About Knoxville, Tennessee
Real Estate Guide

Discovering Appalachia is a world unto itself

Appalachia and East Tennessee played a key role in the birth of the nation, and if you jump in your automobile, you can ease your way through not only the history of this region as it played out on a national scope, but you can also find pieces of that history scattered about in old homes, country stores and towns.

Discovering Appalachia is a little like sitting on the front porch with one of your grandparents and listening to the old, good stories. You can find those porches today in Appalachia, not to mention the old country places and even hardware stores where you can still buy one nut or bolt, or even a plow blade.

This region is full of Appalachiana, as well as Americana. And it doesn't take a great, long journey or time to find yourself in the middle of it all.

A short trip from Knoxville can put you in the Great Smoky Mountains, where a visit to the National Park Service headquarters has an excellent museum and introduction into the past when families peopled the hills and farmed the sides of mountains.

Or branching out farther from Knoxville, try to envision a concentric circle. Each additional circle will widen your knowledge of this region. You see the remnants of churches that formed the moral backbone of the pioneers, such as Eusebia Church in Blount County. It looks today into the great expanse of mountains just as it did back in 1784.

Just up the road from Knoxville in Rutledge, there is the Old Judge Ellis home. He was a rip-snorter, so to speak, not really a judge of the cloth, but in name. His home holds down a position of prominence off U.S. Highway 11W between Blaine and Rutledge and is the subject of many stories in the cafes and restaurants in the old town of Rutledge.

Or in Townsend, folks continue to chat about Capt. Dave Lavoie's chainsaw art. Old logs and trees become object d'art, like 8-foot-tall black bears, paws out, mouth in a snarl; 10-foot-tall Indian chiefs, arms folded, proud face; 14-foot-long alligators, mouth open; small, loveable baby black bears, in a Smoky Mountain tree scene, going after a bee hive.

Then there is the B&B Market in LaFollette. The former country store has trans-morphed into a restaurant, where you can get about the best hamburger, cheeseburger, beef tips, baked potatoes, french-fried potatoes and buttered biscuits around. B&B regulars show up in droves for breakfast and lunch.

The market's reputation has been passed down from plateful to plateful — that is, the B&B has always been known for its food, no matter who owned the place. Maybe it has something to do with the boards in the frame building, or the food spirits.

A visit to Wears Valley will put you on the road to the old Headrick Barn on Lyon Springs Road. The barn, one-time home to cattle, hay and tobacco, has been converted into a new environment. On the outside, it's a barn with a front porch and rocking chairs. On the inside, the Wears Valley Antique Barn is a place to hear that old-time mountain music, a place to find antiques, music on Tuesday, Friday nights and every Saturday night, a pot-luck supper, plus music.

It is all free. But, if you come on Saturday night, bring something from your kitchen. Nothing store-bought. Handmade is best, if you want to keep up with the women of the valley.

Down around Delano, there is the Savannah Oaks Winery, where the muscadine reigns.

The muscadine, known to some as a scuppernong, is native to the South, and at Savannah Oaks, it produces fine wine. The fat grape has many varieties, several of which can be found on Savannah Oaks Winery, all going to making wine, original to the farm.

From scuppernongs to mountain music, discovering Appalachia is a world unto itself that unfolds in layers.