During the 1830s and early 40s Exchange Place farm was an&nbsp;import place of interest and local commerce. John Gaines first developed the farm to include&nbsp;a post office, stage relay station, commercial store, and Blacksmith shop. Here, the stage road,&nbsp;running from Virginia to Tennessee, passed&nbsp;through the farm. Exchange Place was a&nbsp;stop to relay fresh horses and exchange state currency because, at the time, no national currency existed. In 1845, John Gaines traded part of his vast expanse of property,&nbsp;which included the Exchange Place&nbsp;homestead, with John Preston's and his&nbsp;estate in Abingdon, VA. In 1847, John Preston gave his land to his son, James Preston as a wedding present in his marriage to Catherine Preston. The Preston's and their descendants owned the old homestead until 1970, when they donated seven and a half acres including the main house and its out buildings to the Netherland Inn Association.&nbsp; Exchange Place is a volunteer-run living history farm that seeks to preserve, protect, interpret, and manage history, heritage, and artifacts of the Gaines and Preston families. Exchange Place is an educational facility that endeavors to demonstrate the resourcefulness of mid-19th century agrarian life. It is a viable, working farm that continues to maintain the heritage breeds of animals and heirloom plantings essential to life of this antebellum period. It is a regional attraction that offers tours, traditional period demonstrations, and other public events designed to increase community awareness and showcase heritage arts, crafts, and skills of the Appalachian region.

Participants enjoy one of many festivals at Exchange Place

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Exchange Place will take you back to agricultural life in the scenic Tennessee Valley of the 1830s, 40s and 50s. Exchange Place is a beautiful living history site boasting over a  dozen rustic cabin-style historic structures and buildings, and the site is complete with gardens, crops and heritage breed livestock. Come retreat into the past and join us by checking out our website to see our upcoming events and festivals!

Exchange Place

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Prior to the 18th Century, the area which now makes up Kingsport was inhabited by Cherokee Native Americans. Sometime in the late 1700s, entrepreneur Wililam King established a boatyard along the Holston River at present day Kingsport. For a short period during the 1980s, the town was known as Franklin. In the early 1800s, the towns of Christianville and Rossville were established, and in 1822, they merged to form a town known as King's Port. In December 1864, a small battle of the Civil War was fought in the town. Kingsport as it is today began developing around 1910 with the arrival of its railroad which led to significantly increased business, visitors and residents in the region. In 1916, city planner of Massachusetts John Nolen designed the layout of Kingsport as it remains today.

Kingsport's Allandale Mansion, often called Kingsport's "White House," was built in 1949 by cattle ranchers Ruth and Harvey Brooks. The Brooks family willed the mansion to City of Kingsport in 1969, and it quickly became one of the centers of Kingsport social and community life. Visitors to the mansion can view exhibits about the Brooks family, as well as view the home's original furnishings and art. Visitors can also tour the barn and gardens. The mansion was part of a working farm that produced ward-winning cattle. The gardens may be the most beloved part of the mansion, created by the same designer who worked for President Eisenhower.

