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Now well past its 100th anniversary, the Tennessee Valley Fair, typically held in early September every year, continues its legacy as one of the most fun events on the fall calendar.  The spot where it all takes place, Chilhowee Park, looms large in the fair’s past.   Once known as Beaman Lake, the park became a destination in the late 1800s for Knoxvillians looking to escape the dirty, grimy city. Hackney carriages, and later streetcars, quickly became a popular way to get there. The park soon became a natural spot to accommodate a regional fair.  After hosting a couple of fall festivals, the first East Tennessee Division Fair opened in 1916. Just three years later, it already began to attract newspaper headlines such as “The Most Gigantic Exhibition and Celebration ever held in the Entire Southeast,” and a “Good Old Fashioned Fair.” Now more than 100 years later since its beginnings, it’s a good time to look back at brief history of one of Knoxville’s most popular, and beloved, fall attractions. This episode was written by Paul James and read by Robin Wilhoit.  Special thanks to producer Pete Carty.  Knoxville Chronicles is brought to you by the nonprofit Knoxville History Project. Funding for this episode has been kindly provided by the City of Knoxville and Friends of the Knoxville History Project, plus Gary Balltrip and Christopher Manning, who made donations on National Giving Day 2025 to support Season IV all year long. Thanks to all. Please consider making a donation to the Knoxville History Project to help support this ongoing podcast. Learn more at KnoxvilleHistoryProject.org

Just over a century ago, Paul Adams, a young Knoxville explorer with a keen sense and appreciation for the natural world, spent the winter on Mount Le Conte, building a new campsite for visitors.  To keep him company Adams bought an extraordinary trained police dog with a grand name, Cumberland Jack of Edelwiess II. In the mountains he would rename the canny canine Smoky Jack and trained him  to pack supplies up and down the mountain trails using a two-pocket Cavalry Officer's leather case on the dog's back. During their adventures over the winter of 1925-1926, the pair would meet hikers, bandits, and even a rare Timber wolf, even then thought to be locally extinct.   The story of this remarkable duo offers a fascinating glimpse into the days when the national-park movement was in full swing, yet still years away from when the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was complete.  Recommended Reading: Smoky Jack and Mount Le Conte (UT Press, 2016) featuring new introductions and extensive footnotes by Smokies experts Anne Bridges and Ken Wise, are based on Paul Adams’ memoirs; and LeConte Lodge: A Centennial History of a Smoky Mountain Landmark by Tom Layton and Mike Hembree (McFarland Publishers, 2025). This episode was written by Paul James and read by Robin Wilhoit.   Special thanks to producer Pete Carty.  Knoxville Chronicles is brought to you by the nonprofit Knoxville History Project. Funding for this episode has been kindly provided by the City of Knoxville and Friends of the Knoxville History Project, plus Gary Balltrip and Christopher Manning, who made donations on National Giving Day 2025 to support Season IV all year long. Thanks to all. Please consider making a donation to the Knoxville History Project to help support this ongoing podcast. Learn more at KnoxvilleHistoryProject.org

Since its earliest days, Knoxville has considered the Fourth of July to be a cause for much celebration. The first event occurred in 1793, just two years after the city was founded, at the Knoxville Blockhouse (where the Knox County Courthouse stands today) when a parade of soldiers kicked off proceedings with a “federal salute” before a banquet ensued with prominent guests toasting a lengthy list of honorees. The day was topped with evening’s fireworks display. In this episode, we’ll include a quick look at other notable Fourth of July downtown events across the decades, before and after the Civil War, and also out at popular gathering places like Chilhowee Park.  Written by Jack Neely and Paul James and read by Alex Haralson.   Special thanks to producer Pete Carty.  Knoxville Chronicles is brought to you by the nonprofit Knoxville History Project. Funding for this episode has been kindly provided by the City of Knoxville and Friends of the Knoxville History Project, plus Gary Balltrip and Christopher Manning, who made donations on National Giving Day 2025 to support Season IV all year long. Thanks to all. Please consider making a donation to the Knoxville History Project to help support this ongoing podcast. Learn more at KnoxvilleHistoryProject.org

