Saturday morning a few minutes after 9:00 am we experienced a 4.1 earthquake. The tremors were felt over a wide range from Georgia to Kentucky and beyond. Here’s a map that shows the event and it’s reach which was mostly centered in East Tennessee, Western North Carolina, and North Georgia. It originated near Greenback, Tennessee, which is about 30 miles or so from Knoxville.
Katie, Ira, and I were in the kitchen. Katie was on the phone talking to Corie.
Paul and Matt were working on our driveways with a rented track-hoe and our tractor. Austin was on his way home from Murphy and Granny was about to get in the bathtub.
It’s amazing how fast our brains work. When I first felt and heard the quake my brain quickly went through various causes. The machinery down the hill (too far away), a helicopter flying really low (the sound and tremor wasn’t changing quick enough for that), and finally my brain computed it was an earthquake and all my senses were in agreement. The whole thing lasted about 30 seconds I would guess and my thought process only last about five seconds.
The earthquake seemed longer than the ones I’ve felt before, but maybe I’m not remembering correctly.
My first thought was Granny. Not that she would be injured, but that she would be scared there had been an accident with the machinery and that someone might be hurt.
Turns out she wasn’t worried at all. She did think it was the machinery, but only that they had decided to come into her yard with it 🙂
Earthquakes are rare in our area, or at least the ones you notice are. They say the earth is constantly shaking.
The ones I’ve experienced are most often about the sound instead of the shaking. The one Saturday was large enough to notice both simultaneously.
Several years ago we had a similar one way up in the middle of the night. It awoke us from a dead sleep. My collection of angels on a dresser by the bed clinked and rattled. One even fell over and broke.
As we clawed our way up from the depths of sleep neither of us said anything but both of us thought explosion! Matt ran out onto the porch in his underwear to see if Steve and Kim’s gas tank had blown up. Once it was over and he returned to bed we both decided it had to have been an earthquake.
In 1916 there was a 5.5 magnitude earthquake in Skyland in Buncombe County North Carolina. And the largest earthquake in East Tennessee was in 1973 near Alcoa with a magnitude of 4.7.
No damage occurred Saturday that I know of in our area, but there’s been a lot of talk about the exciting event.
Tipper
Subscribe for FREE and get a daily dose of Appalachia in your inbox
I apparently slept right through the 1973 Knoxville earthquake. My Mother woke up though. She described it as feeling like a train was running underground.
This was sometime in the 1980’s in Ohio. My husband and I were sitting on the concrete floor in the garage husking fresh corn with the garage door open. We started hearing a roar from a distance and it was getting closer and things started rattling on the shelves. It shook our butts and our bodies on that floor. Our car was sitting just outside the garage and it was shaking up down, and you could see the trees shaking. That was the first earthquake that we ever felt. We went inside and turned on the tv, and sure enough, they said and earthquake had happened. We had no damage.
Just a bit of information concerning the orders of magnitude of earthquakes. This earthquake was assigned a 4.1 on the scale. That doesn’t mean that it is 10% stronger than a 4.0, it is actually twice as strong. A 4.2 would be three times stronger than a 4.0 one and so on. A 5.0 is ten times stronger than a 4.0.
That is my understanding anyway.
The earthquake was certainly felt here in Ellijay! At first I heard increasingly loud rumbling then the whole house started shaking. I thought it was another rare low flying military plane coming back from dropping soldiers off in the mountains for wilderness training. They fly right over my house and it is very loud and everything rattles and vibrates. Then I felt my chair slowly rise and slowly settle down. It did seem like it lasted a long time but was only about 30 seconds or so. Like Randy, with all of the world-wide earthquakes that have happened in the past few years, I think of the Bible and the many verses about earthquakes and the end of time.
Cheryl, read my comment to Barbara, when I would visit my relatives at Chattanooga, I would often cut up through Gainesville, Ga and on through Ellijay. I didn’t like going through Atlanta on the interstates. I think it would be on Hwy 52 and we would always stop at a Hardees when we got to Ellijay, seems like I remember it being by a creek or river, maybe not. Spell check keeps trying to change the Y to a H. I would like to go back across Northern Georgia one more time before I die, but without my wife, I no longer see it happening.
