The Tennessee Trails Association was founded in 1968 with the original mission of building the Cumberland Trail as a means of demonstrating the feasibility of a state-wide trail system. TTA was incorporated as a non-profit (501c3)organization in 1975. A more complete history of TTA can be found in the book, Hiking Tennessee Trails, originally written by Evan Means, one of the TTA founders, and subsequently revised by Bob Brown, another one of the TTA founders.

This book is out of print, but used copies can sometimes be found in the Virtual Bookstore.