Allandale Mansion

In 1802, the lot on which the inn stands was sold to William King, for whom Kingsport is named after, by Colonel Gilbert Christian. After this, William King established a shipping business on the lot in 1808, which he later sold to Richard Netherland. In 1818, Netherland purchased the small Inn at an auction&nbsp;and contracted with the stage coach line to provide accommodations for travelers. The Inn is thought to have been constructed sometime between the years 1810 and 1818, likely by King or Netherland and their workers.&nbsp;During its prime years, the Inn served as a prominent resting location for locals and travelers to socialize, share news stories, and relax while visiting the boatyard on&nbsp;their journeys. Much traffic and many visitors were attracted to the Inn while they traveled along the Holston River and/or along the Great Stage Road. Farmers and locals and merchants aiming to trade goods and/or turn a profit utilized the area and the building to meet up and discuss deals when they (or their workers)&nbsp;were not constructing boats in the boatyard. According to the Netherland Inn's official website, the facility, in its prime, often saw as many as fourteen scheduled visitors each week, including several United States' presidents. Until roughly 1904, the Inn was still owned by the Netherland family, and in 1906, it began to function as a boarding house. It remained&nbsp;as a boarding house until roughly 1965, and in 1967, the Inn was purchased by the Netherland Inn Association which promptly restored it, leading to its eventual inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places in 1969. Today, the Inn and museum include both modern and historic furniture and decorations associated with American frontier settlements. Some of the original furniture still remains despite much of it being destroyed during the Civil War.&nbsp;A log cabin&nbsp;moved from Daniel Boone's Wilderness Trail, which Boone supposedly lived in from 1773 to 1775, is now located behind the Inn and is referred to as the Netherland Inn Log Cabin Children's Museum and Schoolhouse.<div>The Inn's structure has remained consistent as a three-story building sat on the side of a hill sloping down into the Holston River. The massive first floor is constructed of limestone from a local quarry and was initially used for storage. The second and third floors are constructed of timber and brick, covered with white poplar siding. The building visibly features a stone and brick chimney on either side.</div>

Visited by several United States' presidents including Presidents Andrew Jackson, Andrew Johnson and James K. Polk, The Netherland Inn and Museum is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The structure dates back to the early 19th century, although the exact date of its construction remains unclear. The restored hotel is part of the Boatyard Historic District of Kingsport, Tennessee, located along the Holston River. The inn is the only National Historic Site which functioned as both a boatyard and a stagecoach stop and has been rebuilt and restored with antique furnishings.

Netherland Inn and Museum

The church and congregation was originally called the Boatyard Church Presbyterian Church when it was organized in May of 1820. The original church was a small log building that was located where a cemetery now stands. Dr. Frederick Ross was the church's second minister from 1826-1852 (he was never paid for his services, largely due to his independent wealth. He&nbsp;owned the local Rotherwood Mansion)&nbsp;and under his leadership, church membership grew, causing a need for a larger building. In 1840 the church changed its name to Kingsport&nbsp;Presbyterian&nbsp;Church.&nbsp;In 1846 he had a larger building constructed by using his slaves (also members of the church) and paying for it himself. By 1858 the church suffered from both a decrease in membership and a loss of 'diversity' with no more slaves attending the church (they were seated in a balcony away from the rest of the congregation) after Dr. Ross relocated, with his slaves, to Huntsville, AL. In 1858, the U.S. Presbyterian Church became fractured over the issue of slavery. Kingsport church was part of the regional Southern Synod after a North/South split occurred in 1857. Upon hearing that the region was under control of the southern and pro-slave portion of the Presbyterian church, the members of Kingsport church voted to align themselves with the Northern Synod Presbyterian Church. This lasted until 1865 when Northern victory in the Civil War eliminated the need for a southern and pro-slave faction of Presbyterianism. During the 1864 battle of Kingsport, TN, it has been rumored that the original church, the log building, was dismantled by Union troops so that the lumber could be used to repair a bridge nearby. In 1917, the city of Kingsport was officially created and Kingsport church, now called Old Kingsport, became the city's Presbyterian church. However, church membership and greatly decreased since 1865 and only five members were recorded in church roster in 1917. This tiny membership caused the church to be used as a community center until the church was reorganized in 1937. Church membership steadily grew into the 1950s. At its peak in the 1970 there were 190 members. For reasons unknown, the church was moved to its current location in 1953. It was moved to a tract of land donated by a member of the church, Octavia Patton. The whole church was lifted and moved to its current location, all without an external or internal damage being done to the building. In 1972, age and mold caused the roof to collapse. Rebuilt shortly thereafter. Since 1970 membership had steadily decreased again, most remaining members are elderly. Despite the small and declining roster, the church has been able to remain active as well as having funds needed for renovations and beautification.

