Northeast Tennessee America's First Frontier

Travel America, May, 2001 by Alice Ross

One man's love of mountain folk led to an incredible preservation of their culture and heritage in his nationally acclaimed Museum of Appalachia in Norris. John Rice Irwin began saving relics as a child and ultimately established a 65-acre museum farm/village complex, with more than 30 authentic log cabins and buildings and over 250,000 artifacts detailing life in Southern Appalachia. The annual July 4th celebration includes an anvil shoot, guaranteed to shake the ground for a mile.

East Tennessee State University is another place to explore the area's history, with archives open to the public and a museum exhibiting a Conestoga wagon, political memorabilia, a log house, and a selection of musical instruments including an ornate parlor organ, dulcimers, and a Reginaphone--a large music box made by German immigrants. ETSU is in Johnson City, wherein resides a resurrected landmark, the Carnegie Hotel. Styled after the original, which was built in 1891 but burned down in 1910, the hotel provides every modern technology while managing to make guests feel they've been transported to another era. The lobby's polished revolving doors, period-style telephones in the Roosevelt library, and antique skylights are but a few touches of grandeur making the Carnegie a treasure--one of many to be discovered and enjoyed in Northeast Tennessee.

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For information, contact Northeast Tennessee Tourism Association (TravelAmerica Magazine), P.O. Box 415, Jonesborough, TN 37659; (800) 468-6882, www.netta.com.