Tennessee, abandoned mine maps

Tennessee Abandoned Mine Maps

The two federal files record 716 underground mine openings in Tennessee, shafts, adits and tunnels drawn on the historical topographic sheets, alongside 3,720 old mine sites. This page shows where they are, who holds the maps, and what to do if the ground moves.

Information only, no guarantee: read the limits at the foot of this page before you act on anything here.

This page

What this page is

Every office on this page was opened and checked on Oct. 22, 2026.

The 716 underground mine openings in Tennessee are spread across 94 counties, and the heaviest of them is Marion County with 149. An opening on a historical sheet is a shaft, an adit or a tunnel that was drawn where the surveyor found it, so it marks a way into workings that run on underground, away from the point.

Tennessee's coal regulatory program was run by OSMRE until the state took it back; the state AML program is in TDEC.

Everything here can be wrong. This is information, not a guarantee: the two federal files can be wrong, incomplete or out of date, the boundaries and the geocoder can be wrong, a point is a location and not a property line, and nothing on this page says that a mine is or is not under any particular property. Do not buy, sell, move, or make any decision about a home or about your safety on this alone. Ask the state mine map office named here for the maps, and have a qualified engineer look at the ground.

Start here

Official Tennessee mine record sources

Every card goes to the office that holds the record. Use the category buttons to narrow the list.

Filter by type

Showing 7 official sources

Official

Federal

OSMRE National Mine Map Repository

The federal archive of maps of closed and abandoned mines, searchable by state, county, company and mine name; the images are sent on request through the map request form.

mmr.osmre.gov
Open official site OSMRE National Mine Map Repository
Official

Federal

OSMRE e-AMLIS

The federal inventory of abandoned mine land problems and the reclamation work funded against them, state by state and county by county.

amlis.osmre.gov
Open official site OSMRE e-AMLIS
Official

Federal

USGS USMIN topographic mine features

The national file of adits, shafts, pits and quarries digitised from the historical topographic sheets, each with the sheet name and the survey year.

mrdata.usgs.gov
Open official site USGS USMIN topographic mine features

The map

Tennessee mine workings on one map

To look at one address, one ZIP code or one town instead of the whole state, open the mine map hub search and enter it there: it takes a street address, a ZIP code or your browser location and lists what sits within the radius you choose.

Who keeps what

Who keeps which mine records in Tennessee?

What you needOffice or archiveWhat it can tell you
Maps of the workings themselvesTDEC Mining, Data and Map ViewersThe mine name, the seam, the year the map was certified and whether your area is inside a mapped working
An open hole, a shaft or a subsidence emergencyTDEC Abandoned Mine Lands ProgramReport it to this office; call 911 first if anyone is in danger
The geology, the seams and the published mappingTDEC Division of Mineral and Geologic Resources (Tennessee Geological Survey)Which seams were worked in your county and what the state has digitised
A map of a closed mine the state does not holdOSMRE National Mine Map RepositoryThe federal archive of more than 275,000 mine maps, searched by state, county, company and mine name
Whether a reclamation project is on record near youOSMRE e-AMLISThe federal inventory of abandoned mine land problems and the work funded on them

County by county

Tennessee counties with recorded mine workings

94 counties have a record in one of the two federal files. Ranked by underground openings first, because an opening is a way into workings that run on underground.

CountyUnderground openingsMapped featuresOld mine sites
Marion County1493657
Campbell County1403182
Scott County55650
Morgan County482120
Anderson County4418710
Fentress County426814
Van Buren County42526
Hamilton County3023320
Claiborne County2077162
White County19346
Polk County183330
Sequatchie County141310
Rhea County13673
Maury County1184161
Overton County10349
Bledsoe County8652
Jefferson County62730
Williamson County53153
Dickson County51449
Cumberland County332712
Hickman County351139
Grundy County31212
Roane County34823
Putnam County31531
Pickett County388
Humphreys County376
Knox County2107162
Franklin County2459
Coffee County21815
Rutherford County2177
Macon County2514
Lewis County14876
DeKalb County1799
Grainger County11521
Perry County1288
Meigs County1224
Warren County1119
Monroe County042316
Henry County072147
Hardin County013258
Carter County032151
Johnson County028145
McMinn County037103
Blount County05370
Unicoi County016107
Benton County05860
Lawrence County08434
Shelby County07840
Loudon County04473
Wayne County05558
Greene County02882
Weakley County03271
Sullivan County05445
Cocke County01872
Carroll County0779
Union County01758
Giles County02938
Stewart County02540
Bradley County03032
Hawkins County03428
Decatur County04712
Davidson County03617
Sevier County01439
Fayette County02032
McNairy County03418
Washington County01635
Hancock County01330
Jackson County0043
Henderson County0438
Madison County0435
Obion County02316
Marshall County0325
Lauderdale County01224
Hardeman County0430
Smith County0429
Wilson County0725
Bedford County0263
Clay County0425
Cannon County0424
Hamblen County01115
Montgomery County01016
Sumner County0719
Lincoln County0165
Gibson County0017
Tipton County0161
Moore County088
Chester County0113
Robertson County066
Trousdale County0111
Dyer County025
Haywood County006
Cheatham County011
Houston County001
Lake County010

Town by town

Towns in Tennessee with workings inside the town limits

30 towns with the most records inside its own boundary, of 164 towns that hold one.