This structure is used by the oldest congregation in Kingsport, Tennessee, which was organized in 1820. The leader of the church, Dr. Frederick Ross, had the building constructed by using his slaves as the laborers in 1846. The slaves were also members of the church, although they (the enslaved church members) left with Dr. Ross in 1852, as he moved to Huntsville, AL. Soon thereafter, the national Presbyterian church split in 1858 over slavery. Kingsport Presbyterian aligned itself with the anti-slave faction soon after it was discovered they belonged to the pro-slave faction of the national church.

Old Kingsport Presbyterian Church

In the centuries before the arrival of Europeans, Native Americans used the island for trade and meetings, including councils and treaty sessions. While there were few organized&nbsp;archeological explorations of the area in the centuries that followed, explorers and even modern residents have uncovered hundreds of&nbsp;artifacts such as arrowheads throughout the island. The region was used by Cherokee for hunting and what would become known as the Great Indian Warpath, or the Seneca Trail, further exemplifying the area’s significance in trade, diplomacy, and warfare.In 1775, Daniel Boone, along with 30 men, was sent by Richard Henderson of the Transylvania Company, amid ongoing negotiations with Cherokees for tens of millions of acres of land, to initiate a trail leading into Kentucky. This trail, which began in March of 1775 on the Long Island of the Holston, two weeks before Boone and his men made their way to the Kentucky River, would become known as the Wildness Road. Over the next 20 years, the Wilderness Road was the path used by around 200,000 emigrants en route to Kentucky. Following the Avery Treaty (also known as the Treaty of the Long Island of the Holston) in 1777 which followed a failed attempt to take this land from the&nbsp;Cherokee, Colonel Joseph Martin was chosen to be an Indian Agent on Long Island. Shortly after, he established a trading post which also functioned as his home for roughly a decade. It was at this trading post where one of&nbsp;the first ever July 4th&nbsp;celebrations west of the Appalachian Mountains took place that same year. Over time, Native control of the land was ceded to settlers as the balance of power shifted owing to increasing Native dependence on weapons and trade goods.&nbsp;During the 19th&nbsp;century, the island was the location of the Richard Netherland family’s plantation which included several brick houses, mills, a shop, and a hemp factory. Other areas of the island were utilized as pastures, orchards, and cultivated fields. Aside from the restored Netherland Inn and Museum, which dates back to the early 19th century, none of the Netherland family buildings remain today.In 1779, Colonel John Donelson and his men, in boats,&nbsp;journeyed along the Tennessee River and the Cumberland River, eventually finding what is known today as Cumberland County, one of&nbsp;the first permanent colonial settlements in middle Tennessee. Donelson’s expedition would come to serve as a model for following journeys westward by settlers. The model included traveling to Long Island to build flatboats and rafts, then continuing westward along the river. In 1802, a boatyard was established by men of William King of Virginia, and 20 years later the towns of Christianville and Rossville were combined to create today’s town of Kingsport.The land is now recognized as a&nbsp;National Historic Landmark District. Across the South Fork of the Holston River from the north-western section of Long Island are historic sites of early settlers including Fort Robinson, the Netherland Inn Museum, and Boatyard Riverfront Park, each of which are&nbsp;listed on the&nbsp;National Register of Historic Places. The island’s eastern area mostly consists of residential developments and facilities like a fuel supply yard and an acetate plant. The middle portion of the island is divided amongst corporations and various private owners and has also been used for industrial developments. The western-most land of the island is now home to a multi-purpose community park called Domtar Park.

This historical marker on Netherland Inn Road was dedicated by the Tennessee Historical Commission in honor of a site that became the state's first National Historic Landmark. The island is about four miles long and roughly half-a-mile in width and became a site of trade and numerous important events in the 18th century. This island within the Holston River was Cherokee land and an important strategic area for Natives and the eventual settlers who arrived to trade and seek partnerships with the tribes who controlled the island and surrounding land until the end of the century. Because of the island's location near the river’s north and south forks, it became a site of commerce and the springboard for explorers and traders in Tennessee and Kentucky. The Long Island of the Holston River also served as the beginning of Daniel Boone’s prominent Wilderness Road when he and 30 men wielding axes initiated the trail-making in the 1770s.

