Winfield
Winfield is the smallest of Scott County’s three incorporated municipalities, with a population of 947 at the 2020 census. It is named for U.S. Army General Winfield Scott, and was formerly known as Chitwood, for the Revolutionary War-era family that first settled it at the beginning of the 19th century.
See Also: Communities of Scott County
Geography & Demographics
The Town of Winfield’s corporate limits extend along the U.S. Highway 27 corridor from the Tennessee-Kentucky line south to the Town of Oneida’s corporate limits near Poplar Lane. The city limits extend east and west to take in Pine Grove Road, Pleasant Grove Road, and New Light Road.
The town has a total area of 6.4 miles, with a population density of 139 people per square mile. The population is 96% white, with a median household income of $34,205 and a median property value of $100,700. The poverty rate is 28.4%, as of 2024.
The broader Winfield zip code (37892) includes the communities of Gum Fork and Capuchine. It extends east to the Scott-Campbell county line, west to the East Branch of Bear Creek, north to the Tennessee-Kentucky line, and south to Pine Hill Road and Chitwood Mountain Road. The total population of the 37892 zip code is 1,946, with a land area of 70.62 square miles and a population density of 28 people per square mile.
A small portion of the Town of Winfield along Poplar Lane falls within the Oneida (37841) zip code.
Winfield falls within Scott County’s 5th Civil District.
The community is drained by Bear Creek on its west side, by Roaring Paunch Creek in its center, and by Jellico Creek on its east side. Bear Creek runs into the Big South Fork River near the Tennessee-Kentucky line, while Roaring Paunch Creek runs into the Big South Fork River near the Blue Heron mining community in Kentucky. Jellico Creek runs into the Cumberland River near Williamsburg, Ky.
The highest point in the Winfield community is Chitwood Mountain, which has a peak elevation of 2,139 feet.
Business & Commerce
Winfield is Scott County’s third-largest municipality. It has traditionally been defined by its saloons and taverns. Because Kentucky counties to the north were long “dry counties,” beer sales on the Tennessee side of the state line were long an economic boon. Winfield is the only of Scott County’s three municipalities without a property tax, largely because of the tax revenue the town received from beer sales.
However, as Kentucky counties have increasingly gone “wet,” including McCreary County, Winfield’s economic advantage in alcohol sales has largely disappeared.
Winfield was the first Scott County municipality to legalize both liquor by the drink and liquor package stores. Voters approved both measures in 2016. Winfield had the county’s first package store, Stone Cold Liquor. However, package stores were legalized in the rest of Scott County by voter referendum in 2024, and package stores were set to open in both Oneida and Huntsville.
Today, Winfield’s industrial scene is highlighted by a JDS Technologies plant, which is located in the former American Bag Corporation building at the Winfield Industrial Park, and by a terminal for Cordell Transportation Inc.
A variety of smaller businesses includes a Dollar General, the afore-mentioned Stone Cold Liquor, Lee’s Food Mart, and a pair of sports bars: Boo’s Roadhouse and Moose’s Bar & Grill.
Mountain People’s Health Councils operates a medical clinic in Winfield, as well.
Schools
Winfield students are served by Winfield School (K-8) and Scott High School (9-12) in Huntsville. Traditionally, there were also schools at Pine Grove, Honeycutt, Chitwood Mountain, Pleasant Grove, Isham, and Flatwood (in the Kingtown community), as well as the Bear Creek School to the west of town.
Churches
Winfield is home to a number of churches, mostly Baptist. There are Winfield Baptist Church, Pine Grove Baptist Church, Clay Hill Missionary Baptist Church, Pleasant Grove Baptist Church, Abundant Life United Pentacostal Church, Highway Baptist Church, Second Bethlehem Baptist Church, and New Light United Baptist Church. There are additional churches in the Gum Fork area. There is also Pine Hill United Baptist Church in the PIne Hill community.
