Here’s Your Knoxville History-Themed Holiday Events Planner

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Before the 1840s, few Tennesseans recognized the Old World holidays. But Blount Mansion’s annual holiday event, observed at Knoxville’s oldest home since 1931, has become historic in itself. This Friday, Dec. 2, at 6 PM, the Blounts’ 1791 frame house on Hill Avenue will be offering decorations, music, and refreshments, 1790s style. This “Merry and Bright” event is free, but donations are encouraged.

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Beginning Saturday, the excursion coal-fired steam train known as the Three Rivers Rambler begins offering this year’s holiday special, the “Christmas Lantern Express,” with local celebrities reading the popular children’s book The Christmas Lantern, by Karen Bishop. The jaunt begins at the depot at University Commons, and lasts about 90 minutes, as the antique train takes passengers through East Knox County on an 11-mile trip to Forks of the River, and then returns. There will be 23 trips in all between now and Dec. 22. Check threeriversrambler.com for times, or call 865-524-9411 for reservations.

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This weekend, Dec. 3-4, is Old North Knoxville’s annual Holiday Home Tour. This late-Victorian neighborhood, which once had its own municipal government, is full of stories and interesting architecture. Saturday evening candlelight tours and a Sunday afternoon tour, each $10. For reservations, see VictorianHolidayHomeTour.com.

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The East Tennessee Historical Society holds a family-oriented Holiday Open House at the East Tennessee History Center on Dec. 10 from 11 AM to 3 PM with storytelling and ornament-making, with free admission to the museum. A special feature this year is large, elaborate 200-year-old German creche brought to East Tennessee by immigrants and somehow preserved through the generations.

Throughout the month, the museum presents the especially interesting new exhibit, “Rock of Ages: East Tennessee’s Marble Industry.” It runs through April.

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On Saturday, Dec. 10, Marble Springs, the rural homestead of Tennessee’s first governor, John Sevier (1745-1815), presents its Christmas Candlelight Tours, with demonstrations of open-hearth cooking. A donation of $2 is suggested. For more information, call 573-5508, or check marblesprings.net.
The same day, the North Hills Garden Club sponsors its annual Holiday Home Tour of seven houses from that 1920s-30s suburban neighborhood. For more information, see northhillsgardenclub.wixsite.com/nhgc.

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From 10 to 4 that Saturday, Happy Holler hosts Winter Holler Day, a little festival in the near-north business district known for fun times since the 1880s.

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And still the same day, Saturday the 10th, Candoro Arts and Heritage Center, the 1923 Vestal-area marble-company headquarters that today makes one of the most unusual historic buildings in Knoxville, hosts its annual holiday open house from 5 to 8, a free event with donations accepted.

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On Saturday the 10th, 5-8, and Sunday, the 11th, at 2-5, the 1858 Mabry Hazen House is hosting its annual Christmas Tours. The tours are free but donations are encouraged.

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Knox County’s oldest stone house, the 1797 Ramsey House, hosts its annual candlelight tours for the public on Sunday, Dec. 11, from 6 to 8. It’s another voluntary-donation event. Its architect, Thomas Hope, was born near London on Christmas Day, 1757!

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Adelia Lutz (1859-1931) was Knoxville’s first prominent female artist. Known for her still-lifes and portraits, she has a special place in the culture of Knox Heritage. That 42-year-old preservationist nonprofit’s Kingston Pike headquarters was built in 1890 as her residence, noted even in its day for the extraordinary studio in which she worked for 40 years. On Dec. 12, at 7:00, they’ll be revealing her reconstructed studio, with paintings gathered together in the room where most of them were created. Steve Cotham, executive director of the Calvin McClung Collection, will speak on her legacy. The event is a fundraiser for Knox Heritage, and tickets are $50. See knoxheritage.org for reservations.

The same elaborate Victorian home will be the site of a holiday open house, with period decorations, on Sunday, Dec. 18, from 1 to 5.

To help keep this educational presentation going, and in so doing to help the Mercury, please send a contribution to the Knoxville History Project, 516 West Vine Street, Knoxville, 37902 or at our new website: knoxvillehistoryproject.org.

Featured Photo: Artist Adelia Lutz at work in her extraordinary 1890s studio at Westwood, 3425 Kingston Pike. Knox Heritage will recreate Lutz’s studio with her original paintings and a lecture by historian Steve Cotham on Dec. 12. Later, on Dec. 18, Knox Heritage will host a free holiday open house in the Victorian home. Photo courtesy Knox Heritage.

The Knoxville History Project, a nonprofit organization devoted to the promotion of and education about the history of Knoxville, presents this column each week to raise awareness of the themes, personalities, and stories of our unique city. You can reach director Jack Neely at jack@knoxhistoryproject.org

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