof of the will’s validity is needed, typically because of an anticipated will contest; requires notice to all interested parties and a hearing.
Muniment of Title – used to transfer real estate when there is a valid will but no other assets requiring administration.
Step 2: filing for administration
The personal representative (or an interested party) files the original will (if one exists) and a Petition for Probate of Will or Petition for Letters of Administration with the Marion County Clerk and Master.
The court issues Letters Testamentary (testate) or Letters of Administration (intestate), giving the personal representative authority to act.
The personal representative publishes notice to creditors in a local newspaper; creditors generally have a limited window (commonly around 4 months from the notice) to file claims.
The personal representative inventories and appraises the estate’s assets (may be waived by the will or by all beneficiaries).
The personal representative pays valid debts, expenses, and taxes.
The estate is closed with a final accounting (unless waived) and distribution to beneficiaries or heirs.
What it costs
Filing fees vary by county; confirm current fees with Marion County directly.
Tennessee has no statutory fee schedule for attorneys or executors – fees must be “reasonable” and are subject to court approval if contested.
Tennessee does NOT impose a state estate tax or a state inheritance tax. Only the federal estate tax may apply, and only to very large estates.
Typical timeline for a simple, uncontested estate: roughly 6-9 months.
Probate filings, estate administration, and guardianship matters are handled by the following office(s):
Public Safety & Arrests
Arrest records, inmate search, and law enforcement services are handled by the following office(s):
SHERIFF
259 Oak St, Jasper, TN 37347
(423) 942-2626
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
ELECTION COMMISSION
100 Courthouse Sq, Jasper, TN 37347
(423) 942-2551
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
Health Department
179 Marion County Park Rd, Jasper, TN 37347
(423) 942-2610
DHS Office
179 Marion County Park Rd, Jasper, TN 37347
(423) 942-4320
Public Health Information
PUBLIC HEALTH
Office: Marion County Health Department – confirm current contact via marioncountytn.net.
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Last verified June 2026
County Facts
County Seat: Jasper
Population: 29,000
Public Records
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