There’s no place like Greene County.  But which one?

Greene County, Virginia, is one of more than a dozen Greene counties that occupy states in this country.
Some have similarities: Greene County, New York, for example, is near mountains, though “I expect ours are a little bigger,“ says Daniella Marino, that Greene County’s director of tourism.
A difference is that though New York’s Greene County borders the mountains, it has a river - the Hudson - on its other side.
In Greene County, New York, when ski season is over, trout season begins.  Marino says winter is “the time of year when hotels and restaurants close and (the owners and staff) take off for vacation.“
Aside from Greene County, New York, there’s a Greene County, Alabama, a Greene County, Arkansas, a Greene County, Georgia, a Greene County, Illinois, a Greene County, Indiana, and a Greene County Mississippi.
There is also a Greene County, Missouri, a Greene County, North Carolina, a Greene County, Ohio, a Greene County Pennsylvania, and a Greene County Tennessee.
In addition, there’s a village in the town of Coventry, Rhode Island, called Greene.
Of the counties, Greene County, Missouri is the most populous, with a United States census count of 240,391 residents as of 2000.
That county also claims a lot of famous people as its own, including the politician John Ashcroft, Game Show Host Bob Barker of “The Price is Right”,  actors Brad Pitt, John Goodman and Kathleen Turner,  The Jordonaires singing group, Mafia chieftan John Gotti, the Oklahoma City bomber, Timothy McVeigh, and 1993 World Trade Center bomber Ramzi Yousef.
Greene County, Alabama, is the smallest in population, with a 2000 census count of 9,974.
The others fall somewhere in between those two numbers, and some have features - or histories that make them stand out from the others.
Greene County, Ohio, reportedly is home to six colleges. Some residents of Gainesville, in Greene County, Arkansas, were so upset when the county seat was moved from their town to the new town of Paragould in 1883 that they went so far as to fire shots.
Greene County, Tennessee, boasts its rich historical past on its website, mentioning President Andrew Johnson’s early home and homestead, as well as his ghost, which is said to walk the tailor shop where he worked and where “many spirited debates occurred.“ That Greene County is also home to Davy Crockett Birthplace State Park with its replica of the cabin in which Crockett was born.
Undoubtedly, the Greene counties scattered across the eastern part of the country all have their differences, but they all have one thing in common: they were established prior to the 20th century and they were all named for the Revolutionary War General Nathanael Greene.
When the Revolutionary War began, Greene was a militia private, the lowest rank possible, according to historical documentation.
But Greene emerged from the war with the reputation as George Washington’s most gifted and dependable officer.
The son of a Quaker whose sect discouraged “literary accomplishments,“ Greene educated himself, with a special study of mathematics, history of military tactics and the law.
When he was 28, Greene moved to the town of Coventry, Rhode Island - which now contains a village named for him - to take charge of the family-owned foundry. There, he was the first to urge the establishment of a public school. At 32, in 1774, Greene organized a local militia, and in 1775, he was promoted from private to Brigadier General of the Rhode Island army formed in response to the siege of Boston.
He was appointed a brigadier of the Continental Army by the Continental Congress that same year. Within a year, he was promoted to be one of the four new major generals and was put in command of Continental Army troops on Long Island. He advised a retreat from New York City and the burning of the city to keep it out of British hands. He went on to command Fort Lee on the New Jersey side of the Hudson River, and then crossed back over to take command of Fort Washington.
In 1778, after distinguishing himself as a leader, he was made Quartermaster General of the Continental Army - as long as he could still do battle. Greene took command over all troops from Delaware to Georgia so to keep the British General Charles Cornwallis from achieving his goal of gathering southern loyalists to take the war to Virginia.
Greene’s army was weak and badly equipped and opposed by a stronger force, when Greene divided his troops, forcing Cornwallis to divide his as well, creating a strategic interplay of forces that led to the defeat of nearly nine-tenths of the British force.
In retreat across the breadth of North Carolina, Greene’s forces outran the British and led them, exhausted, to surrender at Yorktown.
Greene died at age 44 of sunstroke. There may be 13 counties and countless cities and parks named in his honor. The Navy’s USS Nathanael Greene was named for him; there have been four Coast Guard revenue cutters named for him; an Army cargo ship; and a 128-foot Army tug.