Category: History
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Powdered Wigs and Coonskin Caps
I found myself thinking about the inaugural nonstop flight from TRI Airport to Washington Dulles in Northern Virginia—and about my daughter-in-law being on that very first plane, returning home with photos of our nation’s capital glowing in Christmas lights. The Capitol dome was illuminated, and monuments stood lit against the winter sky. It was a…
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Church Circle: Kingsport’s Town Square
There’s just something about town squares. They are the settings of Hallmark movies and Christmas cards—the places where parades pass, lights are lit, and communities recognize themselves. They evoke warm memories of home, family, faith, and belonging. A true town square is not just a location; it is an emotional center, a shared reference point…
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1948: Appeal to the Great Spirit
Do you ever see a photograph that triggers a memory? Recently, I discovered that Ancestry.com has digitized many of our nation’s yearbooks. In the process, I stumbled on the 1948 Maroon & Grey—my mother’s final yearbook at Dobyns-Bennett. It offers a remarkable window into student life in that era. Twenty school years later, in 1967–68,…
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Of Time and Time Zones
The change to or from daylight saving time always throws me off. It takes a good couple of weeks to feel normal again. I’ve long wished we could settle on one consistent time year-round, but I understand it’s not as simple as it sounds. When I lived briefly in Middle Tennessee, I remember the sun…
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Fairacres: The Lasting Value of a Well-Planned Neighborhood
Recently, my ‘cousin-in-law’, Lucy Fleming (of Fun Fest fame), shared that her native neighborhood, Sequoyah Hills in Knoxville, was recently named one of the “170 Most Envied Places to Live in America” by RE/MAX (August 2025). She recalled fond memories of growing up there — and noted how her longtime Kingsport neighborhood, Fairacres, reminds her…
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Tennessee in 10 Minutes
I was recently talking with colleagues about the early development of modern Tennessee and why the first counties were incorporated in two pockets: East Tennessee along the upper Tennessee Valley and Middle Tennessee along the Cumberland River basin, initially leapfrogging Southeast Tennessee and the Cumberland Plateau. I couldn’t find a succinct description, so I decided…
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Exchange Place: Kingsport’s “Movie Set” With a Real Backstory
This weekend, Exchange Place will be abuzz for the Fall Folk Arts Festival. If you’ve never been, you should consider it. As you drive along Orebank Road through some of Kingsport’s most desirable neighborhoods, a cluster of cabins and buildings suddenly appears like a movie set on the eastern end of the Kingsport Greenbelt. There…
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We Always Rise to the Occasion During Difficult Times
Have you ever thought about the difference between a city and a community? A city is a legally defined, structured entity with the authority to enforce laws. It operates under a charter, with elected officials and public services focused on managing resources and the well-being of its residents. A city has taxing authority. And if…
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Kingsport & Oak Ridge
This Friday, the Kingsport Dobyns-Bennett football team travels to Oak Ridge in a renewed rivalry that has been won 23 times by Kingsport and 22 times by Oak Ridge. But the connection is of global significance as the communities share a common heritage dating back to the Manhattan Project during World War II. What Eastman…
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Appalachian Poverty: Bad Data, Good Intentions
Recently, we published an article titled “Safer by Design, Not by Statistics” that shows why Tennessee’s crime rate isn’t an apples-to-apples comparison with other places—and how it’s often misused to suggest we’re less safe than we really are. You can read it at KingsportSpirit.com. Another misleading statistic is the poverty rate. Appalachia is “poorer” than…
Kingsport Spirit 