Stop One: Original Location of James White Fort
On the corner of State Street and Clinch Avenue is where it all began! In 1783, James White led an expedition from North Carolina into the Tennessee Valley where he discovered this site. No Cherokee were living here. The nearest Cherokee establishment was 25 miles away. The Cherokee called Knoxville “mulberry place.” Mulberries were used among Native American peoples as a remedy for insomnia, ringworm, arthritis, and tapeworm. He built a two-story log cabin in 1786 near this spot on the banks of First Creek. Three other cabins anchored the other corners and were connected with a stockade 8 feet high for defense. The original fort on this location looked like this. In 1800, fourteen years later, James White left this spot and built another home on Riverdale Drive. He thought that Knoxville had become too much of a wild frontier town!! His cabin eventually became part of the Kennedy family’s home on State Street.Standard Tour Mission:Give your time travel team a name and write it on the dry erase board in your prop bag. Have someone take a photo of your team holding your sign.Virtual Tour Trivia Questions:How many acres in the area now known as Knoxville did James White receive for his service in the Revolutionary War?James White had many famous descendents. Which famous playwright was one of them? Name one of his plays.
Stop Two: First Presbyterian Graveyard
As Knoxville was being surveyed, James White wanted two of the lots to be set aside for a cemetery. Legend has it that the cemetery was once his turnip patch. It was the cemetery for the citizens of Knoxville for 79 years. James White himself is buried here, next to his wife, Mary Lawson White. They had seven children. William Blount, the first territorial governor of Tennessee, is also buried here. His is the oldest grave dating 1800. James White outlived William Blount by 12 years. The most graves are from a 1838 cholera, or possibly malaria, epidemic that swept through Knoxville. Hundreds of Knoxvillians died. Cholera is a bacterial disease usually spread through contaminated water. Cholera causes severe diarrhea and dehydration. Left untreated, cholera can be fatal within hours, even in previously healthy people. Modern sewage and water treatment have virtually eliminated cholera in industrialized countries. The risk of a cholera epidemic is highest when people live in crowded conditions without adequate sanitation.Standard tour mission:Find James White's grave and take a photo of his tombstone from the sidewalk. You do not need to go into the cemetery. Find William Blount’s tombstone and take a photo of his tombstone as well.Virtual tour trivia questions:The first president of Blount College (which later became the University of Tennessee) is also buried in this cemetery. What was his name?In 1870, an 11 year old typesetter’s apprentice for the Knoxville Chronicle newspaper feared walking by this cemetery at night because he thought it was haunted. He would spend many nights at the newspaper building instead of going home. What newspapers did Adolph Ochs eventually own?
Stop Three: Blount College
Blount College was founded two years before the founding of the state of Tennessee on this site. Knoxville’s early settlers were Presbyterian Scottish and Irish from Northern Ireland. They placed great importance on education and lifelong learning which enables one to put faith into practice. For this reason, James White set land from his own property for both a church and a school. On the site of the present day Tennessee Theater, a log cabin was built to house Blount College. In 1807, Blount College was renamed East Tennessee College. Thomas Jefferson recommended that the college leave its log cabin in the city and relocate to accommodate future growth. In 1826, the college bought 40 acres west of downtown. Now known simply as “The Hill,” the University of Tennessee now has more than 28,000 students.Standard Tour Mission:Take a photo of your team around the historical marker commemorating Blount College.Virtual Tour Trivia Questions:Blount College eventually becomes East Tennessee College, and then The University of Tennessee. Its orange and white colors, according to legend, were inspired by what object?William Blount’s daughter was one of five women who were educated at Blount College. The Hill at The University of Tennessee was originally named after her as well. What was her name?
