Another BBQ Chain Comes to Knoxville

Laurie and I like BBQ, but we really appreciate great BBQ and most of what we’ve found so far here in East Tennessee is just OK or average.  So, when a new BBQ outlet opened in the area we just had to give it a try… How does the saying go?  …Hope springs eternal!

This is the relatively new Dickey’s Barbecue Pit which is located in Knoxville’s Turkey Creek Shopping area.  The color of the awning does catch your eye as you drive past the plethora of stores and restaurants in Turkey Creek.

Dickey's Barbecue Restaurants, Inc. was founded in 1941.  The company is based in Dallas Texas.  As of 2015, Dickey’s had 530 locations across the USA and the company reported revenues of $520,000,000.  Franchises are available…

These photos show the interior of our local Dickey’s Barbeque Pit.  The wood walls and checkered table coverings evoke visions of downhome BBQ…in an urban environment. 

In addition to dining in, Dickey’s offers catering, online ordering, holiday meals, a number of retail items…and in some markets, outside delivery is available.

There are printed menus available but most people order from this menu board hanging near the beginning of Dickey’s ‘production line’.  This is a ‘fast casual’ restaurant where you go to the counter and place your order…and then follow it along until it’s ready to hand to you at the register.

The person taking the order then processes the meat portion of your meal…and that seemed to cause a little stack up of customers in line as they waited for the order ahead of them to be passed on down the line for other meal add-ons and finishing touches. 

Laurie ordered the Pit Boss Deal…a luncheon special.  For $13.50 she got a roll, potato chips, asiago cheese creamed spinach, a large 'take with you Dickie's logo cup' with lemomade and 5 BBQ ribs.  She really liked the creamed spinach and she thought that the ribs were pretty good too. 

I wasn’t as impressed with the ribs as she was.  The flavor was OK and they were relatively ‘meaty’, but they weren’t anything special.  It probably didn’t help my opinion when I watched the ‘meat server’ pull some ribs wrapped in Saran Wrap from a warmer, unwrap them and then cut them up into her serving… It wasn’t an appetizing experience.

I ordered the Original Westerner for my lunch. ($7.50) This sandwich consists of sliced brisket and Polish kielbasa sausage, topped with cheddar on a toasted hoagie bun.  The kielbasa was just fine but the brisket was much too dry and as a result, it was fairly bland.  The toasted roll was a plus and the BBQ sauce was fairly decent… I’d buy it for use with my own BBQ at home. 

One happy plus for meals at Dickey’s is the small cone of soft-serve ice cream that comes free for the taking with your meal.  I opted out but Laurie really enjoyed this little post-lunch treat.

My search for good barbeque here in East Tennessee continues.  Dickey’s is OK for quick meal but I wouldn’t seek it out… Given the company’s growth they must be doing something right, but it isn’t great BBQ.

Dickey’s Barbeque Pit in the Turkey Creek is located at 11483 Parkside Drive in Knoxville Tennessee.  Phone: 865-675-8227.  The company’s website can be found at www.dickeys.com. 

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them.

Thanks for stopping by for lunch…

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

Historic Places Around Rockwood Tennessee

During our exploratory drive through parts of Roane County Tennessee, we spent a bit of time in Rockwood checking out 4 different historic places, all very different from each other… 

As we approached Rockwood on US Hwy. 70, we diverted onto Post Oak Springs Road to the intersection with Old US 70.  The Post Oak Springs Christian Church was built in 1876.  This is an independent, non-denominational Christian church, associated with the Restoration Movement.  It is said to be the oldest Restoration Movement Christian Church in Tennessee.  The congregation was formed in 1812 and this was the 3^rd building occupied by the church.  Services are currently held nearby in a newer facility…

The Restoration Movement is a Christian movement that began on the United States frontier during the Second Great Awakening (1790–1840) of the early 19th century.  This movement sought to reform the church from within with the goal "the unification of all Christians in a single body patterned after the church of the New Testament."  It has been described as the "oldest ecumenical movement in America".  Since the mid-20th century, members of these churches do not identify as Protestant but simply as Christian.   There are 3 main branches in the US: the Churches of Christ; the unaffiliated Christian Church/Church of Christ congregations, and; the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).

The Rockwood Post Office is a Colonial Revival style Federal building constructed by the Works Projects Administration (WPA) in 1937.  It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999.  The grounds are landscaped with original Japanese Hollies.

