Chapman Highway

 

GPS Start
- Trail begins at 5507 Chapman Highway

At this point the tennessee river becomes fort loudoun lake, thanks to a tva dam several miles downstream. Knoxville’s bridges existed long before the dam was built, and the lake below is no wider than the river was, but the lake is deeper. Beginning at a ponit a few miles up the river, tva’s system of lakes and locks provides a nine foot shipping channel to the gulf of mexico. It is 900 miles from knoxville to new orleans by way of the tennessee, ohio, and mississippi rivers. With the opening of the tennessee-tombigbee waterway, the distance to the gulf was cut in half.

Rivers were the interstate highways of pioneer days. Early settlers from pennsylvania and virginia traveled south through the shenandoah valley and found their way to this frontier area by following the north fork of the holston from its virginia source.

We are now on chapman highway, the direct route to pigeon forge, gatlinburg, and the great smoky mountains national park. The highway is named for colonel david chapman, a knoxville business leader who spearheaded the drive to establish the most popular of all national parks. Unlike the western parks, which were set aside by the federal government from public lands, the great smoky mountains national park, a gift to all the people of the united states, was bought and paid for by the people of tennessee and north carolina. In 1925, the city of knoxville paid one-third of the purchase price of the first 76,500 acres which became the great smoky mountains national park.

More than 11,000,000 people annually visit what has been called botany’s antique shop. These mountains were old when the alps and the rockies were mere young upstarts and have never been covered by a glacier. For this reason, many plants wiped out in other areas during the last ice age are alive and well in the great smokies. There you will see a wide variety of native trees and wildflowers, and many of those can also be seen on the chapman highway dogwood trail. Call attention to the overarching dogwood trees and to the ravines filled with dogwoods below road level.

At woodlawn pike on the left is the road leading up to fort dickerson, situated high on a bluff overlooking the river and the city beyond it. This was one of seven earthworks forts built by the u.s. army engineers for the defense of knoxville during the civil war. After the war, the fort was abandoned and forgotten for almost 100 years. It was rediscovered just in time for the civil war centennial and is now a city park.

At the top of the park you can still see the mounds used at this “fort” during the civil war.

On colonial road not all lakes in the knoxville area were created by tva. On the right is one wing of the natural spring-fed butterfly lake. We will see the butterfly’s other wing on the opposite side of chapman highway.

Native wld white dogwoods grow and flourish in the acid soil of our area. Commercially grown pink and red trees respond to the acidity with unusually rich, deep color. The pink and red trees were developed by grafting wild pink dogwood onto sturdy white rootstock. Wilk pink trees exist in knoxville’s woodlands. Their blooms are a very pale shell pink.

Crossing chapman highway
the chapman highway dogwood trail is a continued story, and the second installment is coming up. There’s the second wing of butterfly lake on the left.

Turning onto centerwood behind the third house on the right, relatives of sam houston are buried in the little graveyard. Sam houston lived near here in his youth and was governor of tennessee before he moved to texas.

On redbud drive
the chapman highway area is blessed with an abundance of wild redbud. In fact, this road is appropriately named redbud drive. The flowering redbud is also called the judas tree. Legend says that judas iscariot hanged himself upon a flowering tree whose white blossoms ever since have blushed with shame.

Turning back onto chapman highway
we have reached the end of the chapman highway dogwood trail and are on our way back to our point of departure. On the left we are passing the entrance to the chapman highway trail.

Thank you for celebrating spring with us today!

There are six other dogwood trails–all different and all beautiful– for you to see and enjoy. Please stop by the bus tours booth for maps of the dogwood trails.hurry back!