Thu
Jan 6 2011
12:13 pm
South Knox nostalgia
By: R. Neal

Josh Flory reports that the former Civil Air Patrol headquarters on Sevier Ave. has been sold to a Franklin investment group. They plan to spend $100,000 on renovations making it into an office space downstairs with residential quarters upstairs. They company says they are betting on the South Waterfront project.

Josh Flory says it "looks like a two-story house." That's because it was.

I remember it as Mrs. Fox's house from when I grew up right next door. It was an elegant place back then. The elderly Mrs. Fox would pay me a dime or so to go pick up her groceries every now and then and occasionally a quarter (I think) to mow her yard. There were large, stately maple trees in her front yard.

In her later years she rented the back portion of the house to U.T. students who sometimes shared our driveway. There was always something fun going on over there. One guy had a Vespa scooter that he let me ride in the driveway a few times. Another guy had a World Monitor radio, which was just about the coolest thing I'd ever seen at the time.

There was a creepy old barn and carriage house out back and an adjacent overgrown lot that she owned and that was right behind our house. There was a cherry tree there, and I think a peach tree. Kids from all over the neighborhood played back there and sometimes explored the haunted barn.

The maple trees are gone now, along with barn, and the overgrown lot has been cleared. The main property is surrounded by a chain link fence. I'm looking forward to seeing what the new owners do with the restoration.

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bizgrrl's picture

Dang, I wish I had known it

Submitted by bizgrrl on Thu, 2011/01/06 - 12:56pm.

Dang, I wish I had known it was up for sale.

Opinari's picture

I still remember riding my

Submitted by Opinari on Thu, 2011/01/06 - 1:17pm.

I still remember riding my bike from the Sevierville Pike side of Sevier Avenue all the way over to the White Store and Dixie Street. I'm pretty sure I passed by that old house going down Island Home on the way to South Haven. Back then, school aged kids could reasonably ride their bikes all around the neighborhood, or at least my mom never complained about me being gone all afternoon. Heh. I sure do miss that place the way it once was.

agrarianurbanite's picture

We looked at the house last

Submitted by agrarianurbanite on Thu, 2011/01/06 - 7:51pm.

We looked at the house last May with similar intentions. Asking price then was in the 160,000+ range. The house needed too much work for us to take on. The restoration wasn't for a family on a budget. It's an outstanding house though. I'm a little jealous that it went for so cheap.

bizgrrl's picture

Would the work have been

Submitted by bizgrrl on Fri, 2011/01/07 - 9:34am.

Would the work have been acceptable at the lower price? I've learned through the years to offer the price I'm willing to pay if I really want something, even if it is much lower than the asking price. All they can say is no. Of course, realtors sometimes use the lower offers to get another bidder to buy at a higher price.

PEN Studio's picture

Mrs. Fox

Submitted by PEN Studio (not verified) on Thu, 2011/01/06 - 8:58pm.

Mrs. Fox paid me in candy to bring her paper up to her when she was wheelchair bound in later years. You got the better end of the deal. I could have bought an entire bag of candy for a quarter from Sevier Hardware. Hmmm....one peppermint vs. a whole bag....the jury is in...the peppermint. Chalk it up to community service and the fact that she was so happy to have company that it made you blush. She was so sweet and tiny you had to love her. And she always wanted to pinch your cheek like Grandpa Copeland. It's a wonder I'm not disfigured. On a lighter note, I made much more money washing cars in the driveway and paying other kids to man my lemonade stand for a nickle an hour.

PEN Studio's picture

To take a detour down Nostalgia Lane...

Submitted by PEN Studio (not verified) on Fri, 2011/01/07 - 3:14pm.

Henley Bridge troll relocates to Mead's Quarry
SOUTH KNOXVILLE--A troll who has made his home underneath the Henley Bridge for the past 78 years has relocated to Mead's Quarry at Ijams Nature Center.

Link: (link...)

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