Upper East Tennessee is blessed with a plethora of historic sites, which are worth exploring.
Greene County History Museum
101 W. McKee St., Greeneville, Tennessee • 423-636-1558
Hours: Tuesday – Saturday, 11 a.m. – 4 p.m.
The museum contains artifacts and gallery content covering centuries of Greeneville’s history. Visit 13 permanent galleries and over 12 walk-through exhibits and explore every facet of the region’s history. The museum has a large collection that includes examples of antique fine furniture, quilts and clothing, and farm equipment.
Doak House
690 Erwin Hwy, Tusculum, Tennessee • (423) 636-7348
Monday – Friday, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. Closed for all national and college holidays.
The Doak house is the home of Rev. Samuel Witherspoon Doak, a frontier Presbyterian minister and educator who co-founded Tusculum College. Doak’s home, built ca. 1830, is furnished as it would have been when Rev. Doak lived there and is home to many college-related artifacts, Doak family artifacts and educational and religious artifacts and documents from Northeast Tennessee.
Andrew Johnson Museum and Library
67 Gilland St.,Tusculum, Tennessee • (423) 636-7348
Monday – Friday, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. Closed for all national and college holidays.
The museum and library are housed in the oldest building on Tusculum University’s campus proper and houses exhibits and personal artifacts of the Johnson family as well as Andrew Johnson’s personal library. The museum also serves as the repository for Tusculum’s archives.The museum is operated by Tusculum’s Department of Museum Program and Studies and features exhibits on a variety of topics about the history of the school, Andrew Johnson and Greene County.
Andrew Johnson National Historic Site
101 N. College Street, Greeneville, Tennessee • (423) 638-3551
Winter hours - Tuesday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. (Homestead is open on a self-guided basis, from 9:30-11:30 a.m. and from 1:30-3:30 p.m.)
The site is composed of four units: the Visitor Center, the Early Home, The Homestead and the National Cemetery. The Visitor Center houses the presidential museum as well as Johnson’s original 1830s Tailor Shop. The early home is where the Johnson family lived from the 1830s until 1851. Andrew Johnson owned the Homestead for 24 years, three generations of his family lived there before and after his presidency. Soldiers occupied the house during the Civil War and signs of their occupation remain.
Davy Crocket State Park
1245 Davy Crockett Park Rd., Limestone, Tennessee • (423) 257-2167
Park day use areas open from 8 a.m. until sunset (camping and cabins available)
David Crockett was a pioneer, soldier, politician and industrialist. He was born near the little town of Limestone in northeast Tennessee in 1786. The 1,319-acre park has a museum staffed during the summer months, with exhibits depicting Crockett’s life, a replica of the cabin he was born in and a water-powered grist mill. Located along the Nolichucky River, the site also includes a variety of recreation opportunities.
Dickson Williams Mansion
108 North Irish St., Greeneville, Tennessee • (423) 787-7746
Tours are daily at 1 p.m., and tickets are purchased at the General Morgan Inn.
This mansion, built between 1815 and 1821, hosted many notable people including Marquis de Lafayette, Henry Clay and Presidents Jackson and Polk. During the Civil War it served as headquarters for both Union and Confederate officers when the respective armies occupied Greeneville. It was in this house that Gen. John Hunt Morgan, the “Rebel Raider,” spent his last night before he was killed in the garden on Sept. 4, 1864. The room where General Morgan slept contains the original furniture that was there when he occupied the room.
City Garage Car Museum
210 S Main St., Greeneville, Tennessee • (423) 470-0841
Wednesday - Saturday from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
The museum has a diverse collection of cars from different eras including a 1914 Ford Brass T Model, A 1930, a 1972 De Tomaso Pantera Sports Car, and a 1981 De Lorian. A portion of the museum is dedicated to Bewley Moto Co.
Netherland Inn
3144 Netherland Inn Rd., Kingsport, Tennessee • 423-245-5449
Saturday & Sunday 2-5 p.m., beginning in May
The Netherland Inn was an inn and tavern on the Old Stage Road, adjacent to the shipyards. The inn is filled with furnishings from the early 1800s. Behind the inn is a children’s museum and schoolhouse which displays children’s toys of the 18th and 19th centuries.
Exchange Place
4812 Orebank Road, Kingsport, Tennessee • 423-288-6071
Saturday & Sunday 2-4:30 p.m. beginning in May
The Exchange Place is a 63-acre working farm, originally part of a 1790s land grant given to Edmund Pendleton. The farm was later in the Preston and Gaines families. In the mid-19th century, this site was a relay station on the stagecoach route heading west, where horses were “exchanged.” Also, Gaines was a moneychanger, “exchanging” Tennessee money for Virginia money, and vice versa.
Tipton-Haynes Historic Site
2620 South Roan Street, Johnson City, Tennessee • 423-926-3631
Monday through Saturday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The Tipton-Haynes State Historic Site tells the rich story of the history of Northeast Tennessee and of the families that lived here. The site includes 45 acres, 11 historic buildings, cemetery, a limestone cave, a natural spring, a buffalo trace, a nature trail and a Visitor Center. The Visitor Center houses a permanent exhibit, museum store, educational spaces, a library and archives.
Chester Inn
116 West Main Street, Jonesborough, Tennessee • 423-753-4580
Open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, Saturday and Sunday 1-5 p.m. during March and April
Located in the heart of downtown Jonesborough, the Chester Inn Museum chronicles the history of Jonesborough from its inception in 1779 to the present. The museum is on the street level of the oldest commercial building in town. Exhibits include information on the State of Franklin, a diorama of 1850s Jonesborough, the history of the inn and more.
Sycamore Shoals (with Carter Mansion and Sabine Hill)
1651 West Elk Avenue, Elizabethton, Tennessee • 423-543-5808
Open Monday-Saturday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Sunday 1-4:30 p.m.
Sycamore Shoals State Historic Park protects the land that was the location of several important historical events that occurred in the late 18th century. Leaving the English colonies, settlers began arriving along the Watauga Old Fields, in search of a new life on what was Cherokee land. John Carter, one of the primary political, military and business leaders of this era, and his son Landon, built a home, the Carter Mansion, three miles from Sycamore Shoals. This structure is the oldest standing frame house in Tennessee and dates back to the mid to late 1770s. Tours of the Carter Mansion and Sabine Hill are offered.
Rocky Mount Museum
200 Hyder Hill Road, Piney Flats, Tennessee • 423-538-7396
Guided Tours Wednesday through Saturday, at 12 p.m., 2 p.m. and 4 p.m.
Take a step back in time and experience Tennessee history in a peaceful setting. Rocky Mount State Historic Site is home of the Cobb house and other historic structures and is well-known for its service as the capital of the Southwest Territory in the late 1700s. Visitors find a flock of Cotswold sheep, a blacksmith shop and a garden. On the grounds, passionate costumed interpreters, educators, museum guides and volunteers share their expertise. The site also features a state-of-the-art museum filled with 18th and 19th century artifacts and historical information.
Boones Creek Historical Trust Museum & Opry
632 Hales Chapel Road, Johnson City, Tennessee
423-461-0151
Tuesday through Saturday (Call in advance) 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The Boones Creek Museum and Opry is an interactive museum that shows the history of Boones Creek through sites and sounds. They have a stage where local musicians come and perform country, bluegrass and gospel music on Saturday nights. Opry nights begin April 24.
