The oldest existing frame house in Tennessee, the Carter Mansion in Elizabethton was built in the 1770s by John Carter — the first settler in the Watauga Association territory — and survives as a remarkably complete example of frontier plantation architecture on the Watauga River. Tennessee State Parks manages the site with seasonal guided tours interpreting the Carter family's role in establishing the first American settlement west of the Appalachians. A profound piece of foundational American frontier history hiding in plain sight.