The childhood home of Cormac McCarthy, one of two Knoxvillians to win the Pulitzer Prize, burnt to the ground.

Sadly, less than a year ago, a local preservationist group deemed it the most endangered historic structure in the county.

My grumpy cynical side says, "yeah, if it had been the home of anyone who ever strapped on a pair of cleats and ran through the 'T' at Neyland Stadium, it would have been declared a shrine and under twenty four hour armed guard, plus a fire protection system on a par with the one the National Archives uses for the Declaration of Independence..."