We should have gone inside!  Research revealed that this post office features a terra-cotta relief sculpture by New York artist Christian Heinrich.  It’s the only ceramic post office decoration in the state.  Entitled ‘Wildlife’, the seven by three-foot panel weighs approximately three hundred pounds and depicts a family of three deer.

OK…This photo at the National Register of Historic Places listing in Wikipedia for Roane County, allegedly shows the historic Molyneaux Chevrolet Dealership/Fire Department facility.  It totally threw me off base on this search and posting.  First of all, the address on this building is 230 and it’s on the wrong street as well!  On the other hand, it obviously is the old showroom and it is better looking than the correct structure turned out to be…

Laurie and Dawn had taken the photo of this structure at 104 North Chamberlain Street in Rockford.  Even though the address matched the listing, I couldn’t imagine that this was the correct building as per the NRHP.  Well, when I subsequently researched the listing on the actual National Register of Historic Places site, I discovered that the ladies were right.  This was the place!  To see the photos that were originally submitted with the building’s justification for its listing on the NRHP, you can go to http://npgallery.nps.gov/nrhp/GetAsset?assetID=2220a38a-14e8-431d-845c-401452e1587f.

This structure was built in 1923.  It’s constructed from poured concrete.  It was poured in forms with reinforcing rods, which resulted in the block-like pattern.  It was constructed as a single building to house 2 separate operations.  Historically, the fire hall was in the easternmost bay, and the Molyneux Chevrolet Company was located in the 3 western bays.  This building housed the city's first fire engine as well as John Molyneux’ auto business.  That dealership was later recognized as the oldest Chevy dealer in the state. 

Note:

Former Union general John T. Wilder noted the iron ore and coal deposits of the Cumberland Plateau region while operating in the area during the Civil War.  After the war, Wilder and Ohio-born Knoxville Iron Company founder Hiram Chamberlain purchased 900 acres at what is now Rockwood.  They selected the location due to the ore and coal resources, the proximity to the Tennessee River and based on an assumption that the encroaching railroads would descend the Plateau at nearby Emory Gap.  The Roane Iron Company was chartered in 1867 and it was producing iron by late 1868…the same year that the town was founded.  The Company closed operations in 1929 but remnants of the operation remain near the edge of town.

This eye-catching Tennessee Highway Patrol building in Rockwood is located on the corner of Kingston Avenue and Nelson Street, actually on the original State Route 1/U.S. Highway 70 in Rockwood.  Built in 1936, the building was used as a sub-station for the Tennessee Highway Patrol until circa 1952 when a new facility was constructed.

This 80 year old highway patrol building is an excellent example of Tennessee's response to the expansion of motorized traffic and the public’s concern for safety along the new and expanding system of highways.  The building is an excellent representation of the use of Crab Orchard stone.  In addition, the Craftsman influence of the building can be seen in the cut stone and use of clay tile roofing.  This building is an example of the huge impact the automobile has had on American culture and life.

As small as this building is, it not only served as a workplace, but also as living quarters for unmarried patrol officers.  The back room of the building was fitted with beds and contained a kitchen and bathroom.  A former patrol officer recalled that this arrangement kept officers’ working day and night.  The front room was used as an office and it’s where they had a desk, did paperwork, and provided tourist information.

This building may look much like the 1936 facility…but it was actually built in 1952 to replace it.  One reason that it looks much like the original building is that it was also built using Crab Orchard Stone.

The ‘new’ building is located on the same piece of land as the original but it was situated so that it faced the ‘new’ US Hwy. 70.  Its back faces the back of the older Highway Patrol building.  After this facility was constructed, the 1936 building was used only for storage.  Later it was abandoned!  Fortunately, local preservationists have ensured that the original building has been restored…and even nicely landscaped. 

That’s all for now… Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

Gypsy Vanner Horses in East Tennessee

During our drive through Roane County Tennessee searching for a number of historic places, I decided that the ladies would truly appreciate a diversion from our mission.  I set course along the back roads to take a look at a relatively newly recognized breed of horse…the Gypsy Vanner.

My route led us to the LexLin Gypsy Ranch near the eastern shore of Watts Bar Lake and south of Rockwood Tennessee.  The ranch was founded by Eric and Mechelle Barton.  They fell in love with Gypsy Vanner horses in England and Wales.  When the opportunity presented itself, they decided to build a business breeding these interesting and beautiful horses here in the USA.