Stop Four: Knoxville Lot Lottery October 3, 1791
William Blount selected White's Fort as the territory's capital. James White set aside land adjacent to the fort for a new town, named "Knoxville" after Secretary of War Henry Knox, who never visited Knoxville. George Washington had been president for two years. White hired Charles McClung, his new son-in-law married to White’s oldest daughter, to draw up lots for the new town, which were sold at auction on October 3, 1791. McClung's design consisted of a rectangular grid with the Tennessee River (then called the "Holston") as its southern boundary and First Creek as its eastern boundary. The grid's original northern boundary was here on Church street, and its original western boundary was the road now known as Walnut Street. This grid was divided into 64 half acre lots and sold for $8 each ($221 today). According to Hugh Dunlap, “the whole town was then in a thicket of brushwood and grapevines.” Only five families lived in the area of downtown Knoxville when the lottery took place. (Rule Pg 222) There were no homes, only a few crudely built shacks near the river. Charles McClung lived in a log house somewhere near lot 7, on the corner of Central (Water) and Cumberland. (Rule Pg 86) In 1792, McClung surveyed and planned what is now Kingston Pike from Knoxville to Campbell's Station in Farragut.Standard Tour Mission:Take a creative photo next to “The Oarsman” statue, near the corner of Church and Gay Street. You are now on the northern border of the 1791 lottery.Virtual Tour trivia questions:In 1805, Charles McClung built a house on Ebenezer/Peters Road in West Knoxville which still stands today and is privately owned. What is the name of the home?Charles McClung hired well known Thomas Hope as the architect for his home. What other historic home in the Knoxville area did Thomas Hope design?
Stop Five: Tennessee becomes a state on this spot
In November 1778, General Washington selected David Henley to be his chief spymaster, by compiling information on British activities. Henley's specialized in organizing facts to determine the true condition of the enemy's strengths and weaknesses. After the American Revolution, in 1793, Colonel Henley was appointed by President Washington as the Agent of the Department of War for the Southwest Territory, in Knoxville, Tennessee. In this capacity, he was Superintendent of Indian Affairs, as well as quartermaster and paymaster for locally stationed troops and militia. He was known to be a hothead but was also a strong law-and-order man. He was in Knoxville mainly to keep the peace by making payments to the Cherokee. He did not want to be involved in the discussions for statehood, but he was the only one who had an office big enough to hold 55 delegates and their aides. For three weeks, Tennessee's Constitutional Convention was held in Henley’s office here on this corner on the northern fringe of Knoxville, what is now Gay Street and Church Avenue . It’s interesting that one of the distinctions of the first Tennessee constitution was that there was no racial qualification for voting citizenship. In 1796, free Black men could vote in Tennessee. Thirty eight years later, when a second constitution was drafted in 1835 in Nashville, voting rights were strictly for white men. On this spot, the document that would give birth to the 16th state in the Union was adopted. William Blount, Charles McClung, James White and Andrew Jackson were among those delegates. Those delegates signed the Tennessee Constitution on David Henley’s desk which is now in William Blount’s office behind his home. Thomas Jefferson described Tennessee's constitution as the "most republican of the state constitutions.” David Henley died in Washington DC in 1823, while a clerk in the War Department. Both Henley Street and the Henley Street Bridge are named after him. Henley-Putnam's School of Strategic Security, focusing on intelligence management, security, and counter-terrorism, is named for him as well. The birthplace of the state of Tennessee sadly has no lasting memorial and is now a parking lot.Standard tour mission:Take a photo of your team waving your Tennessee state flags in your prop bag on the birthplace of the great state of Tennessee!Virtual tour trivia questions:The Henley Street Bridge is named after David Henley. What author mentions the Henley Street Bridge in three different novels?Who appointed David Henley as an agent for the War Department in the Southwest Territory which became the state of Tennessee?
Stop Six: Knoxville's first post office and newspaper
On this corner was Knoxville’s first post office and newspaper. The publisher and printer of “The Knoxville Gazette'' was George Roulstone. In the year 1791, George Roulstone, the first printer to enter the State of Tennessee, took his press apart in Fayetteville, North Carolina, packed it on horseback or in wagons and trekked over the trails of the Blue Ridge Mountains into the Holston Valley where Kingsport now stands. There, on the banks of the Holston River at James King’s Boat Yard, he loaded it on a flatboat and floated it down to Rogersville where he set it up and started printing the Knoxville Gazette, the first piece of printing ever attempted in Tennessee. It carried the results of the town lot lottery. In October of 1792, George Roulstone established his printing press and post office in Knoxville, perhaps on lot 27 that he purchased. The Gazette was a typical late-18th century broadsheet consisting of two pages. The first page contained news, while the second page contained advertisements and announcements. The paper typically measured 10 inches by 16 inches, but the size varied due to Roulstone's difficulties in obtaining paper. The Gazette was normally published on a biweekly basis. Roulstone died at age 37, and his wife, Elizabeth, became state printer. On George Roulstone’s death in 1804, John Crozier became postmaster. He was born in Ireland and came to America in 1785 working in the salt works near Abingdon, Virginia. In 1794, he started to cut down trees on lot 26 that he bought in 1791 and started building a store. “It was shaded by trees of a forest and considered out of town.” When John Crozier became postmaster, the post office moved to his store across the street on lot 26. In 1799, he married Hannah Barton, and they had four sons and four daughters. One daughter married Dr. Ramsey of Ramsey House. John Crozier was very interested in promoting the education of young women. He was on the board of trustees of the Knoxville Female Academy. He also contracted for the construction of First Presbyterian Church, next to the cemetery.Standard Tour Mission:Have your team put on the eyeglasses and read copies of the Knoxville Gazette that are in your props bag on this corner. Take a photo.Virtual Tour Trivia Questions:When was the first edition of the Knoxville Gazette published?John Crozier’s granddaughter was a well known suffragist in Tennessee, so well known that a statue of her is on Market Square. When she was two, the family moved into a new home on the corner of Gay and West Clinch where the Hyatt Place, your hotel last night, stands today. The home was notable for its remarkable library. What was her name?One of the famous suffragist’s friends was also famous herself. She spent many years in Knoxville. Her name was Frances Hodgson Burnett. What is the title of her most well known book?
