Hickman County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 24,925. Its county seat is Centerville. As of 2023, Hickman County is part of the Nashville–Davidson–Murfreesboro–Franklin, TN Metropolitan Statistical Area, although it was once removed in 2018.
History
right|thumb|250px|Town Square in Centerville in 2009
Hickman County was named for Edwin Hickman, an explorer and surveyor who was killed in an Indian attack at Defeated Creek in 1791.
The county was established in 1807, and named for Hickman at the suggestion of Robert Weakley, a legislator who had been a member of Hickman's surveying party.
The trace was a war-path later made into a federal road for settlers moving from Tennessee to the lower Mississippi territory. The Chickasaw ceded the land to Tennessee in 1805 and Gordon kept the estate, moving his family there in 1812 and eventually amassing a plantation of over 1500 acres. The Gordon House still stands by the Duck River today, now maintained by the Natchez Trace National Parkway. Throughout the 19th century, the county's industry revolved around iron furnaces, which made use of the county's natural supply of high-quality iron ore.
The county is the subject of the Johnny Cash song "Saturday Night In Hickman County", and the Hickman community of Grinder's Switch is indirectly mentioned in the song, "The South's Gonna Do It Again", by the Charlie Daniels Band (one line refers to the band Grinderswitch, and their song "Right On Time").
In 1939, Meriwether Lewis Electric Cooperative was chartered with its headquarters in Centerville.
On October 10, 2025, an explosion at the Accurate Energetic Systems explosives facility near the border with Humphreys County left sixteen people dead and at least four others injured.
Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (0.02%) is water. The Duck River, the Piney River, and many creeks, large and small, including Cave Branch, run through Hickman County.
Adjacent counties
- Dickson County (north)
- Williamson County (east)
- Maury County (southeast)
- Lewis County (south)
- Perry County (west)
- Humphreys County (northwest)
National protected area
- Natchez Trace Parkway (part)
State protected areas
- Beaver Dam Creek Wildlife Management Area
- MTSU Wildlife Management Area
- John Noel State Natural Area
Waterways
- Duck River
- Piney River
- Panther Branch
- Buck Branch
- Copperas Branch
- Big Swan Creek
- Plunders Creek