 

The Barton’s, with their family of 5 children, started building LexLin Ranch with their importation of 7 Gypsy Vanners or Cobs from England.

At 35 years of age, Eric Barton had stepped aside as the President and CEO of Reylant.  RELYANT Global is a Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business headquartered in Maryville Tennessee that employs approximately 200 staff worldwide.  Established in 2006, the company specializes in construction, military munitions response, environmental services and global development support services.  The company operates in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, the United States, the Pacific and South America.  They provide construction, spray foam insulation, life support, vehicle maintenance and a variety of other services to government and commercial clients in the Middle East and elsewhere. 

Eric served as a Marine beginning at the age of 17.  At one point he served as a Senior Analyst for the Combined Joint Task Force at the Horn of Africa/National Intelligence Cell.  He also served as a chaplain.  In addition to LexLin Gypsy Ranch, he operates an overseas manpower and training organization. 

This photo of a team of beautiful Gypsy Vanner Horses pulling a traditional looking gypsy or Roma wagon was borrowed from the Internet.

From about 1850, travelling people (Gypsy, Roma or Pavee peoples) in the British Isles began to use a distinct type of horse to pull their vardos, the caravans or wagons in which they had just begun to live and travel.  The color and look of these sturdy horses were refined in the years after World War II.  Horses of this type were first imported into the United States in 1996. 

What a beautiful 'borrowed' photo of a beautiful and powerful horse!

The Irish Cob or Colored Cob, Gypsy Cob and Tinker Horse, known as the Gypsy Horse or Gypsy Vanner in the United States is a small, solidly-built horse of cob conformation.  They are often, but not always, piebald or skewbald.  These are the only broken-colored horse breed of the British Isles.  There was no stud-book or breed association for horses of this type until 1996.  It is now considered a breed and they can be registered with a number of breed associations. Other names for this breed include Gypsy Cob and Tinker Horse.  

In this photo, Dawn Marie is petting a young Gypsy stallion.  The breed is calm and gentle, has a great temperament and is eager to please and work.  They make great family horses…

LexLin Ranch is in the business of breeding and selling top quality Gypsy Vanner Horses.  The ranch is one of the largest Gypsy Vanner ranches and breeding facilities in the United States.  When you consider that the first of these horses wasn’t imported into the USA until 1997, the growth of this horse’s popularity is stunning.  There is at least 1 Gypsy Horse Ranch or breeding farm in 39 of the 50 States.  Tennessee has 4 and Florida has so many that the list of facilities in that state is broken into 3 different alphabetical groupings!

We drove on past the main stable toward the offices.  We parked and some staff members working with the horses told us that we could look around.

Laurie took this photo of one of the stallions.  I went on-line and I’m pretty sure that this is TN Honey.  This Gypsy Vanner/Gypsy Cobb stud stands 14.2 hands tall and he weighs around 1,100 pounds.

Two of the ranch’s staff members were in a nearby corral tending to and getting attention from a large group of mares.  Nearby stallions were all paying close attention to the activity!

Feathering or "Feather", long hair starting below the knee of the front legs and the hock of the hind legs and running down the leg to flow over the front and back of the hooves, is a highly valued attribute of the Gypsy Horse.

  

Laurie took this photo of a mare and her foal... This photo with the stock fence as a reference, gives you a good idea of the typical size of a Gypsy Vanner horse.  They have an excellent disposition and they're very curious.

 

Gypsy horses tend to be very hairy! Most will have a long mane and tail.  Some even have a double mane, where the mane is as thick and long on both sides of the neck.  But they also have lots of body hair…beards, shaggy winter coats, long belly hair.  Some will have this coveted “lucky mustache” on their upper lip.  

A true Gypsy breeder (in England or Wales) would supposedly never clip or trim the mustache or beard, but some breeders in the USA tend to go for a cleaner look.  I borrowed this photo from the Internet but only because we didn’t get clear photo of a mustache on one of LexLin’s Gypsy’s. 

To learn more about LexLin Ranch and to see videos and photos of their Gypsy Vanner Horses, just go to https://www.gogypsy.com/.  To learn much more about Gypsy Vanner horses, you can go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gypsy_horse. 

