SOLO ROADTRIP IV: DAYS 5-6 [KNOXVILLE & EASTERN TENNESSEE]

the next morning i left pretty early so i would have plenty of time to get to knoxville as hurricane helene was hitting eastern tennessee. early in the day i found out that most historic sites & attractions in the area were going to be closed. i was unsure if my first planned stop was open, but i decided to go anyways since it was on the way. this was sgt. alvin c. york state historic park in pall mall, tennessee. i had to take some pretty small roads which made me nervous with the wind advisories; there was a chance of falling trees. i did have to move one rotted tree that fell on the road. luckily an older man with a truck arrived at the same time, so we both moved it. the fact that it was rotted meant that it was light. i also had to watch for big trucks that were driving in opposite traffic as they would beam my car with water.

alvin c. york was one of the most decorated wwi soldiers in the us. when he returned, he was deeded a farm & opened a general store. the park includes his home, the gristmill, & the mill house amongst others. i was interested in this sight since i was intrigued that a small town in tennessee would have a reconstructed wwi trench. where else do you see that? 

the visitor center is a reconstruction of his general store

in the trenches

the park was a nice break in the day & the workers were very informative as they helped me plan my next route. i decided to take a route that added an hour to my drive, but this would keep me on the interstate & skip the small, narrow tree lined highways that would be less maintained & more likely to have fallen trees.

when i was at the state park, i called around and found out that historic brushy mountain state penitentiary would be open. this was the only place in my itinerary for the next couple days that was open due to the hurricane. i slowly made my way to petros, tennessee. the drive was pretty good & really the early morning was the worst of it. the only issue was in petros there was quite a bit of debris on the country roads. there was also an emergency radio announcement about a failed dam that scared the shit out of me. as someone who is not from the area, i did not know how close it was. turned out it was released in error. i also heard on the radio about a local event where you could win a gun, only in the south.

brushy mountain state penitentiary opened in 1896, but the current building is from the 1920s. the prison was in operation until 2009 & was reopened to the public in 2018. it is pretty isolated, so escapes were few & unsuccessful. the most well known convict was martin luther king jr.'s murderer & the fast food killer. on top of that, the prison is known in the paranormal community to be haunted.

i was so close to the clouds

you can see the whipping post in the courtyard

they had quite a few halloween decorations. i asked the front desk to make sure that workers do not jump out (just in case, i hate places like that).

the hallways were pretty scary when i was alone. at one point i thought i heard a man's voice, but i assume it was just a draft (it was pretty windy).

the museum part had a docent who was a former innmate (i found it interesting how former inmates would want to go back)

the mess hall had paintings from some of the inmates

the mail room

all the lead paint

the prison also had a restaurant called the warden's table. it is cafeteria style & sells alcohol, so most people there were locals drinking. even though there was a storm, this did not stop people from driving up in their quads; the neighborhood dog even visited. i thought it was a stray, but one of the workers said it was a dog from a close by residence. i ended up eating here & it was one of my favorite meals of my trip. on a side because this is an older building, there were leaks. i was entertained that the rain buckets had "moonshine" written on them. 

i got pulled pork on top of a cornmeal cake with mac & cheese, green beans, criminal cavier (vinegar cabbage), with a cookie.

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the next morning i left knoxville for a day trip to oak ridge (my original plan for the day before). oak ridge was created during wwii as a planned community to house those that were working on the secret manhattan project to develop the atomic bomb. urban planning + history = this was the reason i wanted to visit. the town had everything - post office, schools, businesses, etc. this is technically part of the national park service, but they do not have their own visitors center with a museum. you can visit the children's museum in town where there is a ranger than can provide info, but that is about it. this national park consists of 3 areas in the country - the other 2 being in washington & new mexico.

the first stop was a one room exhibit perched on the hillside that explained some of the history of the land and the k-25 plant. it was interesting to learn more about what to do with the land after the cold war. the area is considered "brown" land since you are limited to what you can do with industrial land that has hazardous materials (this also include land used for mininf, gas stations, & warehouses). today some of the land has been used as a business complex & for art spaces. 

the first museum was the k-25 history center (k-25 was the codename given to the manhattan project). the museum has an interesting set up. when you pay for admission, you get a "key card" that gives you access to the orientation room that is set up to look like you were just recruited to work on a secret government project. when you walk out, you have access to the museum that talks about the science behind the work & how people lived in town (i was more interested in the latter). i was literally the only one there & no one arrive until i left. 

the k-25 plant nearby was built in 1945 &was the longest building the US - at 1 mile - as it housed the machinery that did things to uranium that i have no place (and no brain cell) in explaining. i think it was a filtering system. the workers would bike in the building to get to the different sections. the suspender wearing docent was nice & explained all the science stuff to me (though i had no interest). i was more interested in the people - i am a historian novice, not a scientist. at the k-25 plant, the filtered uranium components were used in the atomic bombs that dropped in japan.

outside the museum is still some of the structures that were built at that time & left standing, including the main gate to get into the complex.

there were even open doors which was weird. like do people not loiter in oak ridge?

i did drive to some of the places in town, including somewhere for coffee (a requirement; and it was a delicious campfire cold brew) & the local park near the library that has some information plaques.  

 

the oak ridge commemorative park (post storm)

i made my way back to knoxville where i would spend the rest of my day. i kept missing the turn to the old james cabin in the middle of downtown knoxville, so i had to circle twice. in 1786, james white built the first cabin in what later would become knoxville. the museum is a collection of several cabins (some used with those original timbers) enclosed with a fence that show how a family would have lived back in that time.

the inner courtyard would have been used for animals.

i learned that people string & dry green beans (reminded me of the peppers in new mexico)

the new & the old

i then drove close to market square so i could see some sites & go to another museum. market square has been a commercial hub since the 1860s & is now the old town of knoxville. this area has some of the older buildings. i only stopped in one store, am old general / outfitter store from the 1800s.

market square

the museum i visited was the east tennesse historical society. unpopular opinion, but i enjoyed this museum more than the state museum. i thought it did a better job of providing information & a breadth of tennessee history. ti enjoyed the sections about appalachia, the smokies, & the leisure industry in eastern tennessee.

the museum is in an old bank.

i also learned a few things. i did not know there were other states in the us that disappeared. the state of franklin (modern day eastern tennesse) existed for 4 years. the union would not accept it though, so it returned to north carolina. also, east tennessee opposed to secede from the union during the civil war years. unlike the rest of tennessee, the east mostly did not have slaves nor cotton (they were poorer & mostly grew grain). at this time, there was a request to secede (again), but it was denied by state legislators. the more you know!

part of the museum was knoxville main street in its hey day, with an old trolley...

and and old soda shoppe.

after, i walked around the market square. i will say, that the outside perimeter was a little seedy. there are some pretty green squares in the area, but i stayed away as there was a lot of loitering. the market square is mostly a lot of bougie shops, but i did have an early dinner at a soup bistro (the moo deng sign got me). here is also where i had my first mocktail (the william: house shrub, lemon juice, ginger, & aquafaba - the foam from cooked legumes, weird i know). i have never had alcohol & i had never seen a mocktail menu during my travels.

tennessee was the deciding state to ratify the 19th amendment that allowed women to vote.

a pretty building during my walk back to my car.

i still had some time so i went to a couple of local thrift stores. if i remember correctly, i only found an old slip skirt. i then went to starbucks down the street from my hotel to pick up a cheese plate for later to hold me over until the next day.