Even if you’ve never dared to try it, almost everyone knows what Mountain Dew is. Its sci-fi nuclear-green color and barely legal caffeine content gave it a reputation as one of the more extreme soft drinks, at least before the energy-drink era. Its name was meant as a jokey reference to an old nickname for moonshine. There’s now an official state historical marker on Magnolia Avenue that tells the story of how in 1948 the Hartman Bottling Company introduced a lemon-lime soda in the adjacent brick building, called it Mountain Dew, and promoted it with a hillbilly motif. Who knew that something that is drunk all over the country, started right here in Knoxville. But so, it did. The next time you crack the lid off one, let us know if it “Tickles yore Innards!”   Written by Jack Neely and read by Benny Smith.   Special thanks to producer Pete Carty.  Knoxville Chronicles is brought to you by the nonprofit Knoxville History Project. Funding for this episode has been kindly provided by the City of Knoxville and Friends of the Knoxville History Project, plus Gary Balltrip and Christopher Manning, who made donations on National Giving Day 2025 to support Season IV all year long. Thanks to all. Please consider making a donation to the Knoxville History Project to help support this ongoing podcast. Learn more at KnoxvilleHistoryProject.org

The steps of the Dr. John Mason Boyd memorial arch, located on the southwest corner of Gay Street at Main, offer a fine perch to ponder bygone times in this old section of downtown. Dr. Boyd enjoyed a long and respectable career here, known in his early days as a “horse and buggy” doctor, and before the Civil War, he began to specialize in the field of obstetrics.   Today, the memorial arch stands as a permanent memorial to Dr. Boyd, but it also serves as portal to heart of the old town during the early decades of the 1800s. It’s a place that has so much history to it, and yet, despite the many decades that have passed since young John played here in an open field, for us, here in the 21st century, it’s hardly changed at all.  Written and read by Paul James.   Special thanks to producer Pete Carty.  Knoxville Chronicles is brought to you by the nonprofit Knoxville History Project. Funding for this episode has been kindly provided by the City of Knoxville and Friends of the Knoxville History Project as well as donors from National Giving Day 2025, including: Gary Balltrip, Theresa Lee and Jacob Love, John and Lillian Mashburn, Susan Davenport, Katharine Capito Torbett & Howard Capito, Anne Young, and Christopher Manning. Learn more at KnoxvilleHistoryProject.org

Just past Mead’s Quarry on Island Home Pike, less than half a mile south of the Tennessee river, the stretch of road between the quarry and Sevierville Pike, a distance of about two miles, is as peaceful as any in South Knoxville. It’s one of those neighborhoods that doesn’t appear to have a ready name of its own; few landmarks exist there today, only a few scattered houses and a couple of churches. But in the summer of 1893, this section of South Knoxville proved to be the scene of the ghastly murder of 9-year-old Louis Kinzie Cummings. The murder and its aftermath were extensively covered in the Knoxville newspapers. What quickly became apparent was that Mrs. Lottie Cummings, an uneducated 35-year-old woman, was suspected of bludgeoning her nine-year-old stepson. And as Mrs. Cummings sat in her cell in the Knox County jail, the murder case took several unexpected twists, revealing interesting local color, that during everyday course of events might not have ever been known about this section of South Knoxville. Please note: This story contains graphic descriptions of violence taken from contemporary newspaper accounts from the 1890s. Written by Paul James and read by Bonnie Kourvelas.  Special thanks to producer Pete Carty.  Knoxville Chronicles is brought to you by the nonprofit Knoxville History Project. Funding for this episode has been kindly provided by the City of Knoxville and Friends of the Knoxville History Project as well as donors from National Giving Day 2025, including: Gary Balltrip, Theresa Lee and Jacob Love, John and Lillian Mashburn, Susan Davenport, Katharine Capito Torbett & Howard Capito, Anne Young, and Christopher Manning. Learn more at KnoxvilleHistoryProject.org

