Back in 1929, a cheeky local stunt pilot named Patrick Joseph Beavers decided to take an aerial tour of the recently completed Andrew Johnson Hotel, at the time the tallest …
Andy Sprinkle: A life redeemed
Born in Asheville, North Carolina, on July 12, 1925, Andy Sprinkle attended elementary and high school there. He had discovered alcohol when he found himself a naïve 16-year-old cast out …
Tom Fine: ‘Admiral Farragut and the Civil War on the Waters’
The Farragut Museum will host a lecture on Admiral David Farragut at 2 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 26.
Tom Fine, a retired TVA attorney who has had a life-long interest in military …
Craighead-Jackson House has its own story to tell
While most native and many longtime Knoxvillians are familiar with Blount Mansion in downtown Knoxville, the neighboring Craighead-Jackson House is a lesser-known entity. In fact, for a while it was …
When the Concord Fair was THE fair in Knox County
As is generally the custom, the Tennessee Valley Fair is held early in the month of September. With the exception of the war years (1942-1945) and 2020 (Covid-19), the fair …
The Cavett Station Massacre: A new look at an old story
Betty Bean is under the weather this week, so we’re recycling a column written in 2013 about Dr. Charles H. Faulkner’s then-new book about the September 1793 Cavett Station Massacre. …
Morgan Schubert: Go west, young man
It’s difficult to imagine now, but 70 years ago the area now known as West Hills was mostly acres of farmland between Kingston and Middlebrook pikes without an interstate or …
Emory Place was home for ‘The Dummy Line’
Many present-day Knox Countians assume the Fountain Head Railway (The Dummy Line) (1895-1905) used a site in downtown Knoxville as its home station. Not so, the home station was at …