We, here, on the lower west coast of Canada, have had an increasing number of earthquakes the past few months, some more daunting than others. The last one I woke to the sound of the ‘plates’ grinding together right before the shaking started – such an eerie sound – the tremors were such that it even made my body vibrate from the shaking of my bed – things were rattling on shelves and it seemed to last close to a minute. Like Randy mentioned, I too, think of Scripture and the foretelling of earthquakes in the end times.
3:00 AM Sunday morning in central Kentucky, a straight line north of the Tennessee tremor, a 2.8 tremor was felt. There appears to be a pattern with the frequency increasing. In 1980 a quake of 5.2 destroyed buildings in Maysville, Kentucky along the Ohio river and was felt in central Kentucky. The chandeliers clanked and the grass waved.
Wishing a Blessed Day to Tipper and family, and all readers.
I think we have had very small earthquakes in WV before, but I have never actually felt one. The scariest thing that ever happened to us was straight line winds. One day, when my kids were younger and still at home, we were out in the yard playing basketball. It was a beautiful afternoon. All of a sudden, we heard this loud sound and thought it sounded liie really hard rain headed our way. Our neighbors took off to their house and we started running for ours. By the time we got on our front porch, the wind was blowing so hard, I could hardly shut the door. I ran to the bedroom on the side of our house and looked out just in time to see a huge oak tree blowing over. It was like it was in slow motion with the giant roots coming out of the ground. We ran for the basement thinking it was a tornado. Those winds blew down a huge path of trees in our area. My sister-in-law said all the wooden grills popped out of her windows on the side the wind was blowing from. Luckily it didn’t blow out the glass.I will remember that sound the wind made forever. I am so thankful that you and your family were all safe during this latest event. I think feeling an earthquake would be very scary too.
Morning everyone. I lived most of my life in California so earthquakes don’t bother me. I lived one year in Palm Springs CA, for school. Within a few days, an earthquake. I moved up to the CA mountains, a few days later, an earthquake. For some reason I didn’t think mountains had earthquakes. I retired to Arkansas, a few days after moving in, an earthquake. My son and me looked at each other and laughed. Our old cat didn’t even open his eyes. Earthquakes never scared me. I thought it was because we left Canada when I was 3 years old so I was used to them. But no one, I mean no one in my family blinks when the earth moves. Except my mom, she was a drama queen. But a tornado? That I am afraid of. Anna from Arkansas.
I was praying you were all okay. When I found out the epicenter was.
Love you all
I live on Signal Mountain, TN (near Chattanooga when I went in to the kitchen hen I heard the glasses tinkling in the china cabinet but nothing other than that.
Love you and your family Tipper. Prayers for Granny.
Barbara, my aunt by marriage grew up almost within site of the bottom parking lot of the Incline Railroad. After my uncle married her, they lived on James Avenue off of East Brainerd Road. I often heard her speak of Signal Mountain, Soddy Daisy and some of the other areas around Chattanooga. They are both now dead and are buried in the cemetery near the bottom of the Incline Railroad. It has been almost 30 years since I have been there.
I’m glad everyone was ok. I lived in Alaska for many years until I moved to Colorado last summer. I’ve been through a lot of earthquakes.
The one in 2018 was the worse. It measured a 7.2 at first. Later they changed it to 7.1. I’ve used the word “terrified” before but never accurately until that morning. I was truly terrified!
It traumatized me and my dog for some time to come.
The space shuttle disaster of the Challenger occurred on January 28, 1986, and on January 31, 1986, a few days later an earthquake of 5.0 magnitude occurred in Lake County, Ohio. I was home alone, and the entire house felt like it was going to crumble down upon me. I tried to exit by the patio doors which were next to me in the family room, but they were jammed. I thought a gas well had blown up next to us, then I thought someone had run off the road and hit the house, or the furnace had exploded.