Long Island of the Holston River Historical Marker 

The Clinchfield Station is notable for its age and its significance in helping to shape Kingsport into the industrial community it was throughout the mid 20th Century, even following the station’s service stoppage in the 1950s.Before 1908, the town of Kingsport was essentially utilized as a telegraph town. Afterward, and after the completion of the Clinchfield Railroad, coal would be brought in on the railroad, transported to a chemical plant and shipped off to its destination along the Clinchfield.&nbsp;The Clinchfield Railroad route featured many major and prominent stations throughout Appalachia, including several in Tennessee. The three most popular Tennessee stations along the route, completed in 1908, include the Kingsport Station, the Erwin Station, and the Johnson City Station.During their periods of operation, the Johnson City Clinchfield Depot was perhaps the most influential for the company and the region, as it was operated as both a major freight and major passenger station. By contrast, the stations in Kingsport and Erwin were utilized as passenger, mail, and express stations, with separate facilities for freight.The Clinchfield Freight Depot building in Kingsport, located just roughly half-a-mile away from the railroad station, is still extant today, and is now utilized as part of&nbsp;the location for the Kingsport Chamber of Commerce.Today, the building which used to be occupied by the Clinchfield Railroad Station in Kingsport is utilized as a Citizens Bank along with various other businesses and organizations, with seemingly little to no changes to its outer structure and appearance.

The Carolina, Clinchfield, and Ohio Passenger Train Station, or the Clinchfield Railroad Station, in Kingsport, was built in 1916 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. Constructed from the design of New York architect Clinton McKenzie, the station was no longer in service starting in 1954.

Clinchfield Railroad Station

The Circle features a recently redesigned and modernized park surrounded by four large, red, brick church buildings with white steeples rising high into the sky. Each of the churches is an example of Colonial Revival style architecture. The First Broad Street United Methodist Church. the First Presbyterian Church, and the First Baptist Church are all three still operating today, while the fourth church, formerly the First Methodist Episcopal Church, is now used as an activities and education center.Entering the Circle from East Sullivan Street, the former First Methodist Episcopal Church, the first church building to be constructed in Kingsport, is the initial building on the viewers’ right side. Today, the building is referred to as the Woodyard Center, named after Rev. Woodyard, a brick mason who was influential in the initial construction of the church. After the former First Methodist Episcopal Church and the First Broad Street United Methodist Church merged in 1969, the building was utilized by the City of Kingsport as an arts center. Soon after, a nearby former school building was renovated to serve as the arts center, and the former church was returned to the Broad Street United Methodist Church. Today, it is used by the Church, as the Woodyard Center, for various community activities like scout meetings.The next building on the viewers’ right side is the First Broad Street United Methodist Church. This Church and the former Methodist Episcopal Church, now the Woodyard Center, both formed when the new churches were the first to be constructed in Kingsport in the early 1900s. Prior to these constructions, the congregations were once united as one at the Boatyard Church, formed at the Netherland Inn along the Holston River, only to be divided during the Civil War. Those sympathetic to the South eventually formed the Methodist Episcopal Church, now the Woodyard Center, and those sympathetic to the North formed the still-operating First Broad Street United Methodist Church. The churches were reunited with the 1969 merger.The First Presbyterian Church is the next building on the right side of the Circle. This church was formed in 1917 during an organizational meeting of around 50 individuals held at the Hufford Home. During the meeting, locals expressed desires to establish a Southern Presbyterian Church, and soon after, services were being held under a revival tent and sometimes at the Old Gaiety Theater in Kingsport. In 1918, the congregation began to hold its services in a small schoolhouse located in Church Circle. The sanctuary used for the church’s services today was first utilized by the church shortly after its addition to the former building in 1940. The architect of the current sanctuary was Allen Dryden Sr., a member of the church.The final church building in the Circle&nbsp;is the First Baptist Church. The sanctuary currently used by the church was constructed in 1927, when members began to realize the church’s increasing popularity demanded additional space for new members. After recently celebrating its Centennial in 2017, the First Baptist Church recently announced a new “visioning effort,” which it refers to as “New Century, New Vision.” The church’s congregation has joined with members of the Sullivan Baptist Association, the Tennessee Baptist Convention, the Southern Baptist Convention, and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship in past years.In 2017, the roundabout in the center of Church Circle received significant renovations aimed at modernizing its design. The total costs of the renovation were around $175,000. The renovations included increasing the size of the circle from 50 feet to 65 feet, planting a Black Hills spruce tree in its center, and increasing the height of the structure in the roundabout to about four feet high on one side and two feet high on the other. The granite circle with red brick and stone at the bottom is now also highlighted by LED lights on the ground shining up at it and the additional spruce tree.

