VIEW FROM THE ROSE PROPERTY LOOKING NORTHEAST

Yesterday was a uniquely Knoxville day. Because we had made a donation to the Legacy Parks Foundation to help purchase the old Rose Property, now known as the River Bluff property, Legacy Parks Executive Director Carol Evans was nice enough to give us a tour.

The Foundation closed on the property this week. The Foundation has placed a conservation easement on the property, and it will soon be turned over to the City to become part of the planned Urban Wilderness and Historic Corridor.

The 70 some acre property is directly across the river from Neyland Drive and includes the entire area from the west end of Scottish Pike to the the Cherokee Bluffs condominiums. If you've been across Cherokee Trail lately, you've seen the cheap ugly student housing built along the road. Some of that is on the southern edge of the Rose property. And the rest of the property was slated for eventual development (although with upscale condos, not student housing). If that had happened, the Civil War site of Armstrong Hill would have been gone, and we would all be looking not just at an ugly water tower, but at 4 or 5 story condo buildings on the river bluff.

Instead, the property has been preserved for us all! The tour was amazing. There are two ponds, a wetland area, and fantastic views of downtown Knoxville and beyond from the bluffs (for more pics, visit the spouse's blog). There's also the remnent of an old road at the base of the bluff, which will become a trail eventually connecting with the western end of the River Walk, allowing access to the new park directly from the south waterfront.

Legacy Parks still needs around $125K to finish paying for this $1.3M piece of Knoxville history and wilderness. Their next big project is to raise enough $$ to purchase Fort Stanley, upriver on the east side of Chapman Highway. Please consider a donation.

We ended up our day at the restored S&W Grand (and contrary to some reviews I've heard, the food was quite good), where we felt privileged to see another example of preserving what's good about Knoxville. I'm pretty sure at one point I saw the ghost of Slim carrying a tray across the floor.

Kudos to everyone involved in these two projects - and in all the efforts to make sure that future Knoxvillians can enjoy the same kind of uniquely Knoxville day!