For decades, jazz fans in Knoxville have heard rumors of Gordon’s Town House on the corner of Cumberland Avenue and 17th Street. In the 1950s, full swing orchestras played there in its big dining room with a dance floor that looked straight out of a posh Manhattan nightclub in an old black-and-white movie. Gordon’s also had a smaller, more intimate room called the Blue Note, where you could hear more current music, like bebop.  Before he passed away in 2023, Jack Neely interviewed Gordon Sams about his iconic jazz club and hear some of the true-to-life tales of the jazz legends who played there, including Duke Ellington and his orchestra, Count Basie, Tony Pastor, Woody Herman, and the irrepressible trumpeter Louis Prima.  Fittingly, join jazz aficionado Paul Parris, WUOT radio’s longstanding host on Improvisations on Wednesday evenings, for a reading of Neely’s story that offers a rare look into the world of Gordon Sams, a colorful jazz promoter in 1950s and ‘60s Knoxville. This episode also complements the Knoxville History Project’s developing project: the Knoxville Music Archive & Oral History Project.      Written by Jack Neely and read by Paul Parris. Special thanks to producer Pete Carty.  Knoxville Chronicles is brought to you by the nonprofit Knoxville History Project. Funding for this episode has been kindly provided by the City of Knoxville and Friends of the Knoxville History Project as well as donors from National Giving Day 2025, including: Gary Balltrip, Karen Callaway, Steve and Lisa Davis, David Headrick, Theresa Lee and Jacob Love, John and Katherine McCarty, John and Lillian Mashburn, Susan Davenport, Katharine Capito Torbett & Howard Capito, Anne Young, and Christopher Manning. Learn more at KnoxvilleHistoryProject.org

For many years, only intrepid explorers and hardy lumbermen were drawn to the forbidding mountains visible on the horizon from Knoxville. Despite early efforts on the North Carolina side of the Smoky Mountains in 1899, things only really got moving after Willis and Annie Davis returned to Knoxville from an inspirational trip to see some of the grand national parks out west. Fired up by the idea that a national park could be developed in the Smokies, Willis helped foster the creation of the durable Great Smoky Mountains Conservation Association. Annie herself even ran for public office to ensure that the state legislature played its part, working with the City of Knoxville, and officials in North Carolina to acquire key properties. The road to success over the next 17 years proved far rockier than anyone envisioned, involving many ups and downs, legal battles, political shenanigans, fist fights, and ultimately the acquisition of more than 6,600 separate property parcels. The movement also led to the emotional eviction of mountain folk from their ancestral homes that caused bitterness for years.  Ambitious fundraising campaigns attracted large corporate and individual gifts as well as nickels and dimes from hotel bell hops and school children, but it would take a $5 million matching gift from wealthy philanthropist David Rockefeller, Jr. to make the new national park a reality.  After all was said and done, Great Smoky Mountains National Park was officially established in 1934 and dedicated in 1940. This is the story of how it all came to be. Written by Paul James and read by Robin Wilhoit. Special thanks to producer Pete Carty.  Knoxville Chronicles is brought to you by the nonprofit Knoxville History Project. Funding for this episode has been kindly provided by the City of Knoxville and Friends of the Knoxville History Project as well as donors from National Giving Day 2025, including: Gary Balltrip, Karen Callaway, Steve and Lisa Davis, David Headrick, Theresa Lee and Jacob Love, John and Katherine McCarty, John and Lillian Mashburn, Susan Davenport, Katharine Capito Torbett & Howard Capito, Anne Young, and Christopher Manning. Learn more at KnoxvilleHistoryProject.org

