Dandridge is a town in and the county seat of Jefferson County, Tennessee. It had a population of 3,341 at the 2020 census. The town is part of the Morristown, Tennessee Metropolitan Statistical Area, which consists of Jefferson and Hamblen counties.
It is considered a suburb of Knoxville based on its proximity to the city, and the connection between the two via Interstate 40.
Dandridge bills itself as the "second oldest town in Tennessee" (behind only Jonesborough in Washington County). Most of the downtown area of Dandridge sits below the high level water mark of Douglas Lake and is protected by a levee made out of stone.
History
In the 16th century, a substantial Native American chiefdom known as Chiaha was located on Zimmerman's Island, just southwest of Dandridge along the French Broad River. Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto spent several weeks at Chiaha in 1540, and Juan Pardo built a small fort near the chiefdom's main village in 1567. Both expeditions were en route to the chiefdom of Coosa in what is now Georgia. Zimmerman's Island is now submerged by Douglas Lake.
left|210px|thumb|Dandridge in 1938
The first Euro-American settlers arrived in Dandridge in 1783. In 1793, the town was officially named the county seat of Jefferson County, which had been created the previous year. The town was named for Martha Dandridge Washington, the wife of the first president of the United States.
On December 24, 1863, at the height of the Civil War, a skirmish occurred at Dandridge as Confederate General James Longstreet and Union General Ambrose Burnside struggled for control of Knoxville. As Longstreet's army retreated to Morristown, a detachment of his army intercepted and routed a pursuing Union brigade just north of Dandridge. The Union troops were forced to fall back to New Market.
The construction of Douglas Dam on the French Broad River in 1942 proposed to flood almost all of downtown Dandridge, which was situated below the proposed reservoir's high-water mark. Residents of the town successfully petitioned then First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, pointing out that Dandridge was the only town in the United States named for the wife of George Washington. The Tennessee Valley Authority constructed a levee between downtown Dandridge and the reservoir. The levee rises almost immediately behind the Town Hall, and runs roughly parallel to Main Street.
In 1975, Interstate 40 would be completed north of Dandridge, prompting town officials to annex the corridor of I-40 at exit 417 where it shares an interchange with SR 92.
In 2015, the Town of Dandridge began efforts to revitalize its downtown area and its waterfront. These plans include a public dock across the SR 92 bridge in Dandridge on TWRA owned land, improved bicycle and pedestrian access, a floating amphitheater, civic space, a swimming area, a farmer's market pavilion, commercial development space, and a hotel-conference center. The project is expected to be complete in the early to mid 2020s. The town is situated along the northern bank of the Douglas Lake impoundment of the French Broad River, approximately upstream by river from its confluence with the Holston and Tennessee rivers at Knoxville, and approximately upstream from Douglas Dam.
By highway, Dandridge is south of Jefferson City, southwest of Morristown, northwest of Newport, 18 miles northeast of Sevierville, and east of Knoxville.
According to the United States Census Bureau, Dandridge has a total area of , of which are land and , or 8.21%, are water.
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2020 census
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:right"
|+Dandridge racial composition
!scope="col"| Race
!scope="col"| Number
!scope="col"| Percentage
|-
!scope="row"| White (non-Hispanic)
| 2,958
| 88.46%
|-
!scope="row"| Black or African American (non-Hispanic)
| 106
| 3.17%
|-
!scope="row"| Native American
| 15
| 0.45%
|-
!scope="row"| Asian
| 26
| 0.78%
|-
!scope="row"| Pacific Islander
| 3
| 0.09%
|-
!scope="row"| Other/Mixed
| 105
| 3.14%
|-
!scope="row"| Hispanic or Latino
| 131
| 3.92%
|}
As of the 2020 census, Dandridge had a population of 3,344. The median age was 43.2 years. 20.3% of residents were under the age of 18 and 22.0% were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females, there were 97.4 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.4 males age 18 and over.
0.0% of residents lived in urban areas, while 100.0% lived in rural areas.
There were 1,202 households in Dandridge, including 796 families. Of those households, 31.3% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 52.2% were married-couple households, 14.3% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 27.9% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 25.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.