Kingsport Spirit

I was asked to provide a welcome and introduction of “Carrollyn, The Recovering Californian” at the Tennessee Planning Convention held at MeadowView Marriott Conference Resort. The conference was hosted by the State of Franklin Chapter. Nearly 200 attendees came from Memphis, Nashville, Chattanooga, Knoxville, and all points in between.

I saw many of you at Fall Creek Falls a couple of years ago. But it’s good to see you here in our neck of the woods.   

Yes, I was a city manager, but first I was a planner, and then an economic developer who was conflicted by the concept that the National Planning Conference attracted 6,000, but the International Shopping Center Convention attracted 25,000, with developers trying to recreate the ambiance of a fake Main Street, when there was an actual Main Street that struggled to stay vibrant.   

But I’ve been retired for 5 years now and let’s just say the guardrails have been relaxed.  I get to choose how to spend my time and I’m always grateful to be invited to speak at events like this one.

I’m especially fond of causes that preserve our history and support downtown, tourism, and sustainable growth.  

Somehow, I was awarded the 2022 Northeast Tennessee Hospitality Professional of the Year. It must have been slim pickins’.  

So, in that capacity let me say, “Welcome to Northeast Tennessee, America’s First Frontier!”

Where the Long Island, right here in Kingsport, was the meeting place of the Cherokee and the namesake of Long Island Iced Tea, but not at the same time.

Where the first traffic artery wasn’t Interstate 81, but the Great Indian Warrior’s Path that followed a similar route. 

Where the westward flowing Holston and Watauga Rivers join to become the head of navigation for the Great Tennessee Valley.

Where settlers gathered in what would become known as the Squabble State because of surveying discrepancies between Virginia and North Carolina.

The squabble wouldn’t be fully resolved until 1820 when the northern boundary of West Tennessee was moved about 9 miles southward, hence the notch in our state boundary.

Oh, how different our lives might have been had they not squabbled!  

Clarksville would be entirely in Kentucky.

Dale Hollow Lake and the Big South Fork would not be among Tennessee’s most treasured natural assets, but Kentucky’s.

Springfield and Kingsport would be divided by the state line, and Bristol would be entirely in Virginia. 

Welcome to Northeast Tennessee, where trailblazers like Daniel Boone forged his Wilderness Road through Cumberland Gap and pioneers like Davy Crockett claimed their fame.

Where Scots-Irish settlers came to the familiar Appalachian Highlands over the mountains because the English had already claimed the Lowcountry on the other side.

And when the same English who threatened them in the old country threatened them here, the Overmountain Men marched to victory at King’s Mountain in what Thomas Jefferson described as the turning point of the American Revolution.  The moral of the story? Never underestimate the resolve of a ticked-off Appalachian. 

And when they returned, many of those same Overmountain Men gathered at Sycamore Shoals in today’s Elizabethton to propose the first new state beyond the mountains, The State of Franklin, predecessor to the Great State of Tennessee.

Many of those same Overmountain Men went on to open Kentucky and Middle Tennessee to settlement, becoming the first governors and namesakes of future cities and counties.

John Sevier settled on the Nolichucky River between Erwin and Jonesborough, where the rugged mountains open up to the wide valley–the same valley recently devastated by Hurricane Helene.

Evan Shelby built a fort at Bristol, served in the North Carolina Assembly, and raised seven children, one of whom was Isaac Shelby—the first governor of Kentucky and the namesake of Shelbyville and Shelby Counties in both Tennessee and Kentucky.

James Robertson and John Donelson departed Kingsport, one traveling by land and one by boat. The former would become the “Father of Middle Tennessee” and the latter the “Father of Nashville.”

Welcome to Northeast Tennessee, home of Jonesborough’s The Emancipator, the first newspaper in the United States solely devoted to the abolition of slavery, and Parson Brownlow a staunch opponent to Secession and Tennessee’s Governor during Reconstruction.  

And Greeneville, home of Andrew Johnson, known as the “courageous commoner” — the only Southern senator to remain in the United States Senate after secession, eventually becoming Lincoln’s vice president and assuming the Presidency when he was assassinated.

Welcome to Northeast Tennessee

Home of Johnson City, where thousands of students from East Tennessee State University sing Rock Me Momma Like A Wagon Wheel at the top of their lungs as the 4^th quarter begins. And they’ll do so this weekend with Darius Rucker himself. Go Bucs!

And Bristol where the nation’s eyes are focused on the world’s fastest half-mile as the announcer says, “Gentlemen, start your engines!”

And Kingsport where the circular economy is being embraced with one of the world’s largest molecular plastic-to-plastic recycling facilities, and recycled containerboard facility repurposes all those cardboard boxes used for e-commerce.

Today, the Tri-Cities Metro of Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia is home to 600,000 people, making it Tennessee’s 5^th largest metro – and larger than Asheville, NC, Roanoke, VA, South Carolina’s Grand Strand, and Alabama’s State Capitol.  

If you put a dot in the middle of the Eastern U.S., it would be right here, midway between the Atlantic and Mississippi, Great Lakes and Gulf.

Today, from where you’re sitting, you could be in Charlotte an hour sooner than Nashville. Or Pittsburgh a half-hour sooner than Memphis.  

One of my favorite things is that you can get to our airport in 20 minutes and be through security in less than 10 — usually much less — and you can fly anywhere in the world that American or Delta go—or Allegiant to Florida.

Post-pandemic, like the rest of Tennessee, we’ve been discovered.

Wall Street Journal, Realtor.com, and USA Today named Kingsport-Bristol and Johnson City as the #1 Housing Market in the South for Summer 2024. The primary factors? Climate resilience and affordability.

People are beginning to realize that maybe, just maybe, we aren’t as backward as they thought.

Maybe, just maybe, there’s something to a slower pace of life.

Maybe, just maybe, we had something special that was so normal to us that we didn’t even know it was special.

I’ve always found it interesting that statistics say “The South” is poor, yet year after year more new homes are built here than in the Northeast, Midwest, and West combined. 

And, like the rest of Tennessee, for the first time, we saw a spike in newcomers from the West Coast, many of whom were recovering Californians looking for a fresh start.    

Locals wondered why someone would move to a place without Costco or Trader Joe’s, but when we asked, they said, “We don’t have to ration water”, “Everybody holds the door for each other”, “Everybody smiles and waves”, and “We talked to our neighbors for 40 minutes in the driveway. We lived in our previous home for 20 years and didn’t know any of our neighbors.”  

As planners you can relate. Never underestimate the power of community.

Now, my experience has been that these newcomers add to the rich mosaic that is Tennessee. 

They carefully research and make a conscious decision to move. 

They’re actually seeking the attributes of Tennessee, not seeking to change them.

But we still say, “We’re full” and “Don’t California my Tennessee”. You’ve heard it — Southern hospitality at its finest.

But I get it, Tennesseans are trying to understand how they’ll preserve their quaint towns amidst this rapid influx. And how do we repurpose land in urban areas, so we don’t sprawl 30 miles out into the surrounding countryside.

Shameless plug, I’ll be discussing these topics in more detail in the next breakout session if you’d like to join. 

Today, we have a very special guest who I’ve been following on TikTok for several years now.

She makes me think, she makes me laugh, and she makes me laugh at myself.  

She views us with a fresh set of eyes and points out the quirky cultural traits—some of which are endearing, and some mystifying to newcomers.

Frankly, she has become a brand ambassador for all things Tennessee. 

Please welcome, one of Tennessee’s newest citizens, Carollynn, the “Recovering Californian”.