Finding Davy Crockett’s family

By Mike Steely Most of us know about Davy Crockett, the Tennessean born in Limestone east of Greeneville, soldier in the Indian Wars, and volunteer in the battle for Texas independence. We know he died at the Alamo and there have been movies and television series...

Touring Historic Powell Valley

By Mike Steely Powell Valley is located just south of Cumberland Mountain stretching from Wise County, Va., all the way into Eastern Tennessee along the Powell River. The name “Powell” comes from long-hunter Ambrose Powell, a member of Dr. Thomas Walker’s exploration...

Chuck Swan area worth a visit

By Mike Steely You may know it as Sharps Chapel or simply the peninsula, but that huge swatch of state forest just north of Maynardville is actually the Chuck Swan Wildlife Management Area. While it is mostly abandoned now, at one time many families lived, worshiped...

Closing chaos

By Joe Rector Knox County Schools opened the doors once again on Thursday, February 21. For three days, students and teachers received an unofficial vacation as custodial staffs slaved away in efforts to scrub away the flu that had afflicted scores of folks. Without a...

You can’t get there from here

  By Mike Steely We’re fortunate that our area has several original structures built by early settlers. We’ve got places like the Nicholas Gibbs homestead, Blount Mansion, the Swan Pond home of the Ramsey family,  and many more. Within the Knoxville area there...