I opened the basement door, and the furnace was humming along and there were no other incidents I could see. I found the neighbors looking up at their chimney to see if it had fell on the house, but it was intact. The neighbor asked, “What was that?” It finally dawned on me and I said, “I think it was an earthquake.” The next day an aftershock occurred which felt like someone grabbed the house and gave it one big shake. At the time I remember thinking ‘what in the world is happening?’ I thought of what the Bible says about the many afflictions the earth will see before the Lord returns. In August we moved to Virginia. On August 23, 2011. I was living in Charlottesville, Va and was shopping in a Staples store when we had a 5.8 magnitude earthquake. Both earthquakes started as rumblings with explosions and the buildings shaking. I could definitely feel that this one felt stronger than the one in Ohio. Then last Tuesday May 6, 2025, we experienced a 3.0 magnitude. My daughter and I were talking in the living room when we heard a rumble with an explosion and the house shook a little. First thing we said was, “an earthquake!”
I somehow manage to always miss any of the rare earthquakes we have in our area in some way or another. Likely the same ones you mentioned that hit in the middle of the night in past, they merely woke me up briefly, but I didn’t even realize what had happened. I thought the dog had jumped around or something in the room on that middle of the night one years back. This last one on Saturday, I was filling-in on the Saturday morning “Swap & Shop” show at the radio station I work for in South Pittsburg, and we’d just gone on the air when it happened. Neither myself or the producer felt it — but we started getting flooded with calls from listeners about it, which is how I even initially learned about it. The station’s studios are right along the Tennessee River near the Lodge foundry building and adjacent to railroad tracks and a concrete plant, so vibrations and bumps and such aren’t uncommon between trains and big trucks…add to that the station’s on a concrete slab foundation, which might’ve reduced the shake a bit. I’ve always heard that earthquakes lead to gold showing up in some of our local streams and branches in East Tennessee that shakes loose after a seismic event. This has been especially true in the Cherokee National Forest around Coker Creek and the Tellico River. Gold was discovered there back in the 1820s, so I wonder if folks will be out panning the tributaries now following this?! I think they have to get a permit from the Forestry office, but otherwise it’s pretty cool to think some of Appalachia’s hills are filled with a bit of gold!
We felt the earthquake here on the Cumberland Plateau. It was very minor and really only caused some glassware in our hutch to clink together.
Yes, the earth is not as solid a ground as we think. One might even say it is a ‘restless earth’. A friend send the map from US Geological Survey and I zoomed up to see the center of the quake. per USGS it was either 24 or 27 miles deep underneath the Little Tennessee River valley about where the Parson’s Branch Road out of Cades Cove joins US 129 (the Dragon’s Tail to the motorcycle folks). I’m like Randy, I think of “earthquakes in divers places” nowadays. On any given day, the USGS logs earthquakes for the day from all over the world (no idea how they know) and the number is astonishing. I believe I am correct in thinking the Lord said we would “hear of” the wars and earthquakes. And ever since electronic communications began we do hear of them, whether we feel them or not. We happen to live on the northern edge of the Brevard Fault that runs from near Brevard, NC across all of Georgia and into Alabama. Its official status is “inactive”. Glad you all are OK and there was no damage but if it makes some folks think it will serve a good purpose.
I was at my kitchen island with my old kitty on my lap in Blue Ridge, GA. My pot rack went to rattling, the house shook and my 40 yr old parrot went flapping and squawking in the loft. My husband ran outside as we thought maybe a plane had crashed! We soon realized it had to be an earthquake. It was a long 30 seconds for sure!
Me and mama were talking about the earthquake and realizing that neither of us has ever felt any of the ones that others felt here in Haywood county, and we’ve lived in the area all our lives. That being said, me and my husband were still in bed sleeping in since it was the weekend and we both woke up right around 9 so that must have been why. It must have jarred us just enough to rouse us from sleep but not enough to realize that was the reason why we woke up at the same time. Fine by me though…I believe I’d rather have the ground stay good and steady under my feet instead of trying to take off under there!
Tipper, I just want to tell you how much I enjoy your blog! I like the comments that folks share, and especially the ones about recipes. Y’all make me hungry!
I’m glad the earthquake wasn’t more serious. We had one that I remember about 35 years ago. It was pretty scary because I was on the sixth floor of my workplace when the building shook and the chandaliers swayed. We’ve had a couple of tiny ones since then, but Wisconsin doesn’t get them often.
