Yeah Jackson County, Tennessee has a pretty rough history in general, going back at least to the 1800s and further iirc. When I was about 13 in the mid-70s, I lived in Cookeville, in Putnam County, which borders Jackson County. Where I lived we were maybe 5-10 miles from Jackson County and about 20 miles or so miles from Gainesboro, which is the biggest town in Jackson County with less than 1000 people. Putnam County is rolling hills, now along I-40. Jackson County is rough, beautiful foothill country, which probably explains why so few people live there. I can remember my Dad, Papa, my uncles, etc shooting the shit about all kinds of different trouble they got up to back in the day. There was one recurring theme that stood out to us soon-to-be driver's licensed boys. "Don't fuck around in Jackson County". The olds told us those people are 'mean as shit', 'rather cut you than look at you', 'mean enough to keep out the black folks, and a whole lot more'. 'Don't think they'll give a damn about you just because you're white', they told us.
The gist was that the area is overrun with criminals of all sorts - moonshiners, their runners, squatters, people just hiding from the law, etc, etc. Law is crooked. Everyone's on the take. Can't trust any of 'em, so if you go in there, you're on your own. They said there's just no point going up there because generally the best outcome would be if you get back home without getting robbed and/or cut and/or shot, white or otherwise. Say one wrong word or look at someone or their girl the wrong way, and you're in for some seriously bad shit, so don't bother. Basically a whole county full of violent, lawless freaks, kinda like the bar in Mos Eisley, the caravan park in Snatch, or the break room in the Trump White House. Sounds like nothing much has changed. Out in those hills, time moves a lot slower. For an idea of the kinda folk I'm referring to, check out the movie "Lawless", about the Bondurant family in the 20s in Viginia.