Church Circle in Kingsport is part of the original 1919 City Plan for the unique layout of the city. The layout of Kingsport, as one of the first professionally planned and privately financed cities in modern America, features a main street with a shopping district which leads directly into the Church Circle roundabout, consisting of four notable brick church buildings, which were the first to be constructed in modern Kingsport. The Circle was designed by William Dunlap, a railroad engineer, and refined by John Nolen, then city planner. The site was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 because of its cultural and historical values and unique layout which is viewed as a cornerstone of planned urban design.

Church Circle

Originally the Oklahoma Grove school&nbsp;established in 1913, Douglass High at one time also contained elementary and junior high schools in the same building. Formed as an all-Black school for Kingsport and regional African-American youth, the school used the old Kingsport school when the all-white school moved into a newer building in another part of the town (Kingsport became a city in 1917). The first principal for Oklahoma/Douglass, Dr. H. L. Moss found the building in a great state of disrepair. Parents and faculty demanded a new school be built by the city. A new one was constructed in 1924 and headed by a new principal, couple really, Dr. Albert Howell and his wife Emma, from Nashville. By 1928 school growth had gone up so much and only getting bigger, a new building was needed. In 1928, the Rosenwald Schools Fund constructed the new school with the help from funds from Kingsport city and the local African-American community (added to money donated from Rosenwald), now called Douglass, after Frederick Douglass. The Howells ran the school until 1942. During that times, Dr. Howell was also the basketball coach and sought to improve all athletic programs and garner funds for this endeavor for the school. One instance included grabbing hand-me-down uniforms from Dobyns-Bennett HS and dying them (originally orange) into school color of blue. However, as players sweated, the dye ran off and the jerseys were ruined. Funds and efforts from the community brought forth better uniforms for the school. When the Howells resigned, science and math teacher of Douglass, Dr. V. O. Dobbins, Sr. was appointed principal. He initiated a free lunch&nbsp; program by using fruits and vegetables grown from his garden and canned by his sister and neighborhood moms. The school continued to see growth, so a new building was constructed in its current location in 1951 and expanded in 1962. The Douglass trophy case&nbsp;had a display of superiority in basketball and football. Top-notch marching bands and choruses also earned superior ratings, and Professor Dobbins and faculty were able to both entertain and educate the community through "Miss Douglass" competitions and various plays and pageants, funded mostly through the sale of sports concessions. Academically, Douglass gained accreditation from the Southern Association of Secondary Schools and Colleges, assuring its graduating seniors that their educations would further them at quality universities.With desegregation, the school closed its door in 1966. It was one of the last schools in the area to close. Those students who had not graduated yet were transferred to the then all-white Kingsport HS to finish their education. &nbsp;When the school closed in 1966, the government's Head Start Program immediately moved in and took over some of the classrooms, and to this day, Head Start pre-school students receive basic education that prepares them for entry into elementary school. Later, Kingsport Parks and Recreation took over operations of the sports facilities of the building, along with the Upper East Tennessee Human Resources Agency, a non-profit organization that provides public assistance to low-income residents.The&nbsp;Douglass High School Alumni Association was formed to remind and lead school graduates and former students of the Douglass's&nbsp;"Tiger Spirit"&nbsp;to bind the alumni&nbsp;with their African-American heritage in Kingsport.