Stop Seven: Live Music in front of Knoxville's First Store
The corner of Gay and Main Street was the focal point of 18th century Knoxville. Samuel and Nathaniel Cowan were two of the five inhabitants of Knoxville when it was laid out. (Rule Page 222) Listed for sale at the Cowan’s store in the Knoxville Gazette are bibles, spelling books, hymn books, knives, medicine, dress goods. Since there was little money on the frontier, ads in the Knoxville Gazette would specify the kinds of goods that would be taken for merchandise that came from Baltimore or Philadelphia. Animal skins, beeswax, flax, bacon, butter, grains, and “new feathers” were all acceptable. In 1798, probably in front of the Cowan Brother’s store, a traveler named Thomas Weir documented African slaves playing the banjo (an African instrument) for a mixed race audience of African slaves, white settlers and Cherokees. Weir’s written description is believed to be the first evidence of an audience listening to live music in Knoxville. “Old time” music was the beginnings of what we now know as bluegrass today. It evolved from a blend of traditional English, Scottish and Irish ballads and dance tunes with African instruments and traditional spirituals and blues. Today, Knoxville continues its rich heritage of live music throughout venues downtown. If you want to hear “old time” music live, head to the Jig and Reel in the Old City on Tuesday evenings!Standard Tour Mission:Have someone take a photo or video of your team playing the banjo, the tambourine, or any other invisible insturment!Virtual Tour Trivia Questions:Out of what materials did African slaves make the first banjos?Commercial development started here on Gay Street. What city inspired the name Gay Street?
Stop Eight: Knoxville's First Courthouse
The county’s first courthouse is where the Howard H. Baker Jr. United States Courthouse stands today. This first courthouse was a small one story log structure about 30 feet long and 24 feet wide. Everyone thought that it was an eyesore! It may have looked something like the photo above. Thomas William Humes wrote that a “frolicsome Irishman” burned the first courthouse down within a few years of construction, to the delight of Knoxvillians! Knox County’s second courthouse was built around 1797 on this same spot. This second courthouse was the setting for a George Washington Harris short story. Harris described the "old stone Court-house" as having a "steep gable front to the street," a "disproportionately small brick chimney," "well-whittled door-jambs," "dusty windows," and "gloomy walls and ghostly echoes.” It was on the steps of Knoxville’s second courthouse that a bitter argument between Andrew Jackson and John Sevier broke out. The bitter feud between Sevier and Jackson grew out of a dispute over military appointments with Sevier backing Jackson's opponent. The relationship between Sevier and Jackson deteriorated after Jackson accused Sevier of land fraud. On October 1,1803, the two men met on the steps of the courthouse on this spot and traded heated words. Sevier drew his sword, dared Jackson to draw arms, then insulted Jackson's wife, Rachel, by accusing her of adultery since, after two years of marriage, they discovered that her divorce was not yet final. Jackson lunged at Sevier with his cane, then friends of both parties drew pistols, and shots rang out as a bullet grazed at least one bystander. After allies of both men separated the two, a war of words between the governor and the judge quickly escalated in an exchange of letters. In their correspondence, Jackson requested an 'interview' with Sevier--a commonly understood term for a duel. Dueling, however, was prohibited within the borders of Tennessee, so Sevier offered to meet Jackson at any time and place not within the State of Tennessee. Thereafter the two men argued over the timing and location to settle their dispute. Eventually, Jackson met Sevier near present-day Kingston, Tennessee, where a failed attempt at a duel took place. Ultimately, tempers cooled, but the animosity between Sevier and Jackson remained until Sevier's death in 1815. Several historians argue that the rivalry between John Sevier and Andrew Jackson was the root of the factionalism that divided East Tennessee from the rest of Tennessee in subsequent decades. East Tennessee, because of its rocky geography, was dominated by small farms whose owners generally had few slaves. Middle Tennessee had numerous plantations and slave owners, who grew crops such as tobacco and hemp with slaves. West Tennessee was dominated by large cotton plantations with numerous slaves. East Tennesseeans were mostly pro-Union during the Civil War, unlike the rest of Tennessee. Tennessee was the last state to leave the Union during the Civil War. When the Union army arrived in Knoxville in 1863, they were viewed as liberators. Following the