2 weeks Ago
With Christmas approaching, our area historic sites are in the holiday spirit with festive events. But there are also commemorative celebrations to remember events that happened in December. Kingsport/Riverfront Park On Saturday, Dec.
14, at 10 a.m., the Col.
John Singleton Mosby Camp #1409 will host a Battle of Kingsport commemoration near the monument at Riverfront Park, where the north and south forks of Holston River meet. This event will mark the 160th anniversary of Confederate efforts to stop a fast-moving Federal force heading for Saltville. The Confederates' stand was undone by East Tennessee Union cavalry led by Kingsport’s Samuel N.
K. Patton, who crossed the North Fork of the Holston near the present-day Carters Valley Road and surprised the Rebels from behind. Netherland Inn 1818 Christmas at the Inn will be held on Friday and Saturday, Dec.
13 and 14, from 6-8 p.m. each night and on Sunday, Dec.
15, from 2-4 p.m. This annual event highlights the Netherland Inn Historic Site in 1818 with period-inspired decorations by area Garden Clubs.
Celebrate Christmas with friends and family at the Netherland Inn and Boatyard National Historic Site, just as Margaret and Richard Netherland celebrated more than 200 years ago — dating all the way back to 1818. This festive event will feature beautiful decorations, warm cider, special treats and lively music. The Netherland Inn Association is an all-volunteer organization.
There is an admission charged, and all proceeds from this and other events go toward maintenance and restoration of the Netherland Inn and Boatyard, as well as additions to the historic campus. In addition to being the birthplace of Kingsport, the Netherland Inn and Boatyard is the only site of the National Register of Historic Sites to have been both a boatyard and a stagecoach stop For more information call 423-429-7730 or visit www.netherlandinnhistoricsite.
com . Exchange Place Living History Farm Exchange Place hosts its annual Christmas in the Country on Saturday, Dec. 7, from 10 a.
m. until 4 p.m.
at 4812 Orebank Road in Kingsport. There will be an admission for adults, but the event is free for children under 12. Vendors and demonstrators will be found on both sides of Orebank Road offering unique, handmade folk arts and crafts such as pottery, soaps, paintings, hand-woven items, wooden ware and jewelry.
A wide range of food will be available from fruitcakes and specialty breads to fried pies, freshly roasted nuts and lunch items. The newly renovated Gaines Store and Post Office is now open for visitors, and costumed interpreters will be there to show you around, as well as in the original Gaines/Preston House. The Yule Log Ceremony, a free community tradition, is always popular and will be held near the Cook’s Cabin beginning around 4:15 p.
m., concluding the day’s festivities..
For more information call 423-288-6071 or visit exchangeplacetn.org . Tri-Cities Civil War Round Table The Tri-Cities Civil War Round Table is hosting a lecture titled “Rosecrans’ Campaign for Chattanooga: A Map Exercise,” presented by James (Jim) Ogden III on Monday, Dec.
9, at 7 p.m. in the Renaissance Center, Room 239, 1200 E.
Center St., Kingsport. Ogden began work with the National Park Service in 1982 and has been stationed at Chickamauga-Chattanooga National Military Park, Georgia and Tennessee, Russell Cave National Monument, Alabama, and Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park, Virginia.
In November, 1988, he returned to Chickamauga-Chattanooga National Military Park as the chief historian, the position he presently holds. Although overshadowed at the time by Northern victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg, Union General William Rosecrans’ brilliant Tullahoma campaign cleared the rebel army from Middle Tennessee. Confederate General Braxton Bragg’s Army of Tennessee sought refuge in Chattanooga, a critical Southern railroad junction.
Rosecrans’ next task was to force the rebels from The Gateway to the South, either through maneuver or through combat. The Federal general was unaware that success in driving the Confederates from this strategic prize could and would set the table for the most disastrous Union defeat in the Western theater of war. There is no charge for the event, and the public is invited.
Tipton-Haynes State Historic Site Tipton-Haynes will present “Visions of Christmas: 1862” on Saturday, Dec. 7, from 2-6 p.m.
You are invited to be a guest of the Haynes family and friends as they begin their celebrations for the holiday season. Experience what it was like for this family with the glow of oil lamps and the smell of greenery. Reenactors and volunteers will be in period clothing to recreate the atmosphere of the late months of 1862 for the Haynes family and Northeast Tennessee.
The site will also celebrate the birthday of Landon Cater Haynes, who was born on Dec. 2, 1816, in Carter County. Enjoy family fun as you enjoy the Christmas decorations that adorn the Haynes home, as holiday snacks and drinks will be prepared over the open hearth in the cabin.
Call 423-926-3631 or email [email protected] to make a reservation for the 1860 Christmas candlelight tour or for more information. Tours begin at 2:15 p.
m. and continue every 15 minutes until the last tour at 5:55 p.m.
Reservations are strongly suggested prior to Dec. 7, as space will be limited. There is an admission charge.
Tipton-Haynes is located at 2620 S. Roan St. in Johnson City.
Sycamore Shoals State Historic Site/Carter Mansion Sycamore Shoals will round out its seasonal festivities with an event that has become a community holiday favorite, “Christmas at the Carter Mansion.” Step back in time to the year 1780 and enjoy a colonial Christmas celebration at the beautiful and historic John and Landon Carter Mansion. Join the Carter family and their friends for a glimpse into a simpler time, when Christmas was the grandest celebration of the entire year.
Enjoy the sights and sounds of the 18th century as your guide escorts you, by lantern light, through the oldest frame house in Tennessee, decorated with bright greenery and soft candlelight for the holidays. Visit with historic interpreters as they transport you to a Colonial American Christmas. “Christmas at the Carter Mansion” will be held Friday and Saturday, Dec.
6-7, with tours starting at 6 p.m. A new tour starts every 20 minutes, with the last tour starting at 8:20 p.
m. General admission is charged, and tours are by reservation only. You may register at tnstateparks.
com/parks/events/sycamore-shoals . The Carter Mansion is located at 1031 Broad St., Elizabethton.
For more information call 423-543-5808 or visit https://tnstateparks.com/parks/sycamore-shoals or www.sycamoreshoalstn.
wordpress.com . On Dec.
20, Sycamore Shoals will present “Winter Stories by the Fire ” with Park Ranger Taylor Moorefield at the Talbot Cabin inside Fort Watauga. And on Dec. 23, there will be a holiday craft program on pomanders at Fort Watauga.
There is a limited numbers of spots for both programs, and registration is required. You can register online at www.tnstateparks.
com/parks/events’sycamore-shoals or stop by the park's visitors center and museum at 1651 W. Elk Ave., Elizabethton.
Ned Jilton II is a photographer, history lover and columnist. You can contact him at [email protected] .
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