This was the largest school to serve African-American youth from the Upper East Tennessee, Southwest Virginia and Southeast Kentucky regions. It was also the largest school between Knoxville, TN and Roanoke, VA. 

Douglass High School (TN)

James Hollis built the structure around 1777-1779 and initially used it as his home. However, during this time, it was also utilized as the meeting place for the Sullivan County Court, as Hollis was the host of the meetings. Meetings continued to be held in the building and other local homes and structures until 1792. In 1792, the unincorporated community of Blountville was constructed and determined the Sullivan County Seat, as it remains today.John Yancey, a tavern operator of Virginia, purchased the home from Hollis in 1782, and the building was subsequently renovated as Yancey’s Tavern. It was not until nearly sixty years later, in the 1840s, when John Shaver had overtaken the tavern and transformed it into Shaver’s Inn. Shaver’s Inn was a popular place for travelers from Abingdon, Virginia, where Yancey was from, to stop along their routes for trading and rest. It was around this time the structure’s location just ten miles from both the Deery Inn and Netherland Inn became a prominent force driving its increasing popularity amongst locals and stage travelers.It was under Shaver’s oversight that many of the most noticeable architectural features of the building today were added to its outer appearance. Some of these additions include hewn logs and hewn and pegged rafters on the upper-half of the structure being covered with poplar siding and poplar paneling being added to rooms inside. Though there is debate amongst historians, the large mantels which are also still visible from the outside of the structure today were also likely added during this period.From 1842 until the mid-to-late 1860s, the building was also utilized as the Eden’s Ridge Post Office, which was previously located at the historic Exchange Place just outside Kingsport. In 1889, the building was purchased from the Shavers by a man from Virginia named John Spahr. Spahr used the property and building for the Spahr family farm until around 1950, when the East Lawn Cemetery was founded on the site. Today, the cemetery still makes up most of the property and farmland surrounding the building. After Mary Spahr, the daughter of John, died in 1962, the building and remained vacant for nearly 45 years.In 1973, after some maintenance and restoration efforts, the Spahr family’s heirs—and nieces—Dorothy and Ruth Wexler reached out, successfully, to have the site added to the National Register of Historic Places. The most noticeable change of structure in the building under the Spahrs was the addition of a dining room connecting the structure to a previously unattached kitchen on one side. After Ruth Wexler died, the building was auctioned off and purchased by Rann Vaulx in 2004.Vaulx purchased the building with plans to restore it to most optimally reflect its cultural and historical values and make it public for locals to learn from and enjoy. According to a 2012 Times News report titled "Yancey's Tavern springs back to life," Vaulx said he "couldn't bear to see [the building]&nbsp;destroyed."1&nbsp;Today, the building is open for tours, meetings for historical preservation groups, and other community gatherings by appointment. For catering, luncheons, dinners, and other gatherings, the building is capable of seating a group of around forty individuals rather comfortable in three rooms.

The building that was known as Yancey’s Tavern from around 1782 until the 1840s was initially constructed around 1777-1779 by James Hollis Sr. The building was constructed along Island Road, the first wagon road and longest road still in use in Tennessee. Its physical location is just outside of Kingsport on TN 126, in between the historic sites of the Deery Inn and the Netherland Inn. Since its construction, the building has been used for several various purposes, including as a home, a tavern, a stage stop, a post office, a family farm, and a cemetery. The site was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.

Kingsport Tennessee History and Heritage Trail

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