Community Guide - New Market
Knoxville, Tennessee - Real Estate Guide

New Market's charm lies in its small-town feel

Charles Guinn has lived all of his 68 years in this small town, and is in his fourth term as mayor. But what he likes most about the town has nothing to do with his political success.

"Me and my wife have four grown children, and all of them live in New Market — in the city limits," he said. Three of his children are married. The fourth lives at home.

"I can step out on my front porch, and I can see the houses where all of my married children live," he said.

New Market is a town with a lot of old blood, where newcomers feel welcome.

"If you want a town that feels like Mayberry, then this is it," said Michael Arrequin, 37, a Cincinnati transplant who operates the 2nd Chance Thrift Store on U.S. Highway 11E. "There's a lot more people who have been here for many years, but that gives the community its stability, and they're very friendly, make you feel at home."

His store is a few doors down from the New Market Grocery & Video. It is a well-stocked small grocery, but most of its business comes from the deli. The store also serves as an unofficial repository for the town's oral history. A regular group of locals often gathers there to eat and discuss history of the town and area.

The town landmark most visible to passing motorists on Highway 11E is the old Loy Memorial United Methodist Church building, a classic white wooden country church.

"I have seen many people stop their cars just to get out and get a picture of that church," said Eugene Fielden, owner of the funeral home directly behind it. "You see a lot of people with sketch pads, too."

Many who first settled the area were Quakers. In 1819, a man named James Tucker opened a general store and tavern. The store was called the "market" and the area became known as Tucker Town.

A few years later, a much larger store opened nearby and was called the "new market." Other businesses sprang up, and the small commercial center for the surrounding rural farm community became New Market.

Farmhouses, barns and open fields are still visible from the highway, although agriculture has diminished greatly. The historic event for which the town is most widely known is a 1904 train wreck in which 54 people were killed and more than 100 injured.

New Market is governed by a board made up of the mayor and aldermen. The body had its first official meeting in 1911, then abolished itself in 1918, because it had been unable to collect sufficient taxes.

New Market incorporated again in 1977, to prevent annexation by Jefferson City. It was not until 1991 that it had a city hall, following a heated debate over spending $22,500 to buy an old 12,500-square-foot U.S. Post Office building.

Longtime resident Jerry Harper, a retired Carson-Newman College professor, was born on a farm in New Market. By the time he completed his studies at UCLA, he and his wife Joyce, who is from Talbott, had two daughters.

Harper said he knew it was time to come home. "This is definitely a better place to bring daughters up," he said.

After he and Joyce returned in 1966, he began teaching Spanish at Carson-Newman, and the couple had a third daughter

Physically, Harper said, there has not been a great deal of change in the town since then. A lot of the businesses he remembers as a kid have since gone, but others have opened up.

"Now, it's more like a bedroom community, because a lot of people who live here work and do their shopping elsewhere," he said. "But, there is still definitely a good small-town feel."