war, East Tennessee remained one of the South's few predominantly Republican regions into the early 20th century.Standard Tour Mission:The Old Court House across the street that you see today is the fourth Knox County Courthouse. A large hotel was on that lot across the street in 1884 and was known as The Mansion House. The county purchased the hotel and began construction on the building you see now in 1884. This courthouse was considered fireproof and built at great expense for the time. Take a photograph of the Old Courthouse across the street.Virtual Tour Trivia Questions:Who wrote “The Knoxville Courthouse Blues” whose lyrics start out like this?: (Hint: His father’s last night alive was spent in Knoxville across the street at the Andrew Johnson hotel.)I'm sittin' in Knoxville courthouse ain't got a thing to doI don't wanna go to the movies couldn't if I wanted to cuz I'm on trial for lovin' youNow this all started in a honky tonk just the other side of townThomas Williams Humes parents started building their home in 1816. When his father, Thomas Humes died, the building was converted into a famous hotel that hosted presidents! It is now the Bijou Theater. What was the hotel’s name?
Stop Nine: Federal Blockhouse
On lots 36 and 45, a garrison of federal soldiers, under the command of David Henley, erected a blockhouse in 1792 on the area of the current old courthouse. In 1793, the first government troops were stationed in Knoxville. The federal blockhouse was made famous by the Lloyd Branson painting. Blockhouses such as this were built on the frontier, positioned on hills to be used as look out posts. They were built from thick timbers to form walls that were bullet proof. Thin slits were cut into the walls for firing weapons. Before Knoxville got its name, the area was known as the “Territory South of the Ohio River.” As European settlers grew rapidly in East Tennessee, tensions between them and the Cherokee escalated. Massacres happened on both sides. Even as Cherokee chief Hanging Maw was meeting with Governor William Blount to discuss bringing peace to the area, the Cherokee delegation was attacked by a band of settlers. One dramatic story of early settlers is of Nathaniel and Samuel Cowan’s aunt, Ann Walker Cowan. The British were quick to make alliances with the Indians. While the Declaration of Independence was being signed in Philadelphia, Indian tribes were forming alliances with the British. Ann Walker Cowan was walking with her brother, Samuel Walker, and her son, John Cowan. The three were crossing a field when they were attacked by Shawnee Indians. The Indians shot and scalped Samuel Walker, and took Ann Cowan and her 4 year old daughter, Jane Cowan, captive. Ten year old John Cowan ran for his life with the Indians right behind him in pursuit. He just made it inside the gate of the fort as an Indian raised his tomahawk. John's brother, James Benjamin Cowan, who was about eight years old at the time, was captured by the Cherokees and taken away to their nation and adopted into their tribe. He did not make his escape from the Cherokees until he was about fifteen. Ann Cowan was taken by the Shawnees back to their predetermined rendezvous with the Delawares where her nephew, William Walker was also taken. Young Jane, who continued to cry loudly, was suddenly tomahawked by an Indian, probably because the crying girl was a threat to their being located. After crossing the Ohio River, Ann Walker Cowan was taken by her Shawnee captors, to the west and WIlliam Walker was taken by his Delaware captors to the east. Looking backwards as they were led away, aunt and nephew sadly took one last look at each other. They were never to see each other again. Ann arrived in the Shawnee Indian village where captives were made to run through Indians lined on two sides with sticks. The captive had to run through the lines to get to the other end. The Indians would beat the captive with the sticks as he/she passed through. If he/she failed to reach the other end, or displayed less than strong behavior through the ordeal, he/she would then be tortured and burned to death. Ann must have passed through the ordeal satisfactorily because she was kept as a slave of a squaw for the next six or seven years. She resurfaced in a rather dramatic way about 1785. A French-Indian trapper and his Indian wife arrived at the Shawnee village where Ann was captive. She convinced them to help her escape. They buried her under a pile of furs in their canoe and headed to a French trading post somewhere in Kentucky. Arriving at the trading post and knowing that the Indians would follow after discovering Ann's absence, the trapper and the owner of the trading post hid Ann in a small cellar under the trading post floor and sent a rider to seek alert Ann's family in Tennessee. The rider rode day and night to what is now Blount County, Tennessee, where