Our next stop was just off of US Hwy. 27 between Rockwood and Harriman Tennessee.  This is a side view of the old John C. Martin home on Martin Road.  It’s part of the Valley View Farm property which was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in March of 1997.  The last permanent Martin resident of this house moved out to a nursing home in 1994.  The current Martin family lives in a new home nearby so the old farm house, part of which dates back to 1870, is unoccupied.

After all of these years the farm itself, with about 259 acres, is still operating.  As per the application for the listing on the National Register, the entire property has much the same appearance as it did back in 1932.

This is a view of the front of the old Valley View farmhouse.  The historic Emory Gap – Jacksboro road flanks the east side of the farm.  That road dates back to between 1798 and 1805.  In addition, there are 2 cemeteries on the property, one dating back to 1901 and the other dating all the way back to 1865. 

The older burial ground on the Valley View property is called the Carter Cemetery.  Many of the folks buried there were from Browntown, a former mining community that has faded into the past and is now part of this historic site.  Many Browntown residents in that cemetery were victims of the 1918 flu epidemic.  Some remnants of Browntown and the mining efforts as well, are evident at the west end of the farm.  I couldn’t find any other information about Browntown except some death records that mentioned deaths of people from the town…

That’s about it for now… Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them.

Thanks for stopping by to see what we’ve been up to!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

Kingston Tennessee – Historic Sites

After visiting Fort Southwest Point at the south edge of Kingston, we continued with our exploration of portions of Roane County Tennessee. Our goal was to locate a number of sites listed on the National Register of Historic Places. 

The city of Kingston was our first stop...

Our first stop was an historic cemetery.  The Bethel Historic Cemetery was established in 1811.  Over the years it has been known by several different names to include:  Presbyterian Hill Cemetery; Kingston Cemetery; Old Burial Ground and Old Bethel Cemetery. 

The land for the cemetery was donated by “Indian Chief Riley”.  A sign posted in the cemetery names this chief as John Riley and the reason that he donated the land was “so his children could attend Rittenhouse Academy…which was located here”.  

 

From what I read, it’s probable that John Riley was the son of a white man, Samuel Riley and, Gulustiyu Doublehead, one of the daughters of Chief Doublehead, a fierce warrior from the Eastern Cherokee Nation.  Actually, Samuel married 2 of Chief Doublehead’s daughters.  Depending on the source document, Samuel Riley apparently had 16 or 18 children with his wives.  Samuel was a trader and ferry operator at Fort Southwest Point.  Samuel died in 1817 and John Riley died in Oklahoma in 1845. 

In any case, this cemetery is definitely full of historical burials!  No less than 17 “Steamboat Men” are buried here, with the earliest ‘steamboat related’ burial occurring in 1870 and the last in 1959.  It should be noted that despite the difficulty, in 1828 the Steamboat “Atlas” made it eventually up to Knoxville Tennessee, while regular traffic between Knoxville and Decatur Alabama was in place by around 1835.

This is the Byrd family burial plot at Bethel Cemetery.  Robert King Byrd, (1823 – 1885), was an American soldier and politician.  A slave owning Southern Unionist, he commanded the Union Army's First Tennessee Infantry during the Civil War.  He saw action at Cumberland Gap, Stones River, and in the Knoxville and Atlanta campaigns.  

Byrd represented his native Roane County at the pro-Union East Tennessee Convention on the eve of the war in 1861.  He also served one term (1879–1881) in the Tennessee Senate, and unsuccessfully sought the Democratic Party's nomination for governor in 1880.  He was a persistent advocate for railroad construction and navigational improvements to the Tennessee River during the two decades following the war.

The town of Byrdstown Tennessee, the County Seat for Pickett County, was named in honor of Byrd in 1879.  In 1890, the East Tennessee Land Company purchased Byrd's 10,000-acre plantation for the establishment of the city of Harriman Tennessee.

This is the original hitching post from the Bethel Presbyterian Church which was located on the current cemetery grounds.

This cemetery has one other sad but notable distinction.  At least one veteran who served in every American war from the Revolution through Vietnam is buried on these grounds.  Colonel Gideon Morgan, who served in the Revolutionary War, is the first of the burials. (More about Colonel Morgan following the next photo) Other wars include the War of 1812, the Mexican War, Civil War (both Union and Confederate armies), the Spanish American War, World War I, World War II, Korea and Vietnam.

