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DOGWOOD TRAILS (NORTH)

HALLS/TIMBERLINE, FOUNTAIN CITY, NORTH HILLS

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

  • Camera Site = photos only, please do not enter the property

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2024 Open Gardens & Camera Sites Guide
Want us to mail you a copy? Click HERE.

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NORTH HILLS

2.8 Miles | Trail begins at 1999 North Hills Blvd (37917)

From its beginning in 1927, North Hills has been a unique one-of-a-kind setting for classic homes. The original 185-acre tract was developed by George, Carl and Hugh Fielden into approximately 250 residential lots for custom-built homes. Since the neighborhood was approximately 2 miles from the streetcar line on 6th Avenue, the North Hills Corporation ran a private bus service for neighborhood families until the city provided a similar service. By 1928, forty three homes were built and restrictive covenants were established to protect the area characteristics. Under those restrictions, homes of Craftsman, Colonial Revival, Foursquare, Spanish Colonial Revival, Bungalow, Italian Renaissance, English Cottage, Neoclassical, and Minimal Traditional were built. Most of the homes include brick, marble, stucco, and other Tennessee native stone in their construction. The first home was the brick Colonial-Revival styled two-story at 1929 North Hills Blvd.

 

The North Hills Garden Club was established in 1932 and remains an active partner in the neighborhood today. The North Hills Dogwood Trail and neighborhood gardens attract much interest during the annual Dogwood Arts spring celebration.

 

In 2008, about 130 homes and 50 acres along the three boulevards were designated a historic district in the National Register of Historic Places.

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As a Level 1 Arboretum, the neighborhood, boulevards, and park exhibit a great diversity of trees, with over 40 labeled species of trees and more than 400 individual trees in the arboretum.  The Flowering Dogwoods (Cornus florida), a primary symbol of Knoxville and focus of a spring city-wide festival, lead the count with over 200 individuals.  Other common tree species include oak, hickory, maple, redbud, elm, crape myrtle, and magnolia, and the arboretum also contains many labeled shrub species. The North Hills Garden Club and the city urban forestry program continue to add to the total number and diversity of trees.  Also located in North Hills is a tree sanctuary recognized by the state with a collection of all the native magnolias.

OPEN GARDENS & CAMERA SITES

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  • Lloyd Ronnie King 

    • Camera Site

    • 1629 North Hills Boulevard, 37917

    • Gardens feature over 229 mature dogwoods, azaleas, hydrangeas, Japanese Maples and boxwoods along with wildflowers, perennials and tulips.

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  • Michael Peters & Stuart Mitchell 

    • Camera Site 

    • 2969 Kenilworth Lane, 37917

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  • Roy & Sally Wilcox 

    • Camera Site 

    • 3008 Fountain Park Boulevard, 37917

    • Property features a large grouping of dogwoods and abundant azaleas.

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  • Robert Claytor

    • Open Garden 

    • 3033 Fountain Park Boulevard, 37917

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  • Stephanie & Art Clancy, III

    • Camera Site

    • 1816 North Hills Boulevard, 37917​​

TRAIL SPONSORED BY:

Terri Kerr, Realtor®,

Realty Executives Associates. 

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FOUNTAIN CITY EAST

5.5 Miles | Established in 1957 | Trail begins at 2800 Gibbs Drive (37918)

The Garden Side of the Fountain City Trail begins on Historic Gibbs Drive, the definition of a story-book neighborhood, noted since the early 1920’s for its double row of pink dogwoods.  With its linear street pattern, broad sidewalks, and spacious façade lawns, this Historic Neighborhood District reflects the characteristics of an early streetcar and automobile suburb in Knoxville. The houses are mainly Craftsman in style but all are unique featuring bungalows, Minimal Traditional, and four squares, an outstanding example of the early twentieth century tread away from elaborate Victorian-era styles to a more simplified appearance.  

 

Stone Columns mark the entrance to another historic neighborhood, Harrill Hills, which dates back to the early 1920’s and is an interesting mix of architectural styles including everything from stone cottages to mid-century ranchers. This charming neighborhood enjoys lots of mature trees with beautiful gardens around every corner.  

 

Colorful plantings of mature azaleas, perennials and wildflowers are abundant along Garden Drive, Dogwood, Crestwood, and Briarcliff Roads.  

 

The Trail climbs halfway up the steep side of Black Oak Ridge to enter Beverly Acres, where handsome houses blend into their forest setting and acid-loving azaleas flourish in the rich woodland loam. You might catch a glimpse of a lovely “weeping dogwood” which is unique to the Knoxville area. Its slender, pliant branches sweep down from the top of the trunk. Wherever it chooses to grow, a weeping dogwood must be left undisturbed; it cannot be transplanted.

