DOGWOOD TRAILS (EAST)
HOLSTON HILLS, MORNINGSIDE
Knoxville’s iconic Dogwood Trails are open annually from April 1-30th, just in time to showcase the beauty of spring in East Tennessee! Simply plug the addresses below into your GPS to locate the ‘Trailheads’ and then follow the pink lines from there. While you visit, be on the lookout for homes with ‘Open Garden’ and ‘Camera Site’ yard signs.
The Historic Dogwood Trails date back to 1955 and today cover more than 90 miles in 13 neighborhoods throughout the city. Take a drive, a walk, or a bike ride and enjoy the scenic natural beauty of our region!
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Open Garden = get out of the car and enjoy a stroll through the garden
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Camera Site = photos only, please do not enter the property
HOLSTON HILLS
8.7 Miles | Established in 1956 | Trail begins at 200 S Chilhowee Drive (37914)
Welcome to the Holston Hills Trail, established in 1956. Here, native dogwood trees abound! In recent years, many specimen trees have been added by the Garden Club of Holston Hills. This neighborhood features numerous beautifully designed gardens and homes of varying styles set on large lots. Look for dogwoods, various specimen trees, azaleas, rhododendrons, large oaks, poplars, maples and hickory trees, woodland gardens, and beds with drifts of tulips and daffodils.
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The pink lines on Chilhowee Dr take you to a four-way stop and thru the recently restored 90-year old stone entrance pillars to Holston Hills. The pillars are made of white and pink Tennessee marble, with slate roofs. They were designed by Barber and McMurry Architects to reflect the early stone homes and golf course built in 1925. The golf course was designed by Donald Ross who is widely held in esteem as the best architect of golf courses in the world.
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As you travel the neighborhood, enjoy abundant dogwoods, both native and kousa, magnificent azaleas, old growth trees, shade rock gardens and homes in a variety of styles dating back to the 1930s.
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Since it’s opening in in the late 1950’s, Holston Hills Community Park has undergone many phases of development. Most recently added are new beds in the lower part of the Park, dogwoods, crepe myrtles, magnolias, and a fountain. Neighbors and friends of the Park have also donated commemorative stones and benches. Come take a seat on one of these benches, stroll around the grounds, and enjoy views of the Holston Hills Golf Course. Be sure to watch for the lovely brick 1930’s home of Dr. Jimmy Milan on Green Valley Dr. and stop in to visit his Open Garden. The house features ‘clinker’ brick and a lovely garden with outdoor pergola and fireplace. This street also features a number of stone and pink marble homes built in the 1930s and 1940s that are nestled among 1950s-60s brick colonials, ranch-style, and modern homes.
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Along the trail at 1514 Cliffside Lane, you will see the community’s oldest home which was built in 1925. Enjoy the beautiful surrounding homes including large stone and marble homes with lovely gardens, a southern colonial and a Gothic brick house all from the 1920’s. This wonderful neighborhood offers panoramic river views and vistas of the rolling ridges of East Tennessee.
OPEN GARDENS & CAMERA SITES
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Dr. Jimmy Milan
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Open Garden
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5205 Green Valley Drive, 37914
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Beautiful English style garden inspired by travels to Great Britain and Ireland. Formal boxwood hedges, stone walkways, and an inviting outdoor room offers relaxation by the fireplace.
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Bert & Jill Gill
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Camera Site
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5213 Green Valley Drive, 37914
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Michael & Susie Sanders
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Camera Site
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5417 Holston Hills Road, 37914
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John & Jan Simonsen
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Camera Site
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5408 Crestwood Drive, 37914
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Holston Hills Community Park
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Open Garden
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Chilhowee Drive
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Hillside neighborhood park overlooking the pristine golf course features over 45 dogwood trees, large garden beds, stone benches and a fountain.