Post Offices
Winfield Post Office opened in 1857 as Scott County’s second post office. There were other post offices in the community through the years. Alderville opened in the Chitwood Mountain area in August 1901 with Andrew Davis serving as postmaster. It closed in August 1914 and was moved to Winfield. The Isham Post Office opened in December 1882 with George W. Strunk serving as postmaster. It closed in September 1926 and moved to Winfield. Hubert Trammell was the last postmaster. There were additional post offices at Gum Fork and Capuchin.
Origins
Winfield was the only community along the U.S. Highway 27 corridor in Scott County that does not owe its existence to the Cincinnati & Southern Railroad. Although the railroad did indeed pass through Winfield when it was constructed in the late 1870s, Winfield was already well-established. In fact, it was Scott County’s largest settlement before the railroad came.
Originally called Chitwood, the Winfield settlement dates back to the early 1800s, when Revolutionary War veteran James Chitwood moved there with his family. He lived in the Pine Grove area. One of his sons, Pleasant Chitwood, lived in what is now known as Pleasant Grove. It was named for him. Chitwood Mountain takes its name from the Chitwood family, as well.
Later, after Scott County was formed in 1849 and named for War of 1812 hero General Winfield Scott, the community’s name changed from Chitwood to Winfield, also for General Scott.
Chitwood was located on a major crossroads. The route of U.S. Highway 27 had been a major Native American travel corridor prior to the arrival of white men; it was known as the Tellico Trail. Later, as European settlement expanded, the road through Winfield became known as the Williamsburg-to-Jacksboro Road.
During the days of the Civil War, Chitwood — as it was still called then — was the site of a major encampment for General Ambrose Burnside, commander of the Army of the Ohio, when he marched his 12,000 men through Scott County en route to seize Knoxville from the Confederacy. Before the invasion, a small force led by Major A.T. Keen visited Scott County on a reconnaissance mission. Keen returned to Burnside and convinced his superior to march his army through Scott County. While Burnside was encamped at Winfield, his army raided the countryside and took enough crops and other supplies to render area farmers destitute. Camp Chitwood, as it was called, was also the place where a number of Scott Countians enlisted in the Union army.
Following the war, the city of Cincinnati, Ohio, chose a route similar to the one Burnside took for its new railroad to Chattanooga, which was aimed at linking the north and the south. The railroad was completed in 1880, and opened Winfield to new business — including a bark-tanning factory, a flooring mill, a lumber business, and more. There was a hotel, and other new businesses resulted from the building of the railroad.
In time, the Winfield depot closed and the railroad was no longer a boon to the local economy. That’s when Winfield became economically reliant on its saloons and its location along the state line. In more recent years, logging has been a major industry in Winfield. Much of the mountainous terrain east of Winfield proper is owned by land companies that continue logging operations.
First Families
James Chitwood, the Revolutionary War veteran, was Winfield’s first settler. Other early families included Revolutionary War veteran Dennis Trammell and his son-in-law, Archibald Angel, who settled the Angel Valley area at Gum Fork. Chitwoods and Trammells remain very prominent in Winfield today.
The Chitwood family
James Chitwood (1751-1839) was the son of Richard Chitwood Sr. (1722-1785) and Winnie Randolph (1724-1754) of Virginia. His family had split loyalties during the war. Some, like James, sided with the colonists. Others, like his father, were loyal to the British crown. In fact, his dad, uncle, and two cousins were captured with the Tories at Kings Mountain and sentenced to hang. His uncle, Capt. James Chitwood, was hanged but the others were granted a reprieve.
Chitwood married Martha White (1749-1834) and they moved to present-day Winfield after the war, perhaps as early as 1795 (which, if true, would make them Scott County’s first residents). Shadrach Chitwood, James’ cousin who was a Torie and was sentenced to hang after Kings Mountain, made the move to Winfield with James, though he later moved to Missouri.
James and Martha had at least six children: Pleasant, Winnie, William, Daniel, Elizabeth, and Richard.
