The Mabry Hood House, also known as the Mabry Hood Mansion, and the Upland South Plantation, [1] was a former cotton plantation and historic antebellum style plantation home once located on the south side of Kingston Pike at the intersection of Mabry Hood Road in Knox County, Tennessee. The vacant home sat in the path of Pellissippi Parkway and was demolished in 1983 after falling into disrepair. [2]
Mabry Hood was a two-story, Greek Revival style home with a columned, two-story high front portico. Although primarily brick, wood siding was located on the front face of the home behind the portico.
The productive, 3,000-acre (12 km2) plantation was occupied from c. 1830 through the early 20th Century by the George Mabry family. George Washington Mabry (21 July 1823 – 23 July 1912) married Jeanette Hume in 1846, and built the mansion c. 1851, five years after the marriage. The mansion was constructed by slaves. Mabry was recorded as having 18 slaves in the 1850 census, but only 8 slaves in the 1860 census.
By 1860, George Mabry and his wife Jeanette had at least five children. However, they also had a residence in what is now downtown Knoxville. Robert Tracy McKenzie noted that George Mabry declined to take the Confederate loyalty oath, which complicated his ability to travel to his west Knox County farm while the region was under the control of the Confederacy. His relationship did not improve when Union forces took control of East Tennessee, since he admitted that one reason he did not actively support the C.S.A. was his expectation that they would lose the war.
His brother, Joseph Alexander Mabry II (c. 1825 - October 19, 1882) and nephew Joseph Alexander Mabry III (May 23, 1855 – October 19, 1882), [3] both immortalized in Mark Twain's Life on the Mississippi , are also associated with this estate. However, Joseph Alexander Mabry II built a home in east Knoxville in 1858, the Mabry-Hazen House, Knoxville, which is now a historic house museum. [3]
The family's wealth, prominence and political connections are illustrated by how Jeanette Mabry avoided harm during the U.S. Civil War. Although George Mabry was officially "neutral", his Scottish-born wife was an outspoken opponent of secession. Robert Tracy McKenzie reports that Mrs. Mabry threatened to return to Scotland if the South was successful, and informed her husband that she would not live in the C.S.A. even if "Washington and Jefferson were both raised from the dead". Her wealth, prominence and being female, as well as having Joseph Mabry - an early secessionist leader - as a brother-in-law, are cited as reasons she was not harmed. Their neighbors, the James Harvey Baker family, did not share her views.
The house was last occupied in the late 1960s, when it was sold. It was sold again to an engineering firm in 1974. During its abandonment, the house fell into a state of disrepair and was burglarized and vandalized on multiple occasions. It was finally demolished in early March 1983. [2]
Archaeological investigations were conducted in the early 1990s in preparation for the extension of Pellissippi Parkway. The Mabry estate was classified by this investigation as an Upland South plantation, only a limited amount of cotton was found to have been grown on the estate. [1] In addition to the mansion, two slaves quarters were identified and artifacts recovered. The site was considered significant for the insights it provided on the lives of the slaves and their relationship with their masters.
The Mabry Hood House was one of several antebellum plantation homes located along Kingston Pike in the western Knox County. (The nearby Baker Peters House and Statesview, located near the intersection of Kingston Pike and Peters Road, still stand.) Unlike Knollwood, which was located on the top of Bearden Hill, the Mabry Hood House sat close to modern-day Kingston Pike, and near grade.
Knoxville is a city in and the county seat of Knox County, Tennessee, United States, on the Tennessee River. As of the 2020 United States census, Knoxville's population was 190,740, making it the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division and the state's third-most-populous city after Nashville and Memphis. It is the principal city of the Knoxville metropolitan area, which had a population of 879,773 in 2020.
Farragut is a suburban town located in Knox and Loudon counties in the State of Tennessee, United States. The town's population was 23,506 at the 2020 census. It is included in the Knoxville Metropolitan Area. The town is named in honor of Union Admiral David Farragut, who was born just east of Farragut at Campbell's Station in 1801, and fought in the American Civil War.
The Pellissippi Parkway is a major highway in Knox and Blount counties in the Knoxville metropolitan area in Tennessee that extends 19.75 miles (31.78 km) from State Route 62 at Solway to SR 33 in Alcoa. It provides access to the cities of Oak Ridge and Maryville from Interstates 40 and 75 in the western part of Knoxville and also serves a major corridor that includes Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Y-12 National Security Complex, and a number of science and technology firms. The central portion of the Pellissippi Parkway is included in the Interstate Highway System and is designated Interstate 140 (I-140), while the remainder is designated as State Route 162. The entire highway is part of the National Highway System, a national network of roads identified as important to the national economy, defense, and mobility. It takes its name from an older name for the Clinch River of Native American origin.
Sequoyah Hills is a neighborhood in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States, named for the Cherokee scholar Sequoyah. It is located off Kingston Pike, between the city's downtown and West Knoxville. Initially developed in the 1920s, Sequoyah Hills was one of Knoxville's first suburbs and today is home to some of the city's most affluent residents. The neighborhood contains numerous notable examples of mid-20th century residential architecture, with houses designed by architects such as Charles I. Barber, Benjamin McMurry, and Francis Keally.
The Baker Peters House is an antebellum house located on the south side of Kingston Pike in Knoxville, Tennessee, near the intersection of Peters Road and Kingston Pike. The house is a two-story Greek Revival structure. It has a porte-cochere on the east side for carriages, and a rear wing that projects out on the southwest side of the house. It also has a columned, two-story front porch. The main body of the house is brick, but the rear wing was originally finished in wood siding.