Thanks again for your blog. I read it every morning before I get out of bed and it’s fun to see ” what Tipper has up her sleeve today”. God bless you and all your readers!
Catherine, thank you!
I live in San Diego, CA & we had a 4.6 earthquake last month. It was a noisy one with a roar coming from the ground, it seemed. My car jumped out of his bed & we both looked at each other. I was on the phone with my brother at the time & we both said “earthquake”!
Tennessee is where the big earthquake of 1811 occurred which created Reelfoot Lake, & there are areas where you can see the huge shift in the earth.
I’ve never been in an earthquake and hope never to experience that. However, as climate & other weather things are changing, it would not surprise me if one shook our ground one day. Glad everyone is okay & hope there was no damage anywhere.
When I was in South America (Ecuador) earthquakes happened all the time. I got pretty good at detecting them from my bunk, just moving about and even on a Blackhawk waiting for lift off. (I thought it was the pilots shaking and carrying on because they got a real kick out of making me throw up.) Once I was laying on a lounge chair in a hangar and when I felt tremors, I explained NOTHING to anybody and shagged outa there at break neck speed with all of the troops looking, but way too slow to action. I was gone before they realized what happened but I knew I didn’t need a bunch of steel beams on my head and there was no time to talk…often I feel tremors sitting right here at the house and it’s way more often than would make a person relax… you’d be surprised at what’s happening all around you. Stay alert and you’ll stay alive… I’m delighted you’re all in peak health and not a hair on the babies or granny’s precious heads was harmed in the least…I awoke to my back yard tomatoes buried above their necks in standing rain so I find myself laughing and ready to kick the weather man where it counts…the Lord told me what can be shaken will be shaken and He hadn’t got warmed up just yet and it will be years of shaking in every aspect of what we know. It will all change shortly in the blink of an eye. A time of great change and knowing is coming ‘round that no man can lie, change or hide from…
A month or so ago we had one here in the Los Angeles area that was I believe about 3.4. That’s a relatively small quake but it felt much stronger. The reason being, the epicenter was less than a mile from where I live. Growing up in California I’ve felt my share of earthquakes, some much larger, but that was the closest I’ve ever been to the epicenter.
On Aug 31, 1886, there was a large (M 7.0) scale earthquake centered near Charleston, SC. The USGS has a nice summary at https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/ushis251/impact.
It was felt as far away as Milwaukee and Cuba. The following day, in the Clayton (NC) Bud Newspaper had a brief note which read:
It is now apparent that the end of time is near, and the order to straighten up my business before that time, I respectfully ask all who are indebted to me in any way to come forward and settle at once; by so doing it will enable me to meet eternity with much more ease.
Respectfully,
W.B. Penny
We felt it here on the NC/SC border. It took a couple of seconds to realize what it was. We experienced several of them in Arizona and California and it was almost a weekly event there. This one surprised us.
Earthquakes are scary. Last year, up here in Massachusetts, we felt “The New Jersey Earthquake”. My whole house shook like somebody grabbed it and was shaking it. I’m told by experts that our east coast is made up of old, cold, rock. Our west coast is made up of new, hot, rock. So each coast experiences earthquakes differently. In California they “roll”, and over here they “shake”. I’m glad you had no damage and nobody was hurt. Lots of love.
When I lived in southern Ohio in a house built in 1801, we had an earthquake about 1980. The whole house creaked and swayed but I first thought it was my rambunctious 4 sons playing upstairs so I yelled, ‘You boys better settle down!’
The rattling of an earthquake can be scary! We had one hit our area 20 years ago, my husband was in the shower I was getting dressed and we were both getting ready for work. I felt the house shake and heard the clinking of glassware around our house. If I remember right it was under a 4 on the richter scale, but still strong enough to feel it. Glad to know that no damage happened for you all.
Even though my area was supposed to be able to feel it, I didn’t notice it. Here lately in SC, there has been several small earthquakes near the Columbia area of SC. I think of the Bible and the many verses about earthquakes and especially the ones about earthquakes and the end of time.