Poor Valley

{{Short description|Valley in Tennessee and Virginia, US}}

{{Infobox valley

|name=Poor Valley

|photo=East Tennessee Crossing - The Lakes of the Crossing from Clinch Mountain - NARA - 7718101.jpg

|photo_caption=Cherokee Lake as seen from Clinch Mountain in Poor Valley

|photo_size=300px

|map_image=

|map_caption=

}}

Poor Valley is a valley in Grainger County, Tennessee, Hawkins County, Tennessee, Hancock County, Tennessee, Scott County, Virginia, Washington County, Virginia, and Smyth County, Virginia, United States. A variant name is Big Poor Valley.{{GNIS|1303523}}

Poor Valley was named from the poor soil found there.{{cite book|last=Addington|first=Robert M.|title=History of Scott County, Virginia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n2pWQWkA1cUC&pg=PA11|date=1 January 1992|publisher=The Overmountain Press|isbn=978-0-932807-67-0|page=11}}

A 1,900-2,200 acre portion of the valley in western Hawkins County was proposed and planned as state park known as Poor Valley State Park in order to promote economic development efforts in the upper East Tennessee region, the plan would stall in the 1970s.{{cite news |last1=Hodge |first1=Tom |title=Poor Valley State Park Proposed For ET Area |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/587415828/ |access-date=May 12, 2021 |work=Johnson City Press |date=March 31, 1957}}{{cite news |last1=Johnston |first1=Sheila |title=Poor Valley Park: The Wait Goes On |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/592754050/ |access-date=May 12, 2021 |work=Kingsport Times-News |date=October 27, 1976}}