Fernweh, An Ache for Distant Places

My grandfather always told me there were catfish the size of school buses in Norris Lake and if you grew up in the area, I bet yours did too.

The thought has haunted me most of my life, so I have stayed out of any bodies of water I can not see the floor of.

The City of Norris and Norris Lake are so lovely that I can not help but return to visit over and over, though. I just stay in the boat. 

NORRIS FREEWAY NATIONAL SCENIC BYWAY
The National Scenic Byway Foundation has created an official driving route called the Norris Freeway National Scenic Byway and it features the Norris Dam, Norris Dam State Park, and the Museum of Appalachia. 

Norris Freeway is just one of thirteen famous byways in Tennessee, including Natchez Trace Parkway, Newfound Gap Road, Great River Road, Cherohala Skyway, East Tennessee Crossing, Woodlands Trace, Sequatchie Valley Scenic Byway, Great Smoky Mountains Byway, Tennessee River Trail Scenic Byway, Walton Road Scenic Byway, and Ocoee Scenic Byway.

THE TOWN OF NORRIS
Norris is a small East Tennessee town known for its lake and marinas, the Norris Dam State Park, the giant Tennessee Valley Authority dam, and its Appalachian and Mountaineer history museums.

Norris itself, Norris Lake, and Norris Dam were all named after US Senator George Norris who wrote the legislation that eventually led the creation of TVA. Historically speaking, you can not have one without the other. The dam was created in 1936 by the Tennessee Valley Authority, which in turn created the Norris Lake. The town of Norris was then created to house the workers on the project, which led to the creation of a new residential community. 

TVA developers first dreamed of Norris as a model town for egalitarian living, allegedly influenced by the Victorian “Garden City Movement” designs of the late 1800s. The town is centered around a green commons area and each residential home is made of wood and stone, based off one of twelve floor plans that included a fireplace and front porch.

A greenbelt winds through the entire town, and I learned that it was actually the “first use of greenbelt design principles in a self-contained town” in the US. A few other firsts for Norris, according to its government page, is that Norris Creamery was the first milk factory in the world to be totally powered by electricity, and that it was the first Tennessee town to have complete dial telephone systems. 

NORRIS DAM
Norris Dam was built between 1933 and 1936, and it measures 265 feet high by 1,860 feet across the water. 

It was another first for TVA; the first dam in its flood control system to flow all the way into the Ohio River. 

The dam produces about 65 megawatts from each of its two units, and officials are working toward improved sustainability.  

NORRIS LAKE
Norris Lake is over 300 miles long, up to 1.2 miles across and more than 200 feet deep at varying points. The lake is actually a reservoir that covers an estimated 34,200 acres, and it is the largest lake of a Tennessee River tributary. It spans across the six counties of Anderson, Union, Campbell, Claiborne, and Grainger.

On this screenshot below of Google Maps, you can see that it essentially runs from Norris Dam (by the “‘p” in Rocky Top) over to Lone Mountain, south of Sharps Chapel.

On the western end by Norris Dam, it splits off north into two forks toward the city of Caryville and the Cove Lake State Park, and secondly to the Indian River Marina between the cities of Jacksboro and Lafollette.

The water winds a hairpin curve around the community of Agee before flowing toward the city of Maynardville, Big Ridge State Park, and the city of Sharps Chapel, then tapering into Lone Mountain. 

I do not claim to know all the ins and outs of the lake’s path, but that gives a general idea. Norris Dam State Park, Cove Lake State Park, and Big Ridge State Park are the three sites I am most familiar with and most comfortable writing about.

You can read my blogs about Cove Lake State Park here, and about Big Ridge State Park here. 

Norris Lake has more than 800 miles of shoreline, which makes it a paradise for swimming, fishing, boating, and other sports.

There are at least 20 full service marinas that I know of that sell gas and food, and many of those offer boat rentals and camp sites or other types of lodging for visitors. 

NORRIS DAM STATE PARK
Norris Dam State Park holds over 4,000 acres, and there are fifteen different trails varying between half a mile to five miles long. 

From the Visitors Center, I started out on the White Trail that leads to the Tall Timber Trail, Christmas Fern Trail, and others.

I really love the variety of old trees in the park, and especially the massive mullein plants that sprout up everywhere. 