Ann somehow had learned that her Scotch-Irish community had moved. The Blount County settlers were assembled outdoors listening to a sermon. The rider spoke excitedly, "There is a woman at the French trading post making her escape. Her name is Ann Cowan and the Indians are in pursuit to recapture her, and I am to come here and tell her friends to come as quickly as possible to rescue her." Within an hour, a well-provisioned army of one hundred men was on a forced march northward toward the trading post, among them Ann Cowan's sons and probably nephews, Samuel and Nathaniel Cowan. Hearing the approaching hoofbeats, the Indians fled as Major Russell and his men arrived. And from the dark depths of the cellar, still in the dress of the Shawnees, Ann Cowan emerged and was reunited with her now grown sons. Ann wanted no more of the frontier after her return to her family. She moved back to Rockbridge County Virginia, where some of her family still lived, and lived for another 25 years. Although her sons remained on the frontier, we know that they returned to visit their mother in Virginaia. Ann was alive as late as 1810. One of her grandchildren recalled seeing her as an old woman in his childhood.Standard tour mission:Take a photo of your team around the cannon in front of the Old County Courthouse.Virtual tour trivia questions:Lloyd Branson painted many well known scenes of Knoxville and portraits. He also taught many accomplished artists in Knoxville. A year before he died, Branson sent one of his students from Knoxville to Boston for art lessons. The student went on to become very well known in Paris. What was his name?In 1865, a 22 year old Confederate soldier, whose father was killed in the family home during the Civil War by a Union soldier, fought with and killed a Union veteran on grounds of this courthouse. Later that day, he was taken from the jail by a mob and hanged from a walnut tree (on Walnut Street!) near the courthouse. He is buried in First Presbyterian Cemetery. His tombstone is one of the tallest monuments in the graveyard. He is also one of Knoxville’s most famous ghosts!! What was his name?
Stop Ten: Sevier Monuments
In a United States barracks like this in Elizabethton, Tennessee, called Fort Watauga, John Sevier, Tennessee’s first governor, rescued Bonny Kate Sherrill, who later would become his second wife four years later. The sudden appearance of Cherokees surprised several women out milking cows, forcing them to rush to get back inside the fort. Bonnie Kate was unable to get back inside before the gate was locked and had to be pulled over the palisade walls by John Sevier. Sarah Jane Hawkins was the first wife of John Sevier. In the spring of 1780. it became necessary for the Sevier family to take refuge at the nearest fort. They arrived at Fort Nolichucky, which was a very difficult six miles from their Little Limestone Creek plantation. Sarah, having complications from the birth, made it to the Fort, but very early one morning, she gave birth to her tenth child and passed away. She was buried that same evening in the nearby forest amid a thunderstorm. This was considered Indian land. Because they were well aware the Cherokee attacked at dawn, they left after nightfall and completed the burial by midnight, knowing an attack was imminent. The militia smoothed over her grave and scattered leaves to give the appearance that the ground was untouched. John feared the Cherokee would defile her grave, so they made no marking of it at all. John, himself, could never find it again. A monument on the Knox County Courthouse lawn marks her memory. Seven months later, John Sevier married Kate Sherrill. Sevier had 10 children with Sarah and another 8 children with Kate. John Sevier and Kate Sherrill Sevier are buried in the lawn of the Old County Courthouse. John Sevier died while running a treaty line in Alabama and was buried there originally. Half a century later, interested citizens obtained permission to disinter the body and return it to Knoxville for reburial on the courthouse lawn here. One of the largest crowds in the city’s history gathered to witness the frontier hero’s reburial. Bonny Kate Sevier later moved to Alabama with some of her children and died there. Her body, also, was returned to Knoxville for reburial on the Knoxville Courthouse lawn, next to John Sevier.Standard Tour Mission:Take a photo of your team in front of the Sevier monuments to the left of the Old Courthouse.Virtual tour trivia questions:Sevier is the English version of the name Xavier. From which country are John Sevier’s ancestors?In the 1790’s, John Sevier started a brick mansion on lot 59 in Knoxville. Due to financial difficulties, Sevier abandoned the project and sold the lot to his son, who later sold it as well. The house was completed and still stands today on Cumberland Avenue. What is the name of the house?
