Tennessee has its fair share of literary references, but a mention by an author many view as the "father of American literature", seems to be a little off, at least at first glance.
Bust in the 1870s, Mark Twain co-wrote "The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today." It's the only novel Twain worked on with a collaborator.
The first page of chapter one tells the story of a man in Obedstown, East Tennessee. He eventually moves his family to Missouri.
The Obed River runs along the Cumberland Plateau-- I-40 even crosses over the water at one point, but you won't find a city called Obedstown on any Tennessee map.
People say you should write what you know, and we know Mark Twain did that often.
So despite what the map says, did he maintain that professional pattern when crafting the "Gilded Age" and the story of Obedstown?
Mark Twain, whose real name was Samuel Clemens, made a career out of telling stories of elegant riverboats, good times and wild adventures along the Mississippi.
But miles away from that kind of life, in a Tennessee city of 2,000, you'll see and hear Clement's iconic pen name time and again.
Fentress County may be the birthplace of Sergeant Alvin York, the most decorated American soldier in WWI, but count seat Jamestown lays claim to Mark Twain, the father of American Literature.
Historians say he indirectly got his start here.
"That's absolute truth. Mark Twain-- he was conceived here," said Myra Smith who works at the Fentress County Historical Society. "Everybody knows the history here. You go talk to somebody, if they're from here, born here, they know the history - they know all about Sgt. York, they know all about Mark Twain."
Twain's family lived here in the 1820s and '30s-- decades old land deeds inside the county courthouse prove that.
John and Jane Clemens' home actually sat where the post office stands today, right across from the now appropriately named Mark Twain Spring.
But the Clemens moved from Jamestown to Missouri in 1835, just a few months before the birth of their son Samuel.
"From what I can tell, she was about six months pregnant when she left here," explained Smith.
And even though Twain never walked these streets, his writing seems to prove he knew where he came from.
Historians say Obedstown was an early 1800s slang name for the Jamestown area. And like Twain's father, the novel's main character was also a father who eventually moved his family from Tennessee to Missouri.
Over the years, the pride of Twain's almost hometown was translated into countless lasting public tributes, even a hand-carved statue, and the Fentress County Chamber of Commerce says out-of-towners notice all the Twain references, too.
This story-- Twain's Obedstown, East Tennessee, along with the famous author's ties to Jamestown... a Tennessee truth.
Mark Twain's father worked as an attorney, and during his time in Jamestown, he held a number of high-profile jobs and positions, including postmaster, county clerk, county commissioner and attorney general.
As for the family home-- what's left of the cabin is preserved and on display at the Museum of Appalachia. The exhibit includes furniture and other replicas.
The museum purchased the cabin and moved it to its current home back in 1995.