Semi-Related Factoid:

·       The 2010 movie, “Get Low”, starring Bill Murray, Robert Duvall, and Sissy Spacek, was based on the true story of a Roane County man, Felix Breazeale. Breazeale was a local hermit who opted to throw himself a funeral while he was still alive.

This is the Colonel Gideon Morgan House in Kingston… This Federal style two-and-a-half story home was built between 1810 and 1813.  

After serving in the Revolutionary War in his home state of Massachusetts and living for a while in Virginia, Colonel Morgan moved to Kingston in 1809 and he established a trading post.  Although this structure served as his residence, part of it was also opened as a well-known ‘ordinary’ or tavern.  The town was platted at about the same time that Morgan’s home was being built…

Colonel Morgan was the founder of a long line of prominent military and civic leaders.  Among his notable descendants was his son, Colonel Gideon Morgan, Jr., who commanded the Cherokee Regiment in the Creek War;  John Tyler Morgan was a Brigadier General In the Confederacy and was for many years a United States Senator from Alabama.  Another grandson, Samuel D. Morgan, of Nashville served as president of the committee for erecting the current capitol of Tennessee.  Finally, the elder Morgan's great-grandson was the Confederate General John Hunt Morgan of Civil War fame.

This is the old Roane County Courthouse in Kingston Tennessee.  It sits directly across a busy street from the Colonel Gideon Morgan home.  The courthouse was completed in 1855 using local lumber and bricks made on site by slaves.  No nails were used in the original structure of this combination Greek Revivalist/Federalist style building.  This is 1 of only 6 antebellum courthouses remaining in the state of Tennessee. 

The building was used in the Civil War by both Confederates and Union forces as a hospital.  Graffiti can still be found on the walls written by soldiers who were hospitalized here.  The building was the active courthouse of Roane County until 1974 when the new courthouse was completed.  At that point the old courthouse was deeded to the Roane County Heritage Commission.  The Heritage Commission maintains extensive historical records and serves as a center for genealogical and historic research.  Website: http://www.roanetnheritage.com/.

FYI...the law didn’t always control matters in Roane County… To read some interesting stories about murder, mayhem and mob lynchings, just go to http://www.roanetnheritage.com/research/m&m/index.htm.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a short historical tour!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

Dining on Market Square – Knoxville Tennessee

A couple of weeks ago, Laurie, Dawn Marie and I did a little exploring around Knoxville’s downtown area with Market Square being the primary focus of our attention.  Of course, I also ensured that we would have a chance to try one of the area’s restaurants for our lunch break…

This is Tupelo Honey Café and it’s located at the south end of Market Square as an interconnected part of the Oliver Hotel, a boutique hotel on the Square.  

The first Tupelo Honey Café opened in downtown Asheville North Carolina on Dec. 7, 2000.   Originally it was known as a late-night haunt for locals.  As per the company’s website, Tupelo Honey Cafe now has 13 locations across the Southeast with 1 in Georgia, 4 in North Carolina, 2 in South Carolina, 4 in Tennessee and 2 in Virginia.  The website also indicates that expansion beyond the Southeast is coming soon with locations opening in Colorado and Texas.

Note:

·       The building occupied by The Oliver Hotel and the Tupelo Honey Café was originally built in 1876 as the Peter Kern Bakery.  Since then it has served a variety of businesses changing the Kern's candy counter and soda fountain to a drugstore and dance hall.  In 1982 the building was converted into the Blakely House Hotel to house VIP guests for Knoxville’s World’s Fair.  Known for its quirky, eclectic style, and for long term guests such as actress Patricia Neal and author Elizabeth Gilbert, (“Eat, Pray, Love”), the hotel operated for more than 20 years under the radar of most who passed.  In 2011, the property was purchased and renovated with its name being changed to The Oliver Hotel. Learn more at http://www.theoliverhotel.com/.

The top photo shows the bar near the front of Market Square’s Tupelo Honey Café.  The second picture is of the dining area where we were seated.

This small but growing restaurant chain offers updated eclectic interpretations of Southern food with small plates for sharing, as well as entrees that pay homage to traditional Southern fare.  Each location continues in the tradition of the original restaurant but they also add their own hometown touches with local artists, local draft beers, and local community outreach programs.

Carla, our waitress, started us out with these very nice fresh biscuits with butter and jam.  I could have just eaten these…all of them... but then I would have had to skip lunch!

