Like much of Sevier County, Emert's Cove was a
Cherokee hunting ground before the
colonization of the area. After the Battle of
Boyds Creek and several violent incidents between the Cherokee and the settlers to the west in what is now
Cocke County, the Cherokee were induced to sign the
Treaty of Dumplin Creek in 1785, ceding what is now Sevier County to the
State of Franklin. Among the first Euro-American settlers to move into the newly gained territory was Frederick Emert (1754–1829), who arrived with his family sometime between 1785 and 1793. Emert was born in Pennsylvania to German immigrants. He fought in the
American Revolution for the Continental Army, and probably saw action at the
Battle of Brandywine Creek. In 2000, the residents of Pittman Center erected the Emert's Cove Covered Bridge in his honor. Other settlers arrived in Emert's Cove with Emert in 1785. Among them was
Johan Martin Shultz (1740–1787), a Revolutionary War surgeon that had served alongside Emert and John Sevier in the "Overmountain Men" in the
Battle of King's Mountain. Shultz's son, Martin S.E. Shultz, would go on to marry Emert's daughter, Barbara Ann. Another important settler was Daniel Wesley Reagan (1803–1892), whose parents and grandparents were among the first settlers in what is now
Gatlinburg. Many residents of Pittman Center are descended from these early settlers.
The Pittman Community Center In 1910, a survey of Tennessee found Sevier County to be most in need of educational facilities. In spite of the establishment of a
settlement school in Gatlinburg by the
Pi Beta Phi fraternity in 1912, education in the region was still appallingly lacking. To help remedy this situation, Dr. John Burnett, a
Methodist minister who visited the Smokies in 1919, envisioned the establishment of a large-scale school in the area that would operate with virtually no tuition rates. Later that year, the
Methodist Episcopal Church endorsed Burnett's plan at its annual meeting, and with the help of Reverend Eli Pittman of
Elmira, New York, Burnett secured $15,000 for the project. In 1920, Burnett purchased Garfield Scott's farm just above the confluence of Webb Creek and the Middle Fork of the Little Pigeon River. This plot of land would become the core of the new school's campus. In late 1920, Burnett's new settlement school, which he named "Pittman Community Center" in honor of Reverend Pittman, opened with an enrollment of 100. The school eventually expanded to include , 15 buildings, and 240 students operating on an annual budget of $9,000. The buildings included a general store, post office, and a small hospital. The Pittman School supported itself by canning tomatoes and growing apples, with students doing all the maintenance work. In 1955, the Sevier County Board of Education purchased the Pittman School, and the school was combined with the
Pi Beta Phi High School in Gatlinburg to form Gatlinburg-Pittman High School in 1963. The only building remaining from the Pittman school is the Home Economics building, which the Methodist Episcopal Church gave to the town after its incorporation for use as its city hall. In 1996, the building was placed on the
National Register of Historic Places.
Municipal incorporation In 1974 the community
incorporated as the town of Pittman Center, which includes both the former Pittman Community Center campus and Emert's Cove. The Town of Pittman Center provides police services with a police department consisting of a Chief of Police and three full time patrol officers. ==Geography==