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Office: Pickett County Emergency Management Agency – Director Garry Garrett | 1000 KC Lane, Byrdstown, TN 38549 | [email protected]
911: Overton-Pickett Emergency Communications District (OPECD) – 255 Industrial Park Dr, Livingston, TN 38570; the ONLY consolidated 911 center in Tennessee serving two separate counties, jointly dispatching for both Overton and Pickett.
EMS: Pickett County Ambulance Service – 8817 TN-111, Byrdstown, TN 38549
Fire: Byrdstown-Pickett County Volunteer Fire Department – TN-111, Byrdstown, TN
Notes: For an active emergency, call 911.
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: SH-111 and SH-325 serve Byrdstown, the county seat, near the Kentucky border
Transit: No dedicated county-wide public transit system was found in this search – confirm directly with the county or your city
Notes: Pickett County was created in 1879, named for Howard L. Pickett, a state legislator; Byrdstown, incorporated 1917, was named for Colonel Robert K. Byrd, the state senator whose district included the new county. Pickett County is Tennessee’s least populous county (2020 census: 5,001). Byrdstown sits between two Army Corps of Engineers lakes – Dale Hollow Lake (mainly in Tennessee) and Lake Cumberland (in Kentucky) – an area known as “Twin Lakes,” with Byrdstown billed as “The Gateway to Dale Hollow Lake.”
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: Pickett County Building/Permits – confirm current contact via dalehollow.com or countypickett.gov.
Notes: Pickett County is genuinely, directly the birthplace of Cordell Hull – the “Father of the United Nations,” U.S. Secretary of State (1933-1944) under FDR, and 1945 Nobel Peace Prize winner. Hull was born October 2, 1871, in a small log cabin just west of Byrdstown, the son of a sharecropper; the Cordell Hull Birthplace State Park, 1300 Cordell Hull Memorial Dr, Byrdstown, TN 38549 | (931) 864-3247, a 45-55-acre state park established in 1997, preserves a refurbished representation of his birth cabin, period gardens, a museum housing his personal artifacts (including a replica of his actual 1945 Nobel Peace Prize medal), and the Hull Library and Archives – over 1,500 books and hundreds of original documents and photographs bequeathed in his will. The park’s Bunkum Cave Trail leads to a genuine limestone cave where Hull’s father reportedly made moonshine in the 19th century (the cave is closed September-April to protect against White Nose Syndrome). Both the Pickett County Courthouse (built 1935) and the Cordell Hull Birthplace are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
Office: Pickett County Veterans Service Office – Officer Earl Claborn | 105 South Main Street, Room 4, Byrdstown, TN 38549 | (931) 864-8240 | Fax: (931) 864-6615
State: Tennessee Department of Veterans Services – tn.gov/veteran
Key Assets: Cordell Hull Birthplace State Park (see above) is the county’s premier heritage attraction. Dale Hollow Lake offers extensive fishing, boating, and resort tourism, drawing thousands of annual visitors to the “Twin Lakes” region.
Notes: The genuine Cordell Hull birthplace – completing the naming-trap loop noted earlier when covering Jackson County (where Hull practiced law) – is one of the most historically significant facts covered anywhere in this project.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
Appraisal/Parcel Search: Pickett County Assessor of Property – confirm current phone via county government.
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
Nonprofit: Pickett County Humane Society – PO Box 242, Byrdstown, TN 38549.
Notes: No dedicated county-run animal shelter facility was clearly confirmed in this search – confirm current arrangements directly with the county before relying on this section for a stray or lost pet situation.
NOTES: Pickett County is the sixth county in this batch (Moore, Morgan, Obion, Overton, Perry, Pickett, Polk) of the Tennessee v2 redo, and closes the loop on the Cordell Hull naming trap flagged earlier in the Jackson County file – Byrdstown is his true birthplace. 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 Pickett County County
Pickett County is Tennessee’s least populous county and one of its wildest – Pickett State Park’s sandstone arches and hemlock canyons and Dale Hollow Lake’s trophy smallmouth waters define one of the most remote and naturally pristine counties in the entire state, where Byrdstown serves the scattered communities of the Upper Cumberland Plateau’s northern edge.
Byrdstown (the county seat, population ~900) is Pickett County’s governmental hub, one of Tennessee’s smallest county seats, serving a county that is among the least densely populated in the eastern United States.
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Pickett County Assessor of Property at 1 Courthouse Square, Byrdstown, TN 38549, phone 931-864-3879. TN assessed at a percentage of appraised value.
Courts & Legal
Pickett County Circuit Court at 1 Courthouse Square, Byrdstown, TN 38549, phone 931-864-3879, handles probate.
Marriage & Vital Records
Marriage licenses, divorce records, and birth & death certificates are handled by the following office(s):
COUNTY CLERK
1 Courthouse Sq, Byrdstown, TN 38549
(931) 864-3111
Genealogy
County-level record sources
Pickett County Clerk and Master, Byrdstown (probate/estate case files – see Probate section above).
Local societies
No dedicated Pickett 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, Pickett County 1 Courthouse Square, Byrdstown, TN 38549 (931) 864-3359 Pickett County is in the Upper Cumberland region of Tennessee, seated in Byrdstown.
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 Pickett 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 Pickett 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 Pickett 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
1 Courthouse Sq, Byrdstown, TN 38549
(931) 864-3229
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
ELECTION COMMISSION
1 Courthouse Sq, Byrdstown, TN 38549
(931) 864-3111
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
Health Department
55 South Main St, Byrdstown, TN 38549
(931) 864-3341
DHS Office
55 South Main St, Byrdstown, TN 38549
(931) 864-6262
Public Health Information
PUBLIC HEALTH
Office: Pickett County Health Department – confirm current contact via county government.
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Last verified June 2026
County Facts
County Seat: Byrdstown
Population: 5,100
Public Records
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