The menu at Tupelo Honey Café is extensive and imaginative too!  There are offerings for Southern Snacks and Small Plates, Sandwiches, Entrée Salads, Supper Plates and Sides, Brunch Classics, Fork and Knife Biscuit Sandwiches, Omelets, Scrambles and Desserts.  There are also some dinner specials and there is a Happy Hour special as well…

Dawn Marie ordered the Wicked Chicken Biscuit from the Fork and Knife section of the menu. ($8.50) This biscuit was accompanied by spicy honey-fried chicken, a sunny side-up egg, red pepper relish and a “Dijonnaise” salad.  Instead of the salad, she ordered side of Goat Cheese Grits. ($5.00) She loved the spicy honey-fried chicken but even though the flavor of the goat cheese grits was OK, the grits just weren’t creamy enough…and she’s eaten a lot of grits!

   

Other interesting Fork and Knife options include: J'adore Le Bacon, ($7.50), a Southern twist on a French classic with apple cider bacon, dijonnaise-dressed arugula and kale, a sunny side-up egg, plus Havarti and bleu cheese, and; Blue Ridge Biscuit, ($8.50), with All-natural pasture-raised Hickory Nut Gap Farm sausage, blueberry gastrique, caramelized onions, a sunny side-up egg and fresh spinach.

Laurie ordered the Smoked Jalapeño Fried Egg BLT, choosing the homemade potato chips for her side. ($10.25) This creation included 2 all-natural farm fresh eggs, prepared over hard with apple cider bacon, lettuce, tomato and smoked jalapeño aioli on sourdough.  She really enjoyed her sandwich!  She also liked the potato chips but I thought they were just average for homemade chips.

Other creative sandwich options include such items as the Southern Belle Grilled Cheese, ($12.00), with Brie, gorgonzola cheese and house-made pear and onion marmalade on sourdough, and; the Mountain Pulled Pork Sandwich, ($11.00), with pork slow-roasted over 14 hours served in classic Western NC style with smoked jalapeño BBQ sauce, topped with tobacco onions and house-made pickles.

As usual, I went for a “light” lunch, hogging out on the Fried Chicken and Biscuits, adding an over-easy egg  just because I could! ($16.25 with the egg) The fried chicken (excellent) and biscuits were enhanced by some crispy Tennessee country ham, fresh basil and milk gravy.  Of course I added Tabasco after taking the photo.  This was a fine brunch/luncheon dish that could only be improved by the use of spicy sausage gravy instead of the milk gravy.

Service was efficient and friendly.  Tupelo Honey Café’s menu has something for everyone with imagination at work on almost every menu item.  This restaurant is an excellent addition and anchor for Knoxville’s Market Square. 

Tupelo Honey Café in Knoxville is located at 1 Market Square.  Phone: 865-522-0004.  To learn more and to explore this fun menu, go to https://tupelohoneycafe.com/location/knoxville/.  My only complaint about the website is the reoccurring pop-up ad that tries to get the viewer to sign up to the website and receive a ‘free’ Tupelo Honey pint glass…

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for lunch!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave 

Fort Southwest Point – Kingston Tennessee

While Dawn Marie was in town visiting us, I decided to go for a drive one day…with the goal of locating and photographing historic landmarks or places along the way.  I’d worked out a relatively short route over to Kingston, then Rockwood and Harriman Tennessee.

Our first stop was just south of Kingston off of TN Hwy. 58…

Laurie and I had driven this road several times over the last few years but we’d never stopped to explore this site.  Fort Southwest Point is an historical reproduction that sits on 30 acres that are owned and operated by the City of Kingston.  The site itself is called Southwest Point Park.  This attractive visitor’s center greets those who stop by to learn about the Fort…

Our photos of the interior of the Visitor’s Center didn’t come out too well.  Historic items cover the walls and fill several showcases.  This photo just covers one little corner of the exhibit area.  Note the pottery, furs, manikins dressed in Cherokee garb…and the huge collection of stone tools, spearheads and arrowheads.

There also are a few taxidermy mounts, some old time tools and implements plus artifacts recovered from the site of the Fort itself.  In addition, there is a scale model of the original fort.  It provides visitors with a past and future look at this fort… The staff was very helpful and informative…and they encouraged us to watch a short film about Fort Southwest Point before we went up to the Fort itself. Very interesting.

