The Holston River was named after Stephen Holston, who built a cabin on the upper reaches of the river in 1746. Holston Mountain was named after the Holston River.
The Holston River is a major river system of southwestern Virginia and Eastern Tennessee. The three major folks of the Holston River (its North, Middle and South Folks) rise in southwestern Virginia and have their confluence near Kingsport, Tennessee. From there, the river flows roughly southwestward, just north of Bays Mountain, until it reaches its confluence with the French Broad River just east of downtown Knoxville, Tennessee. This confluence is considered to be the headwaters of the Tennessee River.
Although today's Holston River ends at the French Broad River to form the Tennessee River at its mile post 652 in Knoxville, the Holston River did not originally end there. Until 1933, the Holston River flowed past Knoxville and continued to its confluence with the Little Tennessee River at Lenoir City, 51 miles downstream from its confluence with the Ohio River at Paducah, Kentucky.
The Holston River valley is greatly developed for electrical power generation, both with hydroelectric dams and coal-fired steam plants. In its upper reaches, some of these plants are controlled by private interests; in the downstream portion, they are owned by the United States Governments Tennessee Valley Authority.