Stop Eleven: First Jail
On July 16, 1792, the first court, by proclamation of the first sheriff, Robert Houston, met in John Stone’s house on Lot 34 (where the City County Building is now). At that meeting, Houston demanded that a better jail be built. The court approved the motion. The dimensions of this jail were “sixteen feet square, the logs to be a foot square, the lower floor to be laid of logs that size, to be laid double and crosswise with oak plank, one and a half inches thick and well spiked.” “It was enclosed with long palisades driven deeply into the ground and sharpened at the top.”(Rule Pg 47 and 82).The Harpe brothers are often considered the earliest documented serial killers in US history. Loyal to the British Crown during the American Revolution and being outcasts after the war, they began robbing and killing settlers in the frontier west of Appalachia. Although passing themselves off as brothers, they were actually probably first cousins. The Harpe Brothers are known to have murdered thirty nine people, but the number may be as high as fifty. There are many accounts in the Knoxville Gazette of that period of their psychotic savagery. In the spring of 1797, they were living in a cabin on Beaver Creek near Powell. On June 1, 1797, Wiley Harpe married Sarah Rice, which was recorded in the Knox County Courthouse marriage records. Although never arrested in Knoxville, they were driven from town after being charged with stealing livestock and the gruesome murder of a man named Johnson. From Knoxville, the brothers fled to Kentucky and continued their crime spree. Micajah was beheaded in Webster County, Kentucky, and Wiley was executed by hanging and beheaded. His head was placed high on a stake on the Natchez Trace as a warning to other outlaws.Standard tour mission:Take a photo of your team members in handcuffs that are in your prop bag.Virtual tour trivia questions:In 1775, the Harpe brothers left North Carolina for Virginia, but the American Revolution interrupted those plans. What jobs were they looking for in Virginia?The Harpe brothers are part of the “jury of the damned” in what 1941 film?
Stop Twelve: Blount Mansion
This is what the area around Blount Mansion would have looked like when completed on Lot 18. With all the log cabins and shanties, this surely would have been a mansion, with wood siding and glass windows! Blount was intentional in building an elaborate frame house on the frontier. First, the house would act as the capital of the Southwest Territory and would need to command the respect of visiting delegations. Second, Blount wanted to fulfill a promise he made to his wife to build a home comparable to their lavish North Carolina home. Historians have determined that a slave named Cupid was the general contractor of the house. Fingerprints of the slaves that built the house can be seen in the handmade bricks that were made onsite. Andrew Jackson and John Sevier were frequent visitors to the mansion. Early guests included French botanist Andre Michaux and various Cherokee and Chickasaw chiefs who called Blount Mansion, “the house with many eyes” since they had never seen glass windows before! William Blount was one of the signers of the United States Constitution and the first senator to be impeached by the United States government after conspiring with the Cherokee and frontiersmen to attack Florida and Louisiana, held by Spain, and transfer that land to Great Britain. The Senate ordered Blount to appear to answer to articles of impeachment. Instead, Blount fled on horseback to Knoxville and refused to return. Blount’s impeachment trial, with Vice President Jefferson presiding, was held in Philadelphia without Blount’s presence. His lawyers convinced the Senate it did not have jurisdiction because impeachment did not apply to senators, and, even if it did, he was no longer a senator. The charges were dismissed on Jan. 11, 1799, by a vote of 14 to 11.Standard tour mission:Take a photo of the fingerprints preserved in the handmade bricks of the slaves who built Blount Mansion. They are circled with white chalk on the side of Blount Mansion.Virtual tour trivia questions:A county in East Tennessee is named after Mary Blount. Which one is it?Where did the Blount family live before moving to Knoxville?
