According to local lore, Eva was named after a friend of the daughter of Benton County land speculator A.W. Lucas. In 1913, Lucas donated land for a church and school that became the core of the community.[7]
In 1940, before the Tennessee River was dammed to form Kentucky Lake, University of Tennessee archaeologists excavated a rich archaeological site at Eva, containing the remains of a series of prehistoric Native American encampments dating from the Archaic Period. The earliest remains at the site, with a radiocarbon date of 5200 B.C., contained artifacts from a group of hunting and gathering people who were named the Eva culture after the site, which is now submerged by the reservoir.[8]