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Office: Roane County Office of Emergency Services & Homeland Security – 220 N Third Street, Kingston, TN 37763 | (865) 717-4115 (Operations Chief) | (865) 717-4116 (Operations Officer); established as a Civil Defense Organization on July 2, 1957.
911: Roane County E-911 (Central Dispatch) – Non-emergency: (865) 354-8045
EMS: Roane County EMS – Director’s office (865) 882-3005; stations in Harriman (1007 Ruritan Road) and Kingston (3108 Decatur Highway).
Roads: I-40 and US-27 serve Kingston, the county seat, at the confluence of the Clinch, Emory, and Tennessee Rivers
Transit: No dedicated county-wide public transit system was found in this search – confirm directly with the county or your city
Notes: Roane County was formed in 1801, named for Archibald Roane, Tennessee’s second governor. Kingston, founded in 1799, grew out of Fort Southwest Point, a genuine late-1700s frontier fort built after explorer Peter Avery blazed the “Avery Trace” connecting Knoxville and Nashville; the fort is documented as Tennessee’s only colonial-era museum still standing in its original location.
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: Roane County Codes Enforcement/Zoning – 308 N Third St, Kingston, TN 37763 | (865) 376-5505 (Codes) / (865) 717-4230 (Zoning)
Notes: Roane County is genuinely, historically part of the Manhattan Project – significant portions of Oak Ridge, the wartime “Secret City” built to enrich uranium for the atomic bomb, lie within Roane County (Oak Ridge is Roane’s largest city, though it also extends into Anderson County). The K-25 gaseous diffusion plant, built in 1943 by 25,000 workers as the world’s largest building under one roof at the time, was part of the Clinton Engineer Works alongside the Y-12 and X-10 facilities, employing a workforce that reached 80,000, most unaware of the project’s true purpose until the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. This history is preserved today at the Manhattan Project National Historical Park (a joint National Park Service/Department of Energy site spanning Oak Ridge, Los Alamos, and Hanford, established 2015). Separately, the Tennessee Valley Authority built the Kingston Fossil (Steam) Plant in the 1950s – once the world’s largest coal-burning power plant – to serve Oak Ridge National Laboratory; in December 2008 the plant was the site of a genuinely major environmental disaster when a dike failure spilled over 1 billion gallons of coal fly ash into the surrounding area and rivers, drawing national media attention as one of the largest industrial spills in U.S. history.
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
Office: Roane County Veterans Services – confirm current officer name/phone via roanecountytn.gov.
State: Tennessee Department of Veterans Services – tn.gov/veteran
Libraries
LIBRARIES
System: Kingston Public Library – part of the Tennessee Regional Library Service since the 1940s, moved into its current lakeside facility overlooking Watts Bar Lake in 1992; confirm current address/phone via kingstonpubliclibrarytn.org.
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: Fort Southwest Point (see above), the Manhattan Project National Historical Park (Oak Ridge unit), and Watts Bar Lake are the county’s signature attractions. Roane County is also genuinely home to Tiger Haven, a 501(c)(3) big-cat sanctuary operating since September 1991, housing over 250 rescued tigers, lions, leopards, and cougars as of recent reporting.
Notes: The Manhattan Project heritage and Tiger Haven sanctuary are both distinctive, checkable local facts.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
Appraisal/Parcel Search: Roane County Assessor of Property – confirm current phone via roanecountytn.gov.
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
Facility: Roane County Animal Shelter – Rockwood, TN | Hours: Tuesday-Saturday 10 AM-4 PM (closed Sunday/Monday); for after-hours emergencies, call Central Dispatch at (865) 354-8045; offers alteration and rabies vaccination via grant/donation funding for adopted pets.
Nonprofit: Humane Society of Roane County – Kingston, TN | supports animals countywide and across Greater East Tennessee.
Environmental & Waste
ENVIRONMENTAL / WASTE MANAGEMENT
Office: Roane County Solid Waste/Recycling – 215 White Pine Road, Harriman, TN 37748 | (865) 590-7779
NOTES: Roane County is the third county in this batch (Putnam, Rhea, Roane, Robertson, Rutherford, Scott, Sequatchie) of the Tennessee v2 redo. The genuine Manhattan Project heritage (part of Oak Ridge lies within the county) and the real 2008 Kingston coal ash disaster are both significant, checkable historical facts; Tiger Haven is a distinctive local attraction. 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 Roane County County
Roane County is East Tennessee’s Watts Bar Lake and TVA industrial heritage county – the recreational reservoir, the nuclear plant completing a century of TVA development, and the 2008 coal ash disaster that became America’s largest industrial spill define a county whose identity is inseparable from the Tennessee Valley Authority’s transformative and sometimes troubled presence in the region.
Kingston (the county seat, population ~5,800) is Roane County’s governmental hub on Watts Bar Lake, a Tennessee River city whose TVA heritage and lake access anchor the county between Knoxville and Chattanooga.
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Roane County Assessor of Property at 200 Garfield Avenue, Kingston, TN 37763, phone 865-376-2791. TN assessed at a percentage of appraised value.
Courts & Legal
Roane County Circuit Court at 200 Garfield Avenue, Kingston, TN 37763, phone 865-376-2791, handles probate.
Marriage & Vital Records
Marriage licenses, divorce records, and birth & death certificates are handled by the following office(s):
COUNTY CLERK
200 Kentucky St, Kingston, TN 37763
(865) 376-2489
Genealogy
County-level record sources
Roane County Clerk and Master, Kingston (probate/estate case files – see Probate section above).
Local societies
No dedicated Roane 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, Roane County 200 East Race Street, Suite 11, Kingston, TN 37763 (865) 376-2487 Roane County is in East Tennessee, seated in Kingston.
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 Roane 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 Roane 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 Roane 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
1490 South Kentucky St, Kingston, TN 37763
(865) 376-5525
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
ELECTION COMMISSION
202 Patton Ln, Kingston, TN 37763
(865) 376-4416
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
Health Department
1362 Kentucky St, Kingston, TN 37763
(865) 354-6832
DHS Office
100 Bradford Way, Kingston, TN 37763
(865) 376-5641
Public Health Information
PUBLIC HEALTH
Office: Roane County Health Department – 1362 N. Gateway Ave, Rockwood, TN 37854 | (865) 354-1220
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Last verified June 2026
County Facts
County Seat: Kingston
Population: 55,000
Public Records
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