Stop Thirteen: John Chisholm's Tavern
Chisholm’s Tavern was completed sometime in 1792 on lot 17, just below Blount Mansion, not on the spot where the historical marker is currently located. Captain John D. Chisholm came to Knoxville in 1790 with William Blount. The tavern was originally constructed as his home, but later became the frontier’s community’s first tavern with both lodging and dining facilities. The log structure may have looked something like this.There have been discussions that the Tennessee State Legislature may have met there when Knoxville was the state capitol. John Chisholm, born in Scotland, was a large man with very red hair. John was first married to Patience Massengill, known as “Patty.” Patty ran the Chisholm Inn and they had 11 children. John Chisholm, serving as a business agent for William Blount, hatched a plot to have the Cherokees and frontiersmen invade poorly defended Florida. This force would then turn Florida over to the British. In payment, Britain would name Chisholm superintendent of Indian affairs. Chisholm went to Philadelphia to present his plan to the British ambassador and seek financing but got no commitment. However, the ambassador sent Chisholm to London to seek approval. After some consideration, the British government rejected the risky idea. In Chisholm’s absence, Blount took control of the project. If successful, the scheme would allow Blount to sell land at a profit and prevent personal bankruptcy. Moreover, the adventure would make him a hero in Tennessee. After consultation with another large-scale land speculator, Dr. Nicholas Romayne, in New York, the intrigue grew to not only capture Florida but also New Orleans. Blount himself would lead the forces against New Orleans, and Chisholm agianst those in Pensacola, Florida. The deal failed, William Blount was impeached, and Chisholm ended up in a London debtor's prison in May 1797. Chisholm was released when he signed a full confession and named his co-conspirators. Upon release, John returned to Knoxville. In 1799, Patience Chisholm was granted a divorce from John because he was living with a Cherokee woman named Patsy Brown and refused to live with Patience again. It was reported that John Chisholm had numerous Cherokee wives. Patience remarried the next year and moved to Louisiana. John Chisholm’s son, Thomas, with his Cherokee wife, Patsy, would become the future Chief of the Western Cherokee. In 1819, Chisholm moved with his son, Ignatius (mother was Patience Massengill), to Arkansas. The famous Chisholm’s Trail used to drive cattle from Texas to Kansas City railyards is named for John’s grandson, Jesse.Standard Tour MissionUse the props on the table next to the historical marker to recreate John Chisholm’s Tavern. Take a photo of your team.Virtual Tour trivia questions:Which Cherokee chief was a long time friend of John D. Chisholm?John D. Chisholm came to the United States in 1777 from what town in Scotland?
Stop Fourteen: Ferry to South Knoxville
Rivers were the interstate highways of the 18th century. Prior to 1874, this part of the Tennessee River was known as the Holston River. Before TVA created Fort Loudon Lake here, the Holston River would have been more narrow, more shallow and would have flowed more quickly in 1792. Much of the commercial activity for early Knoxville would have taken place in this area and along the river. Before bridges, large flat bottomed boats were used to take people, horses and wagons across the river. Beginning in 1792, a ferry ran from here, near where First Creek flows into the river to where the south end of the Gay Street bridge is now, by Regal Headquarters. The Gay Street bridge was not built until 1898, almost 100 years later! The ferry was originally owned by Alexander Cunningham. Oarsmen were used to cross the river. When John Sevier was the first governor of Tennessee, its state capitol was in Knoxville. John Sevier regularly crossed the Holston by ferry and traveled on horseback to and from his “Marble Springs” farm in South Knoxville. Ferries were a welcome relief for horses after a long ride on the rough dirt roads!Standard Tour Mission:Take a photo of the green bridge where First Creek flows into the Tennessee River. The green bridge spanning First Creek is to the right of Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse.Virtual tour mission:John Sevier was the only governor of the short-lived State of Franklin (1784-1788). What was the first capital of Franklin?What is the number of the Tennessee state highway where Marble Springs is located?
