Neighborhood Tours

Over the years Knox Heritage has developed several tour booklets for various events.  Please peruse our collection to learn more about Knoxville's stunning arrary of historic architecture.  

Click on the images below to view maps of each tour. More tours and interactive maps will be added as they develop.  

Please note that printable versions of the tours are posted below as PDF attachments.

Downtown Knoxville                                             

George Barber Homes 

Barber arrived in Knoxville in 1888 on the advice of his physician to seek a warmer climate. Among his earliest Knoxville work was a partnership with J.C. White, a descendant of Knoxville founder James White, to subdivide and develop property in Park City along Washington and Jefferson avenues.  However, Barber’s business also looked far outside of Knoxville for clients, starting with the publication of The Cottage Souvenir #2—A Repository of Artistic Cottage Architecture in 1891—containing 70 different plans. Other catalogs followed as the business thrived, including a monthly magazine (Barber’s printer, S. B. Newman, was also a client—522 Scott Ave.). By the turn of the century, Barber’s was the largest architectural firm in the state. The office occupied an entire floor of the French and Roberts Building (now destroyed) at the corner of Gay and Depot and housed as many as 30 draftsmen.

Fountain City

 The city that would become Knoxville was born in 1786 when James White established White’s Fort on the banks of the Tennessee River (then called the Holston) between First and Second Creeks. It was only 2 years later that John Adair (1732–1827) established Fort Adair on his land just one mile south of the area that would become central Fountain City many years later.

Holston Hills

One of the best-kept secrets in Knoxville, Holston Hills is named for the river that borders the neighborhood on the south and east. The neighborhood has meandering streets lined with roomy houses on spacious, tree-lined lots. Holston Hills dates from the mid-1920s, when part of the neighborhood was developed in connection with the establishment of the Holston Hills Country Club. A group of Knoxville area businessmen, who wanted Knoxville to have a top-caliber golf course, formed a corporation called Holston Hills, Inc. in 1926 and purchased the 180-acre McDonald farm along the Holston River. The Country Club was built, and memberships to the club cost $1,000, including a free home site. The club house was designed by Knoxville architect Charles Barber of Barber & McMurry in 1927, and the golf course was designed and laid out by Donald Ross in 1928. Ross is regarded as among the finest golf course architects in the world.

Island Home

The Island Home neighborhood was named for the model farm and second home of Perez Dickinson.  Mr. Dickinson was a Massachusetts-born merchant, banker and educator, prominent in Knoxville and Knox County.  He owned Island Home from 1875 until 1899, when the Island Home Park Company took control of the property.  Prior to that time, Mr. Dickinson, who maintained a large, elegant home in downtown Knoxville as his primary residence, used Island Home as a summer cottage, a guest residence, and an agricultural and horticultural center.  Mr. Dickinson’s house, although extensively modified from its original Italianate design, still exists on the grounds of the Tennessee School for the Deaf located at the eastern boundary of the subdivision.  The neighborhood lies on land that formed the front approach to the grounds, and Island Home Boulevard follows the path established by the original drive to Mr. Dickinson’s home.

Kingston Pike/ Lyons View