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The route continues across Broadway at Hotel onto the Panoramic side of the trail.

OPEN GARDENS & CAMERA SITES

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  • Bill & Ginger Baxter

    • Open Garden

    • 3901 Sam Cooper Road, 37918

    • Nine beautiful gardens can be toured during the month of April with the assistance of a printed map and guide provided on-site.  This spectacular property features an Azalea Garden filled with over 500 azaleas, rhododendrons, camellias, and mountain laurel under an expansive pine canopy.  The Dogwood Ramble blooms with over 300 dogwood trees of 30+ varieties.  Enter the Asian Garden through a large bamboo gate to the Lotus Pond and a columnar yew maze. A lovely water feature spills thru the hills of the gorgeous garden and offers benches to stop and take in the beauty along the way.

    • No professional photographers allowed.

    • Visitors MUST stay on walking paths.

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  • Todd & Betty Wiesenberg

    • Camera Site

    • 5101 Angeles Drive, 37918

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  • David and Elaine Womack

    • Camera Site

    • 4504 Simona Road, 37918

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  • Central Baptist Church Fountain City - Prayer Garden

    • Open Garden

    • 5634 N. Broadway St., 37918

    • The Central Baptist Prayer Garden offers a sacred space for respite and reflection, with stone benches facing a large wooden cross.  The young garden features dogwoods, azaleas, rhododendrons, boxwoods, ferns, and hydrangeas, with accent lighting enhancing the beautiful landscape in the evening hours.  The site provides ample parking, and visitors should enter from Lynnwood Drive.

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TRAIL SPONSORED BY:

Dylan Martin, Realtor®,

Realty Executives Associates. 

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FOUNTAIN CITY WEST

8.9 Miles | Established in 1957 | Trail Begins at 100 Hotel Road (37918)

The Panoramic Side of the Fountain City Dogwood Trail begins and ends in an historic area.  Fountain City Park located on the right is a community favorite. A clear spring, for which Fountain City is named, bubbles out of a steep cliff of solid rock behind the park.  The trail is abundant with pink and white dogwoods as it meanders up the hillside to offer a first glimpse of a panoramic view from Black Oak Ridge across the city to the distant Smoky Mountains.  The route skirts the western brow of Black Oak Ridge where charming homes framed by dogwoods continue into a heavily wooded valley, known as Sherwood Forest.  Enjoy another look at those panoramic views of the mountains before winding down from the heights of the ridge to the early-day resort and popular Fountain Lake.

 

More info:

In the 1890s, the area around the spring for which the community was named, developed into a popular resort. Vacationers reached the resort from Knoxville on a dummy-line railroad with open side cars pulled by a miniature steam engine. Gresham Junior High School, on Hotel Drive, occupies the site of a large hotel that was surrounded by cottages. By the time the hotel burned early in the 1900s, Fountain City had grown into a prosperous community connected to downtown Knoxville by an inter-urban trolley line. Atop the ridge stands ‘Belcaro’, an imposing Italianate villa once referred to as ‘The Crown Jewel of Black Oak Ridge’ which was built in the 1920s by John Hugh L. McClung. The once-magnificent villa has been abandoned and fallen into disrepair.

OPEN GARDENS & CAMERA SITES

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  • Fountain City Elementary School 

    • Camera Site

    • 2910 Montbelle Drive, 37918

    • Dogwoods, redbuds, and kwanzan cherry trees, along with spring-blooming bulbs surround the school.​

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  • Gentry Griffey Funeral Chapel & Crematory 

    • Open Garden & Camera Site 

    • 5301 Fountain Road, 37918

    • Hours: Daylight

    • 3 acres of dogwoods, floral gardens, park setting, benches, and rocking chairs for relaxation overlooking Fountain City Lake.​

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NORTH HILLS
FOUNTAIN CITY
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HALLS/TIMBERLINE 

3.6 Miles | Established in late 1970s | Trail Begins at 7400 Windy Knoll Drive (37938)

This trail begins on Windy Knoll Dr. in the Meadowcrest neighborhood just off busy Emory Road and then winds through the beautiful Halls countryside to Timberline Estates.  Developed in 1979, this community was designed with the vision that every tree possible would be spared during the construction phase. Located north of Knoxville and in the foothills of the Clinch mountains, the beautiful site was abundant with native Tennessee flowering dogwood trees. Timberline, together with the access roads, Greenwell and Pelleaux, represented Dogwood Arts' first trail outside Knoxville’s city limits. Due to its strong support of Bazillion Blooms, Dogwood Arts annual tree-planting campaign which began in 2009, this peaceful neighborhood has added hundreds of blooming trees to the trail. 

TRAIL SPONSORED BY:

Mary Kidwell, Realtor®,

Realty Executives Associates. 

HALLS
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