Stop Fifteen: Current location of James White Fort
James White lived at his original location until 1800 when he sold his cabin to James Kennedy Jr. In less than 15 years, James White’s once solitary cabin was being engulfed by the city. Growing weary of the explosive growth in Knoxville and its wild frontier atmosphere, White moved upriver to another location that he owned near the South Knoxville bridge in search of peace and quiet. James Kennedy, Jr. felt that Knoxville’s oldest house should not be destroyed. Covering it with siding, the oldest house in Knoxville became the kitchen wing that linked the Kennedy mansion, built with brick and trimmed with stone, to the slave quarters. It remained that way for 100 years. In this photograph, James White’s cabin is underneath the siding on the left side of the Kennedy House. Many visitors to James White Fort have claimed to have seen Mrs. Kennedy making a bed in the upstairs bedroom of the original cabin!! By 1906, commercial growth made demolition of the house eminent and the Kennedy estate offered James White's cabin to the Knoxville Historical Society. The society did not have a site on which it could relocate the house and refused the offer. Isaiah Ford, a local citizen, purchased White’s house with the intent of preserving it. He carefully marked each log and dismantled the cabin. Those logs were brought to Woodlawn Pike in South Knoxville and carefully reconstructed as Isaiah Ford’s home for the next 60 years. In 1968, the fort was moved to where it stands today on Hill Avenue. Our community was fortunate to have two families who valued historic preservation.Standard Tour Mission:Vote as a team who is the most troublesome in your group! Put that person in the stocks in front of James White’s Fort. Take a photo as a group around the stockade.Virtual Tour trivia questions:James White’s Fort is a certain type of log cabin. What is the name of the cabin type?How many rooms and fireplaces does a saddlebag cabin have?
Stop Sixteen: Treaty of the Holston Statue
This statue marks the spot on the banks of First Creek where it meets the Tennessee River. On June 8, 1790, William Blount was commissioned as governor of the “Territory of the United States South of the River Ohio.” As governor, on the bank of First Creek, Blount ordered an elaborate pavilion to be built where the treaty with the Cherokee would be signed. William Blount wore his finest uniform trimmed with gold and insisted that the settlers from White’s Fort should be dressed in their showiest and best clothes. Blount’s delegation was equally impressed at the sight of the Cherokee chieftains, wearing every bit of finery they possessed. After several days of ceremony and negotiation, the Treaty of the Holston was signed on July 2, 1791. The treaty stated that “there shall be perpetual peace and friendship” between the citizens of the United States and the Cherokee nation. Unfortunately, that peace did not last very long!Standard Tour Mission:See if you can see the Treaty of the Holston statue from this spot. The statue is located at the end of the Volunteer parking lot below. When you have time, you can see the statue up close by accessing the location either at the end of Volunteer parking lot (where Calhoun's By The River is located) or the Neyland Greenway entrance by Ruth's Chris Steakhouse.Virtual Tour trivia questions:How many Cherokee arrived on July 2, 1791 to sign the Treaty of the Holston?How much did the settlers of the Southwest Territory agree to pay the Cherokee nation every year through the Treaty of the Holston?
Stop Seventeen: Blount Mansion Information Center
A scale model of what Knoxville looked like in 1793 is housed in the ground floor of the Blount Mansion Information Center. The executive director of Blount Mansion, David Hearnes, will be there to answer any questions that you may have about Knoxville history.Standard Tour Mission:Take a photo of the scale model of Knoxville in the Blount Mansion Information Center.When you are done, please either walk (5-7 minute walk) or board transportation back to the State Street Garage. You MUST be at the State Street Parking garage NO LATER than 9:30 AM!!If you would like to explore more Knoxville history, please visit the Knoxville History Project.https://knoxvillehistoryproject.org
East Tennessee Historical Society and Museum
Geography defines East Tennessee as a land of mountains and valleys and with a history and heritage apart from the rest of the state. The East Tennessee Historical Society recognizes this distinctiveness with programs and exhibitions uniquely tailored to the region. Our educational mission is to engage the public with the message that history is important.The Museum of East Tennessee History's signature exhibition, Voices of the Land: The People of East Tennessee, explores three centuries of life in the region. Visitors will walk through time with the Cherokee and pioneers and then travel through the divided loyalties of the Civil War to industrial growth, women’s suffrage, the hillbilly stereotype, mountain crafts, African American contributions, the beginnings of country music, the upheaval of families relocated due to a national park, TVA lakes, and the “Secret City” and Manhattan Project of World War II. Changing feature exhibitions highlight local, state, and national topics.Museum HoursMonday-Friday: 9am - 4pmSaturday: 10am - 4pmSunday: 1pm - 5pm865-215-8830The Museum Shop inside features a wide selection of books, crafts, and history-related items. Members of the East Tennessee Historical Society receive a 10% discount on purchases.Interested in your family history and genealogy but don't know where to start? Or simply want to sharpen your skills? Beginner or seasoned, you will find a class to match your interest and level of experience here at the East Tennessee History Center!