When checking the status of a flight or whether you are heading out of town or waiting on a family member or friend to arrive, it’s handy to know the three-digit code for the Knoxville airport. Those three letters—T Y S —stand for Tyson, or more specifically, McGhee Tyson, for whom the airport is named. Even though it’s not even located in Knox County—and most people have no idea why the Knoxville airport has that unusual name.  Its story weaves together the family history of the prominent Tyson family and their efforts to establish Tyson Park on Kingston Pike in memory of their son. It’s also linked to the history of Knoxville’s first airport, Aviation Field, in Bearden, and finally, in 1939, its successor, the airport that we know today as  McGhee Tyson airport. Written by Paul James and Jack Neely and read by Jeremy Kourvelas. Special thanks to producer Pete Carty.  Knoxville Chronicles is brought to you by the nonprofit Knoxville History Project. Funding for this episode has been kindly provided by the City of Knoxville and Friends of the Knoxville History Project as well as donors from National Giving Day 2025, including: Karen Callaway, Steve and Lisa Davis, David Headrick, John and Katherine McCarty, John and Lillian Mashburn, Susan Davenport, Katharine Capito Torbett & Howard Capito, Anne Young, and Christopher Manning. Learn more at KnoxvilleHistoryProject.org

These days, the annual Knoxville Christmas parade that rolls along Gay Street, typically on the first Friday of December, remains as popular as ever. But everything has to start somewhere, and we have to look back almost 100 years to see how it all began.  Cities of Knoxville’s size had been clamoring to get on the Christmas parade bandwagon since watching the Macy’s Christmas Parade be wildly received in New York in 1924. Even though that first one was staged on Thanksgiving Day, that Christmas parade was renamed the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in 1935. Inspired by Macy’s wildly popular parades, the Knoxville Journal took steps to stage the very first Christmas parade here in 1928, preferring to call it the Knoxville Santa Claus Parade. More than 30 floats, dignitaries and high school bands gathered for assembly on Main Street before stepping off at Gay Street at noon. Resplendent in traditional crimson attire made from a reindeer hide trimmed in white fur, Santa was pulled along in his sleigh on wheels by a team of four reindeer. The event was also touted as being the biggest crowd ever assembled on Gay Street, with one local merchant quipping, “It was the most colorful peacetime parade in Knoxville’s long history.” Written and read by Paul James. Special thanks to producer Pete Carty.  Knoxville Chronicles is brought to you by the nonprofit Knoxville History Project. Funding for this episode has been kindly provided by the City of Knoxville and Friends of the Knoxville History Project. Learn more at KnoxvilleHistoryProject.org

The Knoxville area once known as the Bowery included hundreds of little shops: secondhand stores run by immigrants, some early African American barber shops and movie theaters, some of the city’s first Chinese laundries, some of the city’s last livery stables and blacksmiths, and drugstores that sold things that mainstream drugstores wouldn’t. It was also the epicenter of an underground economy, the herb men.  To most people, one such herb man, known as Doc Mullins, was a complete mystery. His death certificate listed him, rather matter-of-factly, as a “Herb Doctor.” But by reputation, he was known as a conjurer. Thanks to curious News-Sentinel columnist Bert Vincent we know some of Doc’s strange story. Written by Jack Neely. Read by Don Thress.   Special thanks to producer Pete Carty.    Knoxville Chronicles is brought to you by the nonprofit Knoxville History Project. Learn more at KnoxvilleHistoryProject.org     Funding for this episode has been kindly provided by the City of Knoxville and Friends of the Knoxville History Project.

For anyone who has spent much time in Knoxville, there is one thing that you’ll encounter in almost every part of the city, and that’s Tennessee marble. It graces several impressive downtown buildings, and you can see where it was once extracted at several abandoned or reclaimed quarries, particularly at Ijams Nature Center, now part of the city’s expansive Urban Wilderness in South Knoxville.  While the nature center still retains the original acreage where the Ijams family originally developed their own farm into a semi-private bird sanctuary, across Island Home Avenue you’ll find two distinctly different reclaimed quarries amid an extraordinary landscape like nothing else anywhere.  This extended podcast episode looks back at the history of the marble industry in Knoxville, once called “Marble City,” and includes a reflective interview with Ben Nanny, Conservation Director, who has been directly involved in the reclamation of these quarries during his more than 20 years at Ijams. Written by Paul James with Ben Nanny. Read by Alex Haralson.  Special thanks to producer Pete Carty.    Knoxville Chronicles is brought to you by the nonprofit Knoxville History Project. Learn more at KnoxvilleHistoryProject.org     Funding for this episode has been kindly provided by the City of Knoxville and Friends of the Knoxville History Project.