This is the view of Fort Southwest Point from the base of the hill near the Visitor’s Center.  This is the only fort in Tennessee that is being reconstructed on its original foundation.  Currently, the completed sections of the fort include a barracks (left), the blockhouse in the center, 250 feet of palisade walls and some ancillary structures.

Fort Southwest Point was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972…

This is the view from the fort looking out over Watts Bar Lake.  The construction of the Watts Bar Dam on the Tennessee River back in 1942 caused the formation of this lake/impoundment.  Back in the late 1700’s when the fort was built, the river bottom was far below the level of today’s lake…and the fort on this hill dominated the area and it provided great sight-lines for the soldiers stationed here…

Isn’t this little chapel beautiful?  It sits on the hillside just below the fort overlooking Watts Bar Lake.  Apparently, there was some evidence that there may have been a chapel near or in the fort… In any case, one of the Kingston park employees told us that he’d built it.  He was proud of his accomplishment…and he should be too!  I suspect that it can be rented for weddings…but I couldn’t find anything about it on the Internet.

Once inside the stockade walls, we approached the back of the blacksmith’s and tack shop with the barracks in the upper left of the photo.

Constructed in 1797 and garrisoned by federal soldiers until 1811, the fort served as a major point of interaction between the Cherokee and the US government as well as a way station for early migrants travelling between Knoxville and Nashville.

Although there are no records and few contemporary descriptions pertaining to the fort's design and structure, archaeological excavations conducted in the 1970s and 1980s have determined the fort's layout.

 

Historical Footnote:

·       In 1803, 8 soldiers from Fort Southwest Point were recruited to accompany Lewis and Clark on their expedition to the Northwest and the Pacific Ocean.  Only 4 of the recruits qualified for the mission.

This photo is of the inside of the blacksmith’s shop.  The tack shop is right next door. 

The early records regarding the fort's construction were destroyed in a fire but historians have determined that the fort was completed by federal troops under the command of Captain John Wade and Captain Richard Sparks in July 1797.  The fort was originally referred to as "Fort Butler" after Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Butler (commander of federal forces in East Tennessee), but the name had been changed to "Fort Southwest Point" by 1798.

Based on the map of the fort, we believe that this is a second barracks under construction…

Lieutenant-Colonel Butler moved his headquarters to Fort Southwest Point in 1799, when nine companies (7 infantry, 1 artillery, and 1 dragoon) totaling roughly 400-500 troops were garrisoned at the fort.  Around the same time, nearby lots had been sold for what eventually became the city of Kingston.  It was named for Major Robert King, an officer stationed at the fort.

This shelter with an old time outdoor oven is just one more feature of the fort.  When special events are staged at the fort, history comes to life with interpreters dressed in period costumes. 

Historical Footnote:

·       One might assume that the primary mission for the fort and its garrison was to protect settlers.  Actually at first it was more to provide escort service across Cherokee territory.  A prime portion of the mission was to ensure that travelers did not illegally settle on Cherokee owned lands.  In addition, the troops began to further protect Cherokee rights by forcibly removing white settlers who had illegally settled on Cherokee lands.  Much to the sorrow of the Cherokee, that mission for the troops didn’t last long…

This is a frontal view of the tack shop (left) and the blacksmith shop (right) with the palisade walls in the background.

Historical Footnotes:

·       Fort Southwest Point was Roane County Tennessee’s first post office.

·       The first Indian School was located at the fort.  In the late eighteenth century, reformers starting with Washington and Knox, in efforts to "civilize" or otherwise assimilate Native Americans (as opposed to relegating them to reservations), adopted the practice of educating native children in current American culture, which was at the time largely based on rural agriculture, with some small towns and few large cities. 

·       In 1801, Fort Southwest Point’s importance increased when the roles of Agent of the War Department for Tennessee and Cherokee Indian Agent were combined with Fort Southwest Point being chosen as headquarters for this dual function.  Colonel Return Jonathan Meigs was chosen for this important role.  By all accounts he was a fair-minded man, who took his responsibilities seriously.  In response to the Cherokee’s complaint that their annuity for the lands they seceded had been paid in relatively useless luxury goods, Meigs ensured the payments took the form of tools, livestock and goods to help their economic situation. 

Fort Southwest Point is located at 1226 S Kentucky Street, (TN Hwy 58), in Kingston Tennessee.  Phone: 865-376-6584.  The fort’s website can be found at http://www.southwestpoint.com/.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a short history lesson!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave