THE SULLIVAN COUNTY LAND BRIEF
Land in the
Southern Limestone/Dolomite Valleys and Low Rolling Hills setting.
Sullivan County has 413.5 square miles of land in Tennessee. 5 mapped landscape regions meet across Sullivan County: Southern Limestone/Dolomite Valleys and Low Rolling Hills, Southern Shale Valleys, Southern Sedimentary Ridges, among others.
Long, roughly parallel ridges and valleys follow folded and faulted rock layers. Limestone valleys, sandstone ridges and other geologic contrasts produce varied terrain and numerous regional springs and caves.
Regional context: Ridge and Valley ↗ · Regional mapping across the county footprint
Where the landscape changes
Sullivan County intersects 5 mapped regional units. The largest mapped shares are:
- Southern Limestone/Dolomite Valleys and Low Rolling Hills58.7%
- Southern Shale Valleys27%
- Southern Sedimentary Ridges7.3%
- Southern Dissected Ridges and Knobs5.4%
- Southern Sandstone Ridges1.7%
Blue Ridge in Sullivan County
Forested ridges, plateaus and high mountains extend through the Blue Ridge. Elevation, rainfall and sheltered coves create marked differences in forest communities across short distances.
Read the regional source ↗Finding your parcel within Sullivan County
The atlas lists 11 cities, towns, townships, and Census communities associated with Sullivan County, including Kingsport, Johnson City, Bristol. The list includes overlapping geography types and does not divide the county into exclusive service areas.
Sullivan County by land and water
The Census records 16.2 square miles of water within Sullivan County, or 3.8% of its total area. That share is close to Sullivan County’s 3.8%. This is geographic context; waterfront status and usable land must be checked at the parcel.
For scale, Sullivan County has 83.8 times the land area of nearby Blountville CDP (4.94 square miles). These areas describe boundaries, not comparable property prices.
The Census boundary meets Carter County, Hawkins County, Johnson County, Washington County within Tennessee. A tract near one of these lines should be matched to the county identifier on its own records.