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Al Gill
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Camera Site
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4920 Shady Dell Trail, 37914
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Gorgeous azalea display
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TRAIL SPONSORED BY:
Claire Hykra, Realtor®,
Realty Executives Associates.
MORNINGSIDE
2.5 Miles | Trail begins at 1601 Dandridge Avenue (37914)
Just minutes from downtown, this Dogwood Trail features Morningside Park with gently rolling hills, large shade trees, and lots of open play space. While at the park, visit the 13-foot bronze statue of author and Pulitzer prize winner Alex Haley. Follow the pink lines through the neighborhood and stop by the historic Mabry-Hazen House, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Italianate-style house built in 1858 showcases over 2,000 original artifacts and is home to an 8-acre site and arboretum which features one of the largest old-grove of dogwoods in the area.
Just down the street is The Beck Cultural Exchange Center, a non-profit organization established in 1975 as a result of Knoxville’s Urban Renewal projects. Beck is the storehouse of African American history and culture and is designated by the state as a primary repository of black history and culture in East Tennessee. The trail continues on to the Knoxville Botanical Garden and Arboretum, a 47-acre property that was home to the former Howell Nurseries and features walking trails, display gardens, a Secret Garden, over two miles of historic stone walls, and timeless buildings. Be sure to visit the Dogwood Nature Trail with 20 cultivars of native Cornus florida and dozens of other dogwood varieties.
More info:
Morningside Park features an outstanding tournament-level 18-hole disc golf course, greenways, bicycling, skateboarding, soccer, playgrounds, shelters, and fitness stations.
While in the park, visit the Alex Haley Heritage Square which is home to a 13-foot high bronze statue of author and Pulitzer prize winner Alex Haley. Designed by sculptor Tina Allen and cast in bronze in New York City, the statue weighs 4,200 pounds and Allen’s depiction of Haley shows the author in a seated position, gesturing with an open hand as he reads from an open book in his lap.
Haley worked to promote literacy, adult literacy especially, and participated in programs that encouraged young people to remain in school. Haley was born in 1921 in New York and served in the Pacific theater during WWII. Following the war, he became the first chief journalist within the Coast Guard and retired in 1959. Retirement was short-lived as he became the senior editor for Reader’s Digest Magazine. He became well-known for “The Autobiography of Malcolm X“ and “Roots”. In his later years he acquired a small farm in Clinton, Tennessee (northwest of Knoxville) and close to the Museum of Appalachia.
The historic Mabry-Hazen Home overlooks downtown Knoxville, the Tennessee River and the Great Smoky Mountains. The museum's impressive collection is a look back in time.
The Beck Cultural Center is crafting a Cultural Corridor that will recognize African-American historical and cultural monuments that are located throughout the greater community including the area demolished by Urban Renewal. A vibrant part of the Beck Cultural Corridor will be the only remaining ancestral home of one of the greatest modern painters of the twentieth century, Beauford Delaney. Beck is restoring this extraordinary piece of Knoxville history as the future Delaney Museum at Beck.
OPEN GARDENS & CAMERA SITES
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Mabry Hazen House
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Open Arboretum
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1711 Dandridge Avenue, 37915
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Overlooking downtown and the Smoky Mountains, this historic site preserves an 1858 Italianate house and one of the largest original family collections in the United States. Mabry’s Hill features over 34 viewable dogwoods and a restoration project is underway to recover an additional grove of dogwoods. As a level 1 arboretum, the site conserves 32 species of trees including 90-year-old southern magnolias, ancient oaks and maples, and Carolina silverbells.
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Knoxville Botanical Garden and Arboretum
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Open Garden
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2743 Wimpole Avenue, 37914
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Hours: Daylight
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Over 2 miles of historic stone walls line the 47-acre property; impressive plant specimens of many varieties; 1.2-mile walking loop; community and children’s vegetable gardens. Dogwood Nature Trail features over 60 varieties of dogwoods.
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TRAIL SPONSORED BY:
Realty Executives Associates