Current Projects - Knoxville History Project

Jack Neely leads UT Public History students on a tour of Old Gray Cemetery (Photo by Prof. Pat Rutenberg.)

Annually, KHP serves more than 3,000 participants through 80 educational programs, both in-person and online. We continue to provide talks and guidebooks for Leadership Knoxville and Introduction Knoxville cohorts, Social Studies Teachers, UT public history students, and members of numerous other organizations and community groups.

We lead monthly tours of the Eugenia Williams House on Lyons View Pike and support local tourism through regular blog posts and consultancy services for Visit Knoxville. We are also a dependable source for local history information for local TV and radio stations who call on us almost weekly for help interpreting stories.

2025 Priorities

Knoxville: A Walking Music Guide: KHP will publish a new educational booklet that will increase awareness and appreciation for the city’s rich musical heritage by emphasizing sites associated with songwriters, composers and musicians well-known enough to be recognizable by the American music-listening public. The free guide, a companion to our popular Literary Guide (now in its second printing), will also introduce the Knoxville-based work of these writers and musicians.

Artists will include the street musicians who sang ballads of tragedy for nickels like George Reneau; the Brunswick Record Co. sessions of 1929 and 1930 at the St. James Hotel, featuring the Tennessee Ramblers, Tennessee Chocolate Drops, and Leola Manning; songwriter Arthur Q. Smith who signed away the rights to many of his best works to performers such as Hank Williams, Ernest Tubb, and Bill Monroe; brash young fiddler Roy Acuff, on his way to popularizing country music nationally; and teenage singer Dolly Parton, already writing songs when she was singing on local radio in the 1950s.

Historic South Knoxville: Several years in the making, KHP will publish a new full-color community history book on South Knoxville. We’ll be covering the early pioneers and ferrymen who began to settle and earn a living along the south shore of the Tennessee River helping develop the district that became known as “South America.” We’ll tell the story of the bridges that connected the south shore with downtown proper – bridges that were often prone to destruction by floods and tornados – and the years when there were no bridges for farmers and pedestrians to cross at all.

We’ll highlight early neighborhoods and sites along Sevierville Pike, including the South Knoxville Baptist Church, D.M. Rose Lumber Mill, and African American Cal Johnson’s Racetrack, and the South Knoxville Grammar School. Plus; and feature Colonial Village, Island Home Park, Lindbergh Forest, Little Switzerland, South Haven, Vestal, and other neighborhoods that emerged throughout the decades.
We’ll also explore the Civil War sites: Fort Dickerson, Fort Stanley, and Fort Higley (now part of the impressive High Ground Park), as well as restored sites such as Loghaven, which began as a bohemian community created by the remarkable Myssie Thompson in the 1930s, and the Candoro Marble building.

ALSO TO BE COMPLETED IN 2025: KHP will launch a new educational series at the historic Eugenia Williams House on Lyons View Pike after the Aslan Foundation opens it in May. Programs will tell Ms. Williams’ story and emphasize Bearden history, river history, architecture, and much more.
In partnership with the historic Bijou Theatre, KHP will begin research for a new book that tells a comprehensive history of the historic venue, including the 1817 Lamar House and the performing arts auditorium that opened in 1909.

Among other programmatic endeavors, KHP will resume the Knoxville Lives story compilation series with volume six, featuring stories by Jack Neely, Paul James, and guest writers.

CORE PROGRAMS

Talks and Tours: KHP serves Knoxville residents and visitors through engaging educational programs, both in-person and online through Zoom. Our programs illuminate the city’s past, incorporating new research and previously untold stories covering a broad range of subjects, presented by KHP staff and guest presenters.

Research Projects: KHP works with individuals, developers, property owners, government departments, and community-based organizations to research and produce new narratives expanding awareness and a better understanding of the city’s complex past.

“The Scruffy Citizen:” Freshly researched articles highlight a diverse variety of relevant but little-known stories from Knoxville’s past, shared with KHP supporters and then posted online.

Knoxville History Online: KHP’s website offers a comprehensive online resource, including stories, historic sites, image galleries, videos, podcasts, maps, and our online store.

Knoxville Shoebox: We encourage community members to share photographs, brochures, and illustrations to be permanently archived for historical use.

Library Readership: To serve the general public, we produce hardback versions of KHP publications through the Knox County Public Library system.

(Printable PDF Format Available Here)