Like most neighbourhoods near downtown Knoxville, Island Home began as farmland and was developed into a street car suburb at the start of the 1900s. Driving down Island Home Boulevard today, it is easy to imagine the tracks running straight through the center where the tidy median is now.
This neighbourhood really began booming in the 1920s when the Ijams family bird sanctuary drew national attention, and then the Girl Scouts, a private airport, and the Tennessee School for the Deaf all made their home there.
Island Home Park is part of the greater Island Home neighbourhood, beginning at the two marble Island Home Park pillars on either side of Island Home Boulevard.
This street, combined with Maplewood, Spence Place, and Fisher Place are sometimes collectively called the Island Home Park Historic District and it has the city’s highest concentration of Craftsman and Bungalow homes.
More than ninety of these houses have been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1994.
You can reach Island Home neighbourhood by driving across the Gay Street Bridge and turning left onto Sevier Avenue, and that will put you on the distant end.
Look out for the ancient JFG Coffee sign on the top of the hill, as you go around the curve.
*Update: literally a week after I published this, after it had been standing there for DECADES, some dweeb decided this sign should be taken down. So, just look for the staircase to nowhere.
If you ever feel the urge to climb these stairs or even drive around the back way to the top of the hill, there are two giant Sphynx statues in front of the Shriners building.
What is now called the Old Sevier District along Sevier Avenue used to be an extension of Island Home Boulevard, but a series of rezoning and property ownership transfers changed it up.
When I was a teenager, I remember people saying they were going “out near Island Home” when they meant anywhere near Ijams. I am not sure exactly when the name Old Sevier came into play.
Some media sources call this area “SoKno” to symbolize a trendy new version of South Knoxville, but that is more for the land beyond Blount Avenue and the Henley Street Bridge.
When the Urban Wilderness was created, followed by Suttree Landing Park in 2016, many new businesses rushed in to open up shop in the bustling new neighbourhood. Some have come and gone, but here are my favourites.
HoneyBee Coffee is one of the first businesses you will see, and it is in a building with a very long and storied past. I love the oddly-thrown together but relaxing interior decor.
Angry Dumplings Tea at 1119 Sevier Avenue is the newest neighbour. They do not have a working website yet and still seem to be figuring out how to get into their groove, but we enjoyed meeting them and look forward to returning.
They specialize in serving up Thai Tea, Boba Tea, steamed buns, pastries, and noodle bowls.
You can choose from two types of pork buns, but their signature dish is “Grandpa’s Noodles,” a noodle bowl with beef and veggies.
Ask them about vegetarian/pescatarian options and especially the shrimp curry when you visit. Staff is more than happy to help you come up with your dream dish.
South Coast Pizza is a fun, quirky, and chill place to throw back a few pints and slices.
They have some crazy names and combinations on their menu, and my favourite so far has been the Korean BBQ Bulgogi pizza. Nothing beats fresh, cheesy, garlic bread though.
Redbud Kitchen has a seriously decadent menu that caters to “busy people” as well as gluten-free and vegetarian diets.
Friends and I have shared several of their dishes. The garlic herb grilled cheese with bacon, and the Notorious P.I.G. are our top picks so far.
Landing House is only slightly disguised inside a big blue house right in the curve of Sevier Avenue where it meets Island Home Park.
Parking is a hard to come by here, so you might have to walk a block or two.
The menu at Landing House fills my head with all kinds of lust. Chinese and Cambodian specialties, and now apparently French fusions, are dished out along with the best bowl of Pho in town.
SoKno Taco Cantina has an extensive selection of tacos, burritos, and other delicacies. I love that they offer Thai portobello mushrooms, tofu, and a few different kinds of fish or shrimp for protein options.
One of my favourite items is their Cast Iron Beans, kind of a beans-refried beans hybrid with special seasoning and queso on top. It doubles as a filling dip for tortilla chips if you are just feeling a bit peckish.
All of their cocktails are fresh and juicy, too.
71 South is a new restaurant in an old church, and I am so glad to see something both useful and delicious fill this space.
It is located within the Baker Creek Preserve at the very heart of the Urban Wilderness.
Everything from the tomato soup, roasted Brussels, and Urban Cowboy fries, to the Smashburgers and Spicy South tofu sandwiches, was spot on.
I need to know who they think they are serving fries that golden and crispy.
Some of Knoxville’s best, and by that I mean my favourite, bars and breweries are in Old Sevier.
Fly by Night is a 70s themed cocktail lounge that opened earlier this year. It is owned by the same couple behind the Tern Club about a mile or so away on S. Gay Street.
Their cocktails are fire! We tried several of them, including the Harvey Wallbanger, Dirty AF vodka martini, and my favourite, the Jungle Bird.
We just adored the authentic furniture and decor, eclectic accents, and collection of velvet painting, and took loads of selfies.
Alliance Brewing Company is a long-time fave, and it is owned by the same feller who owns South Coast Pizza.
You can not miss this rad sculpture out front, acting as a beacon to all of the bikers that ride through Old Sevier to the Urban Wilderness.
Southside Garage is a brew pub and a food truck park with rotating restaurants. Like most places in Old Sevier, it is super casual.
Oakwood BBQ and Dia de Foods are the two I see vending most often.