Knollwood is an antebellum historic house at 6411 Kingston Pike in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States. It is also known as Knollwood Hall, Major Reynolds House, the Tucker Mansion and Bearden Hill. The home is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Bleak House is an antebellum Classical Revival style house in Knoxville, Tennessee. It is on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Mabry–Hazen House is a historic home located on an 8-acre (3.2 ha) site at 1711 Dandridge Avenue in Knoxville, Tennessee, at the crest of Mabry's Hill. Also known as the Evelyn Hazen House or the Joseph Alexander Mabry Jr. House, when constructed in 1858 for Joseph Alexander Mabry II it was named Pine Hill Cottage. The house was in what was then the separate town of East Knoxville. Stylistically, the house exhibits both Italianate and Greek Revival elements. Additions in 1886 increased the size of the first floor. Having operated as a museum since the death of Evelyn Hazen, the house retains its original furniture and family collections, including antique china and crystal with over 2,000 original artifacts on display making it the largest original family collection within America. The house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Statesview, or States View, is a historic house located on South Peters Road off Kingston Pike in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States. Built in 1805 by Knoxville architect Thomas Hope and rebuilt in 1823 following a fire, Statesview was originally the home of surveyor Charles McClung. Following McClung's death, newspaper publisher Frederick Heiskell purchased the house and estate, which he renamed "Fruit Hill." The house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places for its architecture and political significance.
This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Knox County, Tennessee.
The Chesterfield House is an Antebellum house at 9625 Old Rutledge Pike in the Mascot community of northeastern Knox County, Tennessee. Built in 1838 by George W. Arnold, a physician from Roanoke, Virginia, the house is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was located along a stagecoach route that began in Washington, D.C., passed through Knoxville, and continued further south. Stagecoaches made stops at Chesterfield.
Kingston Pike is a highway in Knox County, Tennessee, United States, that connects Downtown Knoxville with West Knoxville, Farragut, and other communities in the western part of the county. The road follows a merged stretch of U.S. Route 11 (US 11) and US 70. From its initial construction in the 1790s until the development of the Interstate Highway System in the 1960s, Kingston Pike was the main traffic artery in western Knox County, and an important section of several cross-country highways. The road is now a major commercial corridor, containing hundreds of stores, restaurants, and other retail establishments.
Joseph Alexander Mabry II was an American folk figure and businessman active primarily in Knoxville, Tennessee, in the mid-nineteenth century. Mabry earned a fortune through land and railroad speculation during the 1850s, and was known throughout the South for his herd of race horses. During the Civil War, Mabry donated a large supply of uniforms and tents to the Confederate Army, and was rewarded with the rank of general. For the remainder of his life, he was thus often referred to by the sobriquet, "General Mabry."
William Graham Swan was an American attorney and politician active primarily in East Tennessee during the mid-19th century. Swan served in the Confederate States Congress during the American Civil War, and served one term as mayor of Knoxville, Tennessee, from 1855 until late 1856. He also helped establish the town of East Knoxville, and served as its first mayor in the late 1850s. In 1854, Swan and his brother-in-law, Joseph Mabry, donated the initial land for the formation of Market Square in downtown Knoxville.
Antebellum architecture is the neoclassical architectural style characteristic of the 19th-century Southern United States, especially the Deep South, from after the birth of the United States with the American Revolution, to the start of the American Civil War. Antebellum architecture is especially characterized by Georgian, Neo-classical, and Greek Revival style homes and mansions. These plantation houses were built in the southern American states during roughly the 30 years before the American Civil War; approximately between the 1830s to 1860s.
Bearden, also known as Bearden Village, is a neighborhood in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States, located along Kingston Pike in West Knoxville. Developed primarily as an agrarian community in the 19th century, this neighborhood now lies at the heart of one of Knoxville's major commercial corridors. Named for former Knoxville mayor and Tennessee state legislator, Marcus De Lafayette Bearden (1830–1885), the community was annexed by Knoxville in 1962.
Charles McClung was an American pioneer, politician, and surveyor best known for drawing up the original plat of Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1791. While Knoxville has since expanded to many times its original size, the city's downtown area still roughly follows McClung's 1791 grid. McClung also helped draft Tennessee's constitution in 1796, surveyed and planned what is now Kingston Pike in 1792, and served as Knox County's first court clerk. His home, Statesview, still stands in West Knoxville and has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The History of Knoxville, Tennessee, began with the establishment of James White's Fort on the Trans-Appalachian frontier in 1786. The fort was chosen as the capital of the Southwest Territory in 1790, and the city, named for Secretary of War Henry Knox, was platted the following year. Knoxville became the first capital of the State of Tennessee in 1796, and grew steadily during the early 19th century as a way station for westward-bound migrants and as a commercial center for nearby mountain communities. The arrival of the railroad in the 1850s led to a boom in the city's population and commercial activity.
Adelia Armstrong Lutz was an American artist active in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. She organized art circles in Knoxville, Tennessee, as director of the Knoxville Art Club and as a co-organizer of the Nicholson Art League. Her still lifes and portraits were exhibited throughout the American South, and they are to be the subject of a permanent exhibit at her former home, Historic Westwood.
The Lt. Alexander "Sandy" Bonnyman Medal of Honor Memorial Bridge is a bridge which carries the Pellissippi Parkway across the Fort Loudoun Lake impoundment of the Tennessee River between Blount and Knox counties in the US state of Tennessee. It was constructed between 1987 and 1989, and opened to traffic in 1992. It is named for Alexander Bonnyman Jr., a United States Marine Corps officer who was killed in action in the Battle of Tarawa during World War II.