Walk along Walnut Avenue between Union Avenue and Summit Hill Drive today and you’ll find that it’s a relatively unremarkable spot. But it was once the home of one of the city’s respected couples, Peter and Henrietta Kern, who lived here in the late 1800s within spitting distance of the hustle and bustle of their retail emporium on the southwest corner of Market Square. The Girl’s High School would be built next door to the Kern’s, and later a string of retail shops, including George Loo’s hand Laundry and Greenlee’s Bicycle Shop thrived here during the 1930s, ‘40s and ‘50s. Greenlee’s, particularly, became a cherished hangout for musicians like Chet Atkins, who would walk over from the WNOX studios on Gay Street. And Barnum & Bailey liked to post circus posters on Greenlee’s upstairs windows, for a time touting appearance by the legendary gorilla Gargantua and his mate Toto. Written and narrated by Paul James. A version of this story was first published by InsideofKnoxville.com Sound design and editing by Pete Carty. Theme song composed by Mike Stallings. Special thanks to producer Pete Carty.    Knoxville Chronicles is brought to you by the nonprofit Knoxville History Project. Learn more at KnoxvilleHistoryProject.org Funding for this episode has been kindly provided by the City of Knoxville and Friends of the Knoxville History Project.

There are ghost walks and then there is “ghost walking.” Ghost Walking the Streets of Knoxville takes a look at life on the city’s downtown streets in bygone times; how these streets and their buildings have changed throughout the decades, and how through old pictures and stories we can glimpse the echoes of people’s past lives and particular events. In this episode, historian Paul James reads the first of his own Ghost Walking columns that he wrote for InsideofKnoxville.com, taking us through Knoxville’s iconic Market Square, a space specifically designed to attract people and commerce. Established in 1853 by two entrepreneurs who hoped their property holdings would increase in value if they donated the middle part to the City of Knoxville to serve as a market space, this place has changed much over the years with its various market houses, city hall, fire hall, jail and numerous stores and saloons. Yet in some ways, since Farmer's Markets still happen here, its central function has hardly changed at all.  The series is produced by Pete Carty. Knoxville Chronicles is brought to you by the nonprofit Knoxville History Project. Learn more at KnoxvilleHistoryProject.org     Funding for this episode has been kindly provided by the City of Knoxville and Friends of the Knoxville History Project.

This surprising story focuses on a Spanish-speaking police chief beginning in the 1850s during Knoxville’s murky antebellum era.  Christopher Columbus Carlos, a tailor-turned-policeman had a reputation as an especially tough cop—a Town Marshall even—who was so skilled with a long stick and a thrown brick that he never carried a gun. A legend in his own time, stories of Marshall Carlos continued even when he was an old man in a rapidly growing city of tall buildings. Old folks would tell stories about him, just like they had about Robin Hood or William Tell. He himself liked to amuse the disbelieving with tales that he remembered Knoxville when everything north of Clinch Avenue was wild, and you could hunt foxes and possums in the wilds of what only later became Market Square. After he died, one newspaper wrote that he “was one of the best known and most highly respected citizens of this city. His name will always be familiar in the annals of East Tennessee and Knoxville.” That hasn’t proven to be the case, but we respectfully remember his fascinating story here, preserved for future generations. Join us on this extended episode written by Jack Neely and narrated by Don Thress. Special thanks to producer Pete Carty.  Knoxville Chronicles is brought to you by the nonprofit Knoxville History Project.     Learn more at KnoxvilleHistoryProject.org