We devoured the Birria tacos (substituting their Tinga chicken for beef) and crispy smashed potatoes that comes with a delicious lime chipotle crema.
I especially love their spacious patio surrounded by murals of monsters, robots, and other random graffiti.
Trailhead Beer Market is a bit further down around the bend, when Sevier Avenue splits off to Island Home Avenue. They have a large covered patio and an even larger uncovered one, often served by food trucks, and live events.
Printshop Beer Company is Trailhead’s near neighbour, also located on Island Home Avenue. They are notorious for their Hair of the Dog yoga sessions, live music, and art classes like print press operations and painting.
Sevier Avenue has quite a few unique shops.
Borderland Tees is a screen printing and shirt making business. Their mission is to offer friendship and employment to people “regardless of their circumstance, be it a prison record, addiction, mental illness, disability, homelessness, etc.” You can read more about their story here.
Borderlands’ Butterfly Garden is another gift to our community.
Through their website, I learned that the entire Old Sevier district is a certified Monarch (butterfly) Waystation, and Borderlands offers the gardens as a study site for University of Tennessee’s Microbiology department. They have won several awards and are open to the public.
Everything Mushrooms is a fungi supply and resource center, offering everything from dried medicinal and culinary mushrooms, books and supplies, grow your own kits, and classes.
Their clientele ranges from the first time hobby grower to large scale organic farms.
Mood Ring Vintage is the one place I have not been able to catch open, but I certainly enjoy window shopping.
In between all of the awesome businesses in the Old Sevier district, you will also see vacant lots dotted with heaps of industrial debris from lord knows when.
You will see new cookie cutter residential units, some cruddy looking convenience stations or garages, and a few attractive historic buildings being torn to make way for yet another apartment complex to further stretch Knoxville’s britches. That’s just part of it.
Overall, Old Sevier is one of my favourite parts of town to hang out in. It carries a feeling of newness and anticipatory hope for what is to come. The whole neighbourhood runs alongside the river, is highly walkable, and has great views.
Suttree Landing is the park and paved walkway running parallel to the river; always full of people jogging, walking dogs, and biking.
Certain hours of the day are more sparsely packed and totally serene.
Island Home has its own park of the same name, with a small playground and tennis court.
I view it as more of a launching point for those who want to walk to Suttree’s Landing from the opposite direction, or to hop on the Will Skelton Greenway that connects to Ijams Nature Center.
Will Skelton Greenway begins at the Island Home Park and connects to the back of Ijams Nature Center after a mile or so. From there you can continue on for another 2.5 miles to Forks of the River or follow any of the 13 miles of trails in Ijams.
Something about this trail is so inviting to me.
Ijams Nature Center has my vote for best outdoor spot in town.
I have been visiting pretty regularly for over two decades and still find something new each time.
Ijams has nearly 100 acres with miles of diverse trails for all levels. It is also home to the Navitat adventure center.
Ijams has a welcome center, museum, gallery, classrooms, gardens, and an outdoor stage around the main entrance. One of my bands has played past events and I always enjoy seeing other acts there.
Other entrances lead to Meads Quarry and Ross Marble Quarry.
The side of Ijams you will enter by following the Will Skelton Greenway has some really awesome totems, carvings, and natural art scattered around a small building.
I think it is for kids, but I have only seen one out there. I am still learning all the details of this magical place. Anyone local want to take me on a guided tour of the more remote trails?
Meads Quarry is stunningly beautiful.
Tharp Trace is one of the more strenuous Ijams trails in my experience, but that could have something to do with me always having to lift up my 52-pound dog and carry him over some of the trenches and rocky areas each time I have gone in the past. Rest in peace, sweet pup.
Ijams Primal Playground is part of the Meads Quarry area. It was a really exciting idea when it first opened, but there has not been much development since.
Much of the minimalistic structures were broken, not yet assembled, or had dangerously sharp edges and jagged metal sticking out when we visited. I get that it is supposed to be primal, primitive, and workouts involve using natural items, but I would love to see this concept filled out more.
You can read more about my favourite outdoor places in my blog about greater South Knoxville.
Old Sevier and South Knoxville as a whole have really come a long way in recent years, and I am so excited to see what will come in the future.
Just across the Gay Street Bridge into South Knoxville, be sure to visit Fort Dickerson, High Ground Park, and Charter Doyle Park. I will write more about those in my South Knoxville/Vestal blog.
One last place I want to mention is the Williamswood Castle.
Williamswood is a nearly 5,000 square feet castle built in the early 1990s on the former Girl Scouts grounds. It was built in love, grief, and dedication by a local woman who tragically lost her son to AIDS.
The faux Scottish castle represents their family heritage, their love of historic preservation and antiques, and was the most dreamy getaway for following generations of the family.
The original creator and owner is still living and now that her grandchildren are grown, she rents the space out for events and overnight stays. You can read my blog about the Williamsburg Castle here.
In the area for a while? Follow me a little further into South Knoxville and the Vestal Community (in progress) or to some of Knoxville’s other cool neighbourhoods like Marble City, Inskip, Fountain City, Happy Holler, Parkridge, the rest of South Knoxville, and East Knoxville (in progress).
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Fernweh, An Ache for Distant Places 
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