It's got a courthouse on Broadway, a packed beauty parlor and now Newport has another black mayor.
The town of 7,000, near the North Carolina border in rural Cocke County, is 93 percent white--a statistic which makes this distinction even more notable.
Roland Dykes III took office five weeks ago, but it's a role he is familiar with: the town's first black mayor was his father.
"We are, I think the only one--we've done a little research--the only county in East Tennessee that has elected two black mayors," Dykes said.
Their elections haven't been without incident.
In 2002, the Klan held a rally to protest his father's position.
"There are always going to be people who for whatever reason do not like black folks," Dykes said. "You know, I don't understand it but there are those folks out there and I'm sure we have some in Newport."
Around the time of the Klan rally, someone burned a cross on the front lawn of the Dykes family home.
At the time, Dykes Jr.--the current mayor's father--said that behavior didn't represent the Newport he knew.
"I don't believe that it's the sentiments of the community," he told 10News.
Thursday, almost 15 years after his dad's death in 2005, his son agrees.
"The good people always outweigh the bad," he said.
And he's heard from plenty of those good people since being elected.
"I have received a number of phone calls, emails, text messages from people around the country," Dykes said.
As he learns the ropes of running a city (economic development is at the top of his agenda) and reflects on the historic accomplishment he's already made.
"I think the election itself was progress," he said. "I couldn't have envisioned it for myself or for him to be honest with you, but it happened."