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31-482: The James Park House sits on what was originally Lot 59 in Charles McClung 's 1791 plat of Knoxville. Sevier purchased the lot and began construction of the brick foundation of the house in the 1790s, and completed a portion of the wall facing Cumberland Avenue. Due to financial difficulties, however, he abandoned the house's construction, and moved to his farm at Marble Springs , on the city's periphery. Sevier sold

62-467: A $ 75,000 grant was obtained to allow for a restoration expected to take 12–18 months, with completion predicted in the fall of 2021. The Craighead–Jackson House is situated at the corner of West Hill Avenue and State Street in downtown Knoxville. The house's back porch overlooks the confluence of First Creek and the Tennessee River to the southeast. The river's Volunteer Landing waterfront lies at

93-595: A general store in Knoxville. In 1828, both Charles and Matthew McClung helped establish the Knoxville Female Academy and donated land and money for the construction of the academy's school building. McClung died while vacationing at Harrodsburg Springs, Kentucky, in 1835, and was initially buried in a private cemetery in Harrodsburg . In 1904, McClung's great-grandson, Lee McClung , had his remains reinterred in

124-412: A hallway that spans the center of the house from east to west and contains the house's two main entrances and staircase, with a sitting room on the north side of the house and a parlor on the south side. The second story has two bedrooms, with the south side bedroom being slightly larger than the north side bedroom. The basement has a dining room and a large "unfinished" room. Chimneys are located at both

155-402: Is a 2 + 1 ⁄ 2 -story, L-shaped house with a modern service wing located at the rear. Claussen's restorations, guided in part by old photographs and architectural research, included the re-addition of a picket fence surrounding the property, reconstruction of the house's Victorian-style front porch, rebuilding of the front stairs, and the reshaping of the chimneys. An arched fireplace in

186-622: 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 . McClung was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania , to Matthew McClung and Martha Cunningham McClung, both of Scots-Irish descent. McClung later claimed that due to his mechanical aptitude, his father gave him an unfair amount of work on

217-700: The Frank H. McClung Museum , and the Calvin M. McClung Historical Collection are among the institutions established by McClung's descendants. McClung's Statesview home still stands in West Knoxville. Another house once owned by McClung, the Alexander Bishop House , still stands in Powell , just north of Knoxville. Craighead-Jackson House The Craighead–Jackson House is a historic two-story, brick house in Knoxville , in

248-550: The Ramsey House and Statesview . Likely before 1820, Park added a second wing to the house, giving it its characteristic L-shape. Park served as mayor of Knoxville from 1818 to 1821, and again from 1824 until 1826. In 1839, he lost Knoxville's first popular mayoral election to W.B.A. Ramsey by one vote. Park and his wife, Sophia Moody, had 12 children, some of whom were born in the Park House. President Andrew Jackson stayed at

279-761: The 1850s to preach at that city's First Presbyterian Church. He returned to Knoxville in 1860 to accept a position as principal of the Tennessee School for the Deaf (then located in what is now Old City Hall ). During the Civil War , Park moved to his country home in Cedar Springs (in what is now West Knoxville). In late 1863, General James Longstreet , whose army was attempting to retake Knoxville from an occupying Union force, dined at Park's Cedar Springs house. Park later recalled that Longstreet had an inaccurate map that showed

310-495: The Park House on a visit to Knoxville in 1830. Park's eleventh child, also named James Park, was born in the Park House in 1822. The younger James Park graduated from East Tennessee College in 1840 and from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1846, after which he was licensed as a Presbyterian preacher. He briefly served as co-principal of the East Tennessee Female Institute before moving to Rogersville in

341-551: The U.S. state of Tennessee . The home was constructed by John Craighead in 1818 across the street from the William Blount Mansion . The house is on the National Register of Historic Places . The Craighead family lived in the house until 1855, when it was sold to William Swan. Swan, who later was a member of the Confederate Congress , soon sold the house to George Jackson. The George Jackson family then lived in

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372-450: The base of the embankment to the south and southwest. After William Blount selected White's Fort as the capital of the newly created Southwest Territory in 1791, the fort's owner, James White , and his son-in-law Charles McClung drew up a grid of 64 half-acre lots that would eventually become the core of the city of Knoxville. The Craighead–Jackson House is located on what was originally designated "Lot 15" on McClung's grid. Lot 15

403-519: The basement, the design of which is nearly identical to a fireplace in the nearby Craighead-Jackson House , was also restored. The floors of the modern addition to the house have been painted with various historical maps of Knoxville. One of the house's restrooms contains a ceiling-to-floor safe. Another restroom is modeled after the restroom of the Red Sage restaurant in Washington, D.C. A windowpane in

434-516: The confluence of the French Broad and Holston rivers to be below Knoxville, and refused to believe Park when he pointed out that the confluence was actually upriver from Knoxville. After the war, Park was appointed preacher of Knoxville's First Presbyterian Church, and he moved into the James Park House, where he would live for most of the remainder of his life. An 1871 map of Knoxville shows

465-564: The current house. Craighead served as a Knoxville city alderman in 1824, was an elder of the First Presbyterian Church, and is buried in the First Presbyterian Church Cemetery . George Jackson, a Knoxville physician, obtained the house in the late 1850s. According to a local legend, the house is haunted by the ghost of one of Jackson's servants, who burned to death after her skirt caught fire while working in

496-569: The family farm. In 1788 he departed again, heading southwestward through the Great Valley until he reached White's Fort (modern Knoxville) that same year. In 1790, he married Margaret White (1771–1827), daughter of James White , the fort's builder. After the creation of the Southwest Territory in 1790, the territory's governor, William Blount , selected White's Fort as the territory's capital. James White set aside land adjacent to

