EXHIBIT 31.1

                    Certification of Chief Executive Officer
                         Pursuant to Section 302 of the
                           Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002

I,   Richard G. Harwood,  certify that:

1.   I have reviewed this  quarterly  report on Form 10-QSB of United  Tennessee
     Bankshares, Inc.;

2.   Based on my knowledge,  this  quarterly  report does not contain any untrue
     statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact  necessary to
     make the statements  made, in light of the  circumstances  under which such
     statements  were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by
     this quarterly report; and

3.   Based on my  knowledge,  the  financial  statements,  and  other  financial
     information  included  in this  quarterly  report,  fairly  present  in all
     material respects the financial  condition,  results of operations and cash
     flows of the small business issuer as of, and for, the periods presented in
     this quarterly report.

4.   The small business issuer's other certifying  officer and I are responsible
     for  establishing  and maintaining  disclosure  controls and procedures (as
     defined  in  Exchange  Act Rules  13a-15(e)  and  15d-15(e))  for the small
     business issuer and we have:

     a)   designed  such  disclosure  controls  and  procedures,  or caused such
          disclosure   controls  and   procedures  to  be  designed   under  our
          supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the small
          business  issuer,  including its  consolidated  subsidiaries,  is made
          known to us by others within those entities,  particularly  during the
          period in which this quarterly report is being prepared;

     b)   evaluated the effectiveness of the small business issuer's  disclosure
          controls and  procedures  and presented in this  quarterly  report our
          conclusions  about the  effectiveness  of the disclosure  controls and
          procedures,  as of the end of the period  covered by this report based
          on such evaluation; and

     c)   disclosed  in this  report any change in the small  business  issuer's
          internal  control over financial  reporting  that occurred  during the
          small business issuer's most recent fiscal quarter (the small business
          issuer's  fourth fiscal  quarter in the case of an annual report) that
          has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect,
          the small business issuer's internal control over financial reporting;
          and

5.   The small business issuer's other certifying  officer and I have disclosed,
     based on our most recent  evaluation  of internal  control  over  financial
     reporting,  to the small business issuer's auditors and the audit committee
     of the small business  issuer's  board of directors (or persons  performing
     the equivalent function):

     a)   all significant  deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or
          operation of internal  controls  over  financial  reporting  which are
          reasonably  likely to  adversely  affect the small  business  issuer's
          ability   to  record,   process,   summarize   and  report   financial
          information; and

     b)   any fraud, whether or not material,  that involves management or other
          employees who have a significant  role in the small business  issuer's
          internal control over financial reporting.

Date:  November 12, 2003
                                                   /s/ Richard G. Harwood
                                                   -----------------------------
                                                   Richard G. Harwood
                                                   President and
                                                   Chief Executive Officer