The real document

How to get the mine map itself

TDEC Mining, Data and Map Viewers is the state route in Tennessee. The division's data and map viewers for mining in Tennessee.

OSMRE National Mine Map Repository is the federal archive. It holds maps of more than 275,000 closed and abandoned mines, the images are not downloadable, and they are sent on request: search the repository by state, county, company or mine name, then ask for the sheet by its number through the map request form or at nmmr@osmre.gov.

A mine map is the only document that shows the rooms, the pillars and the depth of cover under a given piece of ground. A point in either federal file is a location, not a property line, and it says nothing about what lies under any particular house.

Emergency

If the ground moves in Tennessee

If the ground has opened, if a hole is swallowing water or soil, if a wall or a floor has moved suddenly, or if anyone could fall in, call 911 first. A subsidence hole can keep opening, and the edge of it is not safe to stand on.

When nobody is in immediate danger, TDEC Abandoned Mine Lands Program is the office to call in Tennessee. Tennessee's state abandoned mine land program under the Division of Mineral and Geologic Resources.

Then tell the people who need the record of it: your insurer, your county emergency management office, and, if the hole is in a road or a right of way, the authority that maintains it. Photograph it with something in the frame for scale, write down the date and the time, and keep measuring it, because how fast it grows is what an engineer will ask about first.

Signs worth reporting before anything opens: doors and windows that stop closing, new cracks that run at an angle across a wall, a floor or a drive that dips, a sudden wet patch or a dry well, and a smell of sulphur or a warm patch of ground where snow melts first.

Cover

Mine subsidence insurance in Tennessee

Tennessee runs no state mine subsidence insurance programme. Cover, where an insurer offers it at all, is an endorsement on a homeowner policy, and a standard policy excludes earth movement, which is what mine subsidence is.

Ask your own insurer in writing whether the policy covers subsidence from mining, and keep the answer. Seven states run a programme of their own: Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois and Wyoming, with a protection programme in Colorado.

The data

What the federal files hold for Tennessee

The topographic file holds 4,386 mapped mine features inside Tennessee, 716 of them underground openings. The sheets they were drawn on were surveyed between 1934 and 2003. The commonest kinds are open pit mine or quarry, quarry and adit.

The mineral file holds 3,720 worked or prospected sites in Tennessee, 3,695 of them named, with 2,031 sites recorded as a past producer. The commodities most often named are stone, iron and clay.

How the counting was done: every point in both files was placed inside the Census TIGER 2024 county and place boundaries by its own coordinates, not by the county name written in the file, because that name is blank or wrong often enough to matter. A point that falls outside every boundary is counted in no county and no town.

What the counts are not: a count of mines under houses. A single opening can lead to workings that run for miles, and a working with no opening on a sheet is in no count at all. Only a mine map shows the rooms, and only the offices named above hold the maps.

Everything here can be wrong. This is information, not a guarantee: the two federal files can be wrong, incomplete or out of date, the boundaries and the geocoder can be wrong, a point is a location and not a property line, and nothing on this page says that a mine is or is not under any particular property. Do not buy, sell, move, or make any decision about a home or about your safety on this alone. Ask the state mine map office named here for the maps, and have a qualified engineer look at the ground.

Straight answers

Tennessee mine map questions

Open only the answer you need.

Can I find out whether a mine is under my house?

Not from this page and not from either federal file. A point is a location, not a property line. The only document that shows the workings under a given piece of ground is the mine map, and in Tennessee you ask TDEC Mining, Data and Map Viewers for it.

Who do I call in Tennessee if the ground opens up?

Call 911 first if anyone could be hurt. After that TDEC Abandoned Mine Lands Program is the office to tell.

Where do the numbers on this page come from?

Two federal files: the USGS Mineral Resources Data System and the USGS USMIN file of mine features digitised from the historical topographic sheets. Every point was placed inside the Census 2024 county and place boundaries by its own coordinates. For Tennessee that is 4,386 mapped mine features and 3,720 old mine sites.

Does homeowner insurance cover mine subsidence in Tennessee?

A standard policy excludes earth movement, and mine subsidence is earth movement. Tennessee runs no state subsidence programme, so ask your own insurer in writing whether any endorsement is available and keep the answer.

What does an underground opening on an old map mean?

It means a surveyor drew a shaft, an adit or a tunnel mouth at that spot when the sheet was made. It is a way in. The workings it leads to can run a long way from it, and the map of those workings is a separate document held by the offices named on this page.

Which Tennessee counties have the most recorded workings?

By underground openings first: Marion with 149 openings and 365 mapped features; Campbell with 140 openings and 318 mapped features; Scott with 55 openings and 65 mapped features. Each county page lists the named workings inside it and carries its own map.

Is this an official government source?

No. This is a public records guide. The offices it names and links are the official sources, and everything on this page can be wrong: check it with them before you act on it.