527-414: The family farm. In 1778, McClung ran away to Philadelphia where he found work as a clerk. His employer was impressed with McClung's penmanship and record-keeping ability, and McClung gradually accumulated over $ 1,000 in savings. He was fired, however, after he was caught flirting with his employer's daughter. McClung subsequently returned home and used his earnings to help his parents make improvements to

558-543: The family's plot in Knoxville's Old Gray Cemetery . For over a century after his death, McClung's descendants continued to play prominent roles in the cultural and economic affairs of Knoxville. Along with Lee McClung, who served as Treasurer of the United States in the early 1900s, McClung's descendants include railroad magnate Charles McClung McGhee and businessman Calvin Morgan McClung. The Lawson McGhee Library ,

589-525: The fort for a new town, named "Knoxville" after Secretary of War Henry Knox . White employed McClung, who had acquired rudimentary knowledge of surveying while in Philadelphia, to draw up lots for the new town, which were sold at auction on October 3, 1791. McClung's design consisted of a rectangular grid with the Tennessee River (then called the "Holston") as its southern boundary and First Creek as its eastern boundary. The grid's original northern boundary

620-646: The home until around 1885. The state of Tennessee and the City of Knoxville purchased the property in 1957 and heavily modified it, before transferring it to the Blount Mansion Association in 1962. From 1966 to the mid-1990s, the house served as the Blount Mansion visitors center and offices, until it was replaced in this function by a purpose-built visitors center. Subsequently, it was used as archival storage and for occasional special events. In September 2020,

651-607: The house contains the name "Sallie," which was probably etched by a daughter of the Reverend James Park. Charles McClung Charles McClung (May 13, 1761 – August 9, 1835) 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

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682-537: The house for use as the Gulf and Ohio's headquarters. Working with architect Lee Ingram of the firm, Brewer Ingram Fuller, the Claussens removed several modern elements and restored the house to its 19th-century appearance. These changes included the removal of a 1968 rear medical auxiliary and auditorium, and the restoration of the house's Victorian-era porch. The renovations were largely completed in 2007. The James Park House

713-460: The house surrounded by a grove of trees and a few outbuildings, with the St. John's Episcopal Church (predecessor of St. John's Cathedral ) across Cumberland to the north. An 1886 map, on the other hand, shows the house surrounded by the church and numerous smaller houses, reflecting Knoxville's rapid post-war growth. After Park's death in 1912, his house was sold and converted into office space. The house

744-413: The house to the Blount Mansion Association with the stipulation that it be used and that restoration begin within six months. The Association set up a display of pioneer relics at the house in the late 1960s, and used the house for its offices until it moved to a new office on Gay Street . The Craighead–Jackson is a white brick house consisting of two stories and a basement. The first story consists of

775-494: The house's kitchen. In the 1950s, the Blount Mansion Association, which had restored Blount Mansion in the 1930s, expressed interest in acquiring the Craighead–Jackson House. In 1957, the house was offered to them for $ 15,000. The state of Tennessee offered to pay half the cost if a Knoxville resident or residents would pay the other half. The City of Knoxville subsequently paid the other half, and in 1962 transferred

806-454: The lot to his son, George Washington Sevier, in 1801, and the younger Sevier in turn sold it to South Carolina merchant James Dunlap in 1807. In 1812, the lot with its unfinished house was purchased by James Park, a Scots-Irish merchant from County Donegal , Ireland, who had arrived in Knoxville in 1798. According to some historians, the original wing of Park's house was designed by Thomas Hope , an early Knoxville architect who also designed

837-545: Was built to connect Knoxville with Fort Southwest Point , which was the eastern terminus of the Avery Trace . The road was originally 30 feet wide and was many years later widened to 50 feet. During the same period, McClung was appointed Knox County's first court clerk, a position he held until 1834. He was present at the Tennessee constitutional convention in 1796 and helped draft the state's initial constitution. That same year, he

868-459: Was elected major in the state's Hamilton District militia. In 1805, McClung hired prominent early Knoxville architect Thomas Hope to build his country home, Statesview , about 10 miles (16 km) west of Knoxville, just off the Kingston road. McClung lived in the house until his death in 1835. In 1816, McClung and his eldest surviving son, Matthew, formed Charles McClung and Son, which operated

899-648: Was sold to William Blount in October 1791, although Blount eventually disposed of the lot and instead built his mansion on the adjacent lot (Lot 18) which he purchased from John Carter in 1794. Tennessee historian Stanley Folmsbee suggested that the Blount family's temporary cabin (where they lived while the mansion was being built) may have been located at Lot 15, rather than on the Hill , as local history has long dictated. John Craighead (1783–1826) purchased Lot 15 in 1818 and built

930-462: Was the road now known as Church Avenue, and its original western boundary was the road now known as Walnut Street. This grid was divided into 64 .5-acre (2,000 m ) lots. Most of the early street names for the city (e.g., Front Street) were derived from street names in Philadelphia, where McClung had lived for several years. In 1792, McClung surveyed and planned what is now Kingston Pike from Knoxville to Campbell's Station ( Farragut ). The road

961-552: Was used as a Red Cross workshop during World War I , and served as a medical clinic in the years following the war. In 1945, the Knoxville Academy of Medicine, headed by prominent physician Herbert Acuff (who was also instrumental in constructing the nearby Medical Arts Building ), purchased and renovated the house. The Academy used the house for several decades before relocating to West Knoxville. In 2002, Gulf and Ohio Railroads CEO Pete Claussen and his wife, Linda, purchased

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