Celebration of heritage: Nashville group tours Blount, Loudon sites

By Linda Braden Albert
of The Daily Times Staff

They came in search of history and did not leave disappointed.

Members and friends of the African American Genealogical and Historical Society of Nashville traveled to Blount County Feb. 3 and toured several sites of interest to the black community throughout Blount and Loudon counties. Their tour guides were Shirley Carr Clowney of African Americans of Appalachia and Blount County (AAABC) and George B. Henry, Friendsville historian.

Dr. Tommie Morton Young, founder of the Nashville historical group, said about 31 people participated in the tour.

"We were just delighted," Young said. "This is one of the best tours we've taken."

Young said a tour is planned each year in conjunction with the historical society's Black Family Conference.

"We visit a different county in Tennessee to find fragments of black history that may have been overlooked," Young said. Previous tours have been in Middle Tennessee counties, with this being the group's first venture into East Tennessee. Next year, a West Tennessee tour is planned.

The Quaker connection

The tour began at Foothills Mall, where the Nashville and Blount County historians met at 12:30 p.m. Feb. 3. They traveled to Craigs Chapel AME Zion Church in Greenback for the first stop and learned about the history of the church and its adjoining cemetery from Grace Black Henry. According to information provided, the church is at least 106 years old and has been in continuous use since its founding.

Next stop was the Old Stone House on Big Springs Road near Friendsville, where George and Betty Henry, attired in traditional Quaker garb, talked of the home's history and how the Quakers (Society of Friends) have traditionally been champions of the rights of the black community. The house, built between 1750 and 1772 and now the home of Anne and Frank Landers, is believed to have been a stop on the Underground Railroad, where escaping slaves and others were given shelter on their way to freedom in the North during the time of the Civil War.

"I was gripped by the Old Stone House," Young said. "We are deeply appreciative of the Quaker connection and also the role the Quakers played in Nashville for people in bondage."

The group then toured the Friendsville Friends Meeting House and learned about nearby caves, also stops on the Underground Railroad.

Clowney and Henry pointed out the site of George Washington Carver School in Friendsville. According to research shared by Henry, the property on which the school stood was "sold to the colored people for meeting and school house" circa 1883. The building was subsequently converted into a private residence but is now unoccupied, Clowney said.

Back in Maryville, the tour group visited St. Andrew's Episcopal Church and the adjoining New Providence Cemetery. The graves of William B. Scott, Maryville's only black mayor, and Oscar Wilson, who opened the first school for blacks in Maryville, are in this cemetery.

Due to time constraints, part of the tour had to be omitted.

"Time was so short," Clowney said. "They didn't get to go to Maryville College or the Hall and Oldfield communities."

Clowney, executive director of AAABC, said the organization is dedicated to collecting information to document black history in this area. Sharing that information with others is also high on the list of priorities.

"Blount County has a very rich black history and I'm trying with all my might to make it known," Clowney said. "I have lived here most of my life, and just in the last three or four years, I'm finding out things I should have known."

A pictorial history of the black community is now being compiled by AAABC members. Clowney hopes to have the book ready for sale by the end of the year.

"We're trying to impress on members of this community the need to know our history, share it and make it available for others," Clowney said.

Sponsoring the tour were St. Andrews Episcopal Church; St. Paul AME Zion Church; Alcoa Chiropractic; DENSO; the cities of Maryville and Alcoa; Blount County Genealogical and Historical Society; and AAABC.