The Trammell family
Capt. Dennis Trammell (1759-1849) was also from Virginia. His grandfather, John Trammell, owned the property that was eventually sold to the family of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee for the building of Stratford Hall.
Trammell was a militia commander during the war. He married Elizabeth Brassfield in North Carolina around 1778 and they had at least four children: James, Nancy Ann, Peter, and David. Trammell would later marry Martha Cooper.
Trammell and his family had moved to present-day Scott County by the early 1800s. His daughter, Nancy Ann, married Archibald Angel. Both Trammell and Angel owned land on Pine Creek, which was the site of present-day Oneida, in 1810. They later moved to Jellico Creek and established the farm that is known today as Angel Valley.
Although Trammell didn’t live in Winfield itself, many of his descendants did, and still do today. He had a grandson, also named Dennis Trammell, who was a captain in the Union army during the Civil War and lived at Jellico Creek.
The Duncan family
Joshua L. Duncan (1808-1890) and Rosa Sartin (1810-1878) moved to the Pleasant Grove area after their marriage in 1822. They had 11 children: Henry, Henrietta Cross, Jesse, Green Berry, Oliver, Nancy Daugherty, Joshua Jr., Granville, Rosannah King, David, and Elizabeth Ross.
The Duncan family had originally settled at Buffalo with Josh’s parents, Joshua Duncan (1785-1849) and Rutha Russell (1786-1860).
The Sharp family
The Sharp family was another family that first settled elsewhere in Scott County and wound up at Winfield. James L. Sharp (1816-1893) was a Civil War veteran of the Union army who served as Scott County’s third sheriff in the 1860s. He was the son of James Sharp and Fleming Means of the Buckeye community in Campbell County. After his first wife’s death, he remarried to Mary “Polly” Gibson in 1846. He had a total of 14 children.
Nicholas Sharp, his oldest son, built the two-story motel in Winfield that came to be known as the Hines Motel. It was named for George Hines, who married one of the Sharp daughters.
The Ross family
Alfred C. Ross married Hannah “Honor” Chitwood, the daughter of Daniel and Anna Chitwood, and a granddaughter of James Chitwood, in 1837. Ross died in a Union army camp in London, Ky. in 1861, succumbing to measles. His parents were Samuel Ross and Margaret Gray, who lived in present-day Scott County for a period of time before leaving for Missouri.
Legend has it that Alfred and his 13-year-old son, Joel C. Ross, were forced into the Union army. Both died during the war. Joel was only 16 when he died. He is buried at Annapolis National Cemetery in Maryland.
One of the Ross children was Mary Ross. Her son, Francis Marion Ross, married Mary Orick ,and they raised a large family.
The Murphy family
Winfield’s Murphy family dates back to Archibald Murphy (1818-1894) and Eva “Peggy” Stephens (1821-1891). The Stephens family was from the Jellico Creek area of Kentucky. Archibald and Peggy had a daughter, Sarah Murphy, who married into the Ross family.
Dwight Murphy served as Scott County Mayor on different occasions in the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s. He also served as president of Tennessee College of Applied Technology Oneida/Huntsville for 20 years. He owned Winfield Grocery, which was started by his mother. His father, Edgar Murphy, was a World War II veteran. He is not a direct descendant of Archibald Murphy. Rather, he is descended from Archibald’s brother, Abraham Murphy (1826-1893), who married Matilda Wilson (1832-1898).
The Strunk family
The Strunk family was very prominent just across the state line, in McCreary County, Ky. Daniel Strunk and Hannah “Honor” Pennington were among the McCreary County Strunks. They had a son, Calvin Strunk, who married Mary Elizabeth Cordell and moved to Winfield. They had several children: James William, Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, Malinda, and Melton. Calvin’s brother was Alexander Strunk. Among Alexander’s descendants, Chandler Strunk served as the postmaster in Winfield for 32 years. His son, Paul Strunk, represented Winfield and the 5th District on Scott County Commission on two occasions, and is currently employed as the Winfield city recorder.