Skullbone, Tennessee — The History Behind Gibson County's Most Unusual Name

Few Tennessee place names invite as many questions as Skullbone, a community in northeastern Gibson County that has long styled itself the capital of the loosely defined "Kingdom of Skullbonia." Two competing stories explain the name, and both are worth preserving.

The first credits a man named Allen Maxey, said to have had an exceptionally hard skull. For the amusement of onlookers, he reportedly allowed people to strike the top of his head in exchange for a drink of whisky. The second, more commonly repeated account ties the name to local bare-knuckle fighting, a tradition where blows to the skull were common, popular in the community until such fights were outlawed in the 1860s.

The community had gone by other names before Skullbone stuck, including North Gibson and Skin Bone. The name became official on April 26, 1898, the day a United States Post Office opened under the Skullbone name. That post office operated until December 24, 1903. The "Kingdom of Skullbonia" identity has outlasted the post office itself, still used informally to describe a loosely bounded area of northeastern Gibson County and, by some accounts, parts of neighboring counties as well.