Tennessee
Buying Land in Humphreys County, Tennessee
County seat Waverly, on the Tennessee River / Kentucky Lake corridor between Nashville and the Land Between the Lakes region. Humphreys County has no countywide zoning ordinance -- only its two incorporated towns regulate land use directly -- and its most-searched history, the 1978 Waverly tank-car explosion, still shapes how the county thinks about hazardous rail and highway corridors near town.
A Kentucky Lake county with no countywide zoning
Humphreys County sits in Middle Tennessee along the Tennessee River, with New Johnsonville directly on Kentucky Lake's eastern shore and Waverly, the county seat, a short drive inland along U.S. 70. That puts the county in the same broad Tennessee River corridor as the Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area in Stewart County to the north, even though LBL itself doesn't extend into Humphreys -- worth knowing if you're comparing recreational land here against LBL-adjacent Stewart County parcels covered elsewhere on this site.
Under the state's County Zoning Enabling Act, Humphreys County's legislative body has the option to adopt countywide zoning, but this research pass found no evidence it has done so: the county is named among Tennessee counties that opted out of the state fire marshal's residential building-code jurisdiction, land-listing sites specifically market unincorporated Humphreys County parcels as unrestricted or zoning-free, and the county's own Planning Commission fee schedule (Resolution 202512-6, $250 for a minor subdivision of 1-3 lots, $400 plus $25 per lot for four or more) covers subdivision plat review rather than zoning administration. That's an absence-of-evidence finding rather than a guarantee -- confirm current status with the Humphreys County Planning Commission directly. What is confirmed: Waverly and McEwen each run their own municipal zoning department (Waverly Codes: 931-296-4300; McEwen Zoning and Planning Commission: 931-582-6211), so a parcel inside either town's limits is a different, more regulated question than one in unincorporated county land.
Septic goes through the state, not a county health department
Tennessee's statewide septic framework (TDEC Rule 0400-48-01) applies here as everywhere in the state, but who actually processes your permit differs county to county. Humphreys does not appear among Tennessee's small set of "contract counties" -- Blount, Davidson, Hamilton, Jefferson, Knox, Madison, Sevier, Shelby, and Williamson -- that run their own delegated septic program through a county health department. That means for a Humphreys County parcel, TDEC's own Nashville Environmental Field Office (615-687-7000) handles the site evaluation, construction permit, and inspection directly, rather than county environmental-health staff. Budget for state-agency scheduling and ask specifically about current turnaround times, since TDEC has been rolling out GIS-based permit tracking that has shifted processing timelines in recent years.
Soil in Humphreys County runs from river-bottom alluvium along the Tennessee River and Kentucky Lake shoreline to steeper, more clay-heavy upland terrain further from the water -- both extremes carry their own perc-test complications, so treat a favorable soil evaluation on a similar nearby tract as a starting expectation, not a substitute for testing your specific lot.
The 1978 Waverly disaster and what it does (and doesn't) mean for land buyers today
On the night of February 22, 1978, twenty-four cars of a 92-car Louisville & Nashville Railroad freight train derailed in downtown Waverly, including two tank cars loaded with liquefied propane. Two days later, at roughly 2:58 p.m. on February 24, while cleanup crews worked the wreck, propane vapor was spotted leaking from tank car 83013; within seconds it ruptured in a Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosion. Sixteen people were killed, including Waverly's police and fire chiefs, more than 200 were injured, and a substantial part of the town's old downtown business district was destroyed. It remains one of the deadliest hazardous-materials rail disasters in U.S. history and is documented in detail by the Tennessee State Museum, Waverly Public Safety's own historical account, and regional news retrospectives.
For a land buyer today, the direct practical relevance is narrow: it's a downtown-Waverly historical event, not a hazard affecting rural land generally, and the town has been rebuilt for nearly five decades since. Where it's worth a moment's thought is if you're evaluating a commercial or residential parcel close to the active rail corridor through Waverly itself -- ask about any recorded easements, buffer requirements, or emergency-response planning tied to that corridor, since a disaster of this scale tends to leave a longer institutional memory in local safety planning than it does in the land records themselves.
Who to Call Before Buying Land in Humphreys County
A follow-up research pass (2026-09) independently re-confirms TDEC's Nashville Environmental Field Office as the septic-permitting authority for Humphreys County via TDEC's own field-office service-area listing, rather than the "contract county" list alone. Current staff, hours, fees, and the county's zoning status for unincorporated land should still be confirmed directly before relying on this page.
Planning & Zoning
Humphreys County Planning Commission
Subdivision plat review fees and current zoning status of unincorporated county land.
Planning & Zoning
City of Waverly Codes Department
Zoning and building-code questions for parcels inside Waverly city limits.
Planning & Zoning
McEwen Zoning and Planning Commission
Zoning and land-use questions for parcels inside McEwen town limits.
Septic / Onsite Wastewater
TDEC Nashville Environmental Field Office
Septic site evaluations and construction permits under statewide Rule 0400-48-01, since Humphreys is not a delegated "contract county."
Recorder / Clerk / Land Records
Humphreys County Register of Deeds
Recorded deeds, easements, and title history for a specific parcel.
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Get local guidanceSources
- Humphreys County, Tennessee — Wikipedia (accessed 2026-09)
- Humphreys County Planning Commission — Humphreys County, TN Government (accessed 2026-09)
- Waverly, February 24, 1978: One of the worst disasters in TN history — WKRN-TV (accessed 2026-09)
- Waverly, Tennessee, tank car explosion — Wikipedia (accessed 2026-09)
- Waverly Tank Car Explosion — Waverly Public Safety (accessed 2026-09)
- Tragedy and Triumph in 'Walk Through Fire' — Tennessee State Museum (accessed 2026-09)
- Nashville Environmental Field Office — Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) (accessed 2026-09)
- Division of Water Resources Contacts by Region — Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) (accessed 2026-09)
Last reviewed 2026-09