Holston - Stephen Holston discovered the river which bears his name some time prior to 1748. His cabin was located at the head spring of the Middle Fork of the Holston. Thus the river, sometimes called the Cherokee River, finally took the name of Holston.

Clinch River - Dr. Thomas Walker, in his Journal of 1749- 1750, says that Clinch River took its name from one Clinch, a hunter who first found it. There is a somewhat fanciful story as to the origin of the name. This story relates that an Irishman who could not swim attempted the crossing of the river on a raft. Falling off the raft in mid-stream, he excitedly called to his companions, "Clinch me! Clinch me!" and that this circumstance led to the river's being called Clinch. There are other versions of this story. Clinch Mountain took its name from the river, no doubt.

Copper Creek and Copper Creek Ridge - In the survey of John Blackmore, Jr.'s, farm the ridge south of Clinch River was called, "Copper Creek Ridge." This survey was made in 1774. The author has been unable to find why the word "Copper" was used.

The Big Knob - A peak of Clinch Mountain, 3,217 feet high. It is situated five or six miles east of Gate City. A part of this highland is called Signal Pole Knob.

Hiltons - A small village situated on the Appalachia Division of the Southern Railway. It was named in honor of the Hilton family. One of the county's high schools is located there.

Clinchport - A town twelve miles west of Gate City, located at the confluence of Stock Creek and Clinch River. It was probably named in anticipation of the development of the Clinch as a navigable stream.

Big Poor Valley - A valley skirting the base of Clinch Mountain on the south side throughout the entire length of the county, and is named on account of the sterility of the soil.

Troublesome Creek - A small tributary of the Clinch, having its head near the Big Cut. Its significant name was given it by travelers over the Wilderness Road to Kentucky.

The Big Ridge - A close-in watershed of the Clinch Valley and so named on account of its size.

The Flag Pond - So named on account of the plants which once grew in a boggy sag, and mentioned in connection with the boundaries first given the County of Scott.

Pattonsville - A village situated at the base of Powell's Mountain and named for the Rev. Samuel Patton, a prominent minister and elder in the Methodist Church.

Stock Creek - Also once called Buckeye Creek, a northern tributary of the Clinch, which flows through the Natural Tunnel. Little Stock Creek, a tributary of Big Stock Creek, has part of its course underground.

Camp Rock - A sheltering cliff of rock, near the High Knob, about 4,000 feet above sea level, and so called because it furnished shelter to hunting parties in the early days.

Stony Creek - A northern tributary of the Clinch, which any one could have named on account of the rocky character of its bed.

Cove Creek - There are two Cove Creeks in the county, one a southern tributary of the North Fork of Holston, the other, a northern tributary of the Clinch, near the Rye Cove.

Sinking Creek - So called because, after a course of a few miles as a surface stream, it sinks beneath Powers' Hill, and also passes beneath Clinch River to become a northern tributary of this river. Perhaps no other stream in the world has the unique distinction of being on both sides of the stream into which it flows.

Falling Creek - A southern tributary of the Clinch, emptying into the same at Osborne's Ford. It is so named on account of the steep incline of its bed, and more particularly because of the falls in its lower course, at which Patrick Porter erected the first mill within the present limits of the county.

Livingston Creek - A southern tributary of the North Fork of Holston, named in honor of the Livingston family, who settled at its mouth very early, Little Flat Lick - One of the well-known places on the Kentucky Path, near Duffield. "Licks" were rather numerous in the county. With the extinction of large wild game, the "lick" ceased to be important. Little Flat Lick and Double Lick Branch are the only current names that carry the word "lick" now.

The names of magisterial districts of the county were given by the Commissioners who made the division of the county. Mr. S. L. Cox, a member of this Commission, once told the author that Maj. H. C. Wood, another member, did most of the naming; that Powell District was named for Ambrose Powell; that Taylor District was named in honor of the Taylor family; that Estillville District was named for the county seat; that Fulkerson District was named in honor of James and Abraham Fulkerson, influential early settlers of that section; that Johnson District was named in honor of the Johnson family; that Floyd was named in honor of Governor Floyd; that the naming of his own district was left to him (S. L. Cox); that in his search for a name he remembered his lifelong friend, Tandy Flanary, who by some chance bore the nickname "Dekalb," and that he named his own district Dekalb, in honor of his friend..

The Devil's Race Path Branch - Thomas W. Carter, in a letter to Dr. Lyman C. Draper, explains the origin of the name in these words: "About 1790, a man by the name of James Paine made a settlement at the mouth of said branch and another man by the name of Simon Dotson at the head. Paine's house became the resort of bad men. Dotson made whisky and sold to those men until it became dangerous for travelers to pass through the gorge, and it received the name of Devil's Race Path Branch." (Draper Manuscripts, 6 C 47.)

Moccasin Creek, it is said, was so named because early explorers, on first coming to the creek, found many tracks made in the soft mud of its banks by Indians who wore moccasins. Judge M. B. Wood, in his History of the Wood Family in Virginia, attributes the naming of the creek to Daniel Boone and his companions, who came through Big Moccasin Gap in 1769.