Back at the Visitors Center, there is a plaque to honour a worker who died while in construction. The poem gives me chills:

“Mourn not the dead who in the cool earth lie, dust unto dust
The calm sweet earth that mothers all who die, as all men must
But rather mourn the apathetic throng, the cowed and the meek
Who see the world’s great anguish and its wrong, and dare not speak”

IN THE NEWS
Norris has been in the news a lot. An awful lot. Starting in the 1930s, TVA was heavily criticized (and rightfully so) for its exclusion of Black/African-Americans from its employ. This discrimination created the perfect grounds for Norris to become a Sundown Town, despite a long history of Black and White folk of the region living and working together just fine before TVA showed up. This brought global attention and repeated complaints filed by the NAACP in the mid to late 1930s. Thankfully times have changed.

Going back to what I said about there being catfish as big as buses in Norris Lake, there is actually some evidence backing the claim. The largest species of catfish in the entire world is called the Blue Catfish, and several people claim to have caught them in Norris Lake. Norris Lake’s official website even has them listed in the lake’s fish ID chart. Various rules mention only keeping one catfish over 34 pounds per day, so that is a good indicator that catching a 34 pound catfish is easy peasy, if nothing else. I have just scanned more fish websites and videos than I care to for the rest of my life, so you fishers and anglers will just have to keep your ears and eyes open.

Bass is the most abundant stock, but crappie, walleye, sunfish, and other fish are all basically guaranteed. 

One thing no one expected to catch in Norris Lake, however, was a 4-feet long alligator in March of last year. The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency issued a statement that alligators are not typically found in East Tennessee (ya think?) and it was likely from someone releasing a pet gator there, right before it was caught. I have witnessed turtles rise up from the bottom of the lake under my body that were at least four feet across, and lord knows what else is under those waves. There is an entire lost town below the surface, after all. 

SAVAGE GARDENS
While you are exploring the area, and as long as the gardens are open, check out Savage Gardens.

Savage Garden Road has an unmarked driveway that makes a sharp curve up behind the hill. There is no sign for the garden, just the road itself, but you will see the backside of massive rock formations to your left.

 

A gentleman on the property guided me to a small parking circle across from a covered picnic table and told me where to start.

Savage Gardens is owned by his family and is open to the public from March through May each year. You will be hard pressed to find much about them online. I saw someone post about it in a Knoxville neighbourhood group and decided to drive out there, not knowing what to expect. 

The garden and trails are just exploding with wildflowers like trillium, hepatica, wild geranium, wild ginger, trout lilies, violets, pennywort, rue anemone, phacelia, smooth rock cress, and so many more. 

A soft trail leads you through newly unfurled ferns and patches of ivy, and on to the giant limestone boulder garden.

My witch senses were tingling so I went off path and stretched out in a clearing for a bit, but the rocks were always in sight.

The gardens cover about thirty acres and the trail makes a giant loop. I enjoyed my visit and hope the family continues to open their lovely property to the public. 

MUSEUMS
Norris has several museums in town or very close by, including the Museum of Appalachia, Coal Creek Miners Museum, and the W.G. Lenoir Museum Complex.

Museum of Appalachia, my favourite, is a living history museum that gives visitors a glimpse of life as an early Appalachian pioneer. 

John Rice Irwin founded the 65-acre museum in 1969 and promptly filled it with his lifetime collection of Appalachian and Native American artifacts. The items were so impressive, the museum soon became a Smithsonian Affiliate.

Currently there are about three dozen log cabins, barns, church and school buildings with items on display, a gift shop, banquet hall/event venue, and a “country cooking” restaurant, as well as live farm animals and gardens. 

Honestly, the donkeys and goats are the most fun part. 

I have spent hours outside playing with them and feeding them apple slices. Sometimes the restaurant will give visitors bits of food that the animals are allowed to eat, and they have told me before that I can feel free to stop by any time and feed them fresh apples. You may want to check with them before doing that yourself, though. 

My favourite exhibit there is the entire upstairs display of funeral attire, coffins, hearses, carriages, and even herbs used in southern folk tradition. 

As far as one single piece in the museum’s collection, I seriously envy this fiddle made from a horse mandible. It has gold teeth, and I would absolutely fight someone for it if it ever goes up for auction.

There is a collection of those super disturbing signs you see all around East Tennessee that tell you to “Prepare to Meet God” and other inspiring messages. You will find some even more daring ones at the museum, like the one below that says “If You Go to Hell, It’s Your Fault.” Lovely, lovely people (not the museum) who started that initiative long ago.

Coal Creek Miners Museum
A small museum off Main Street keeps the history of the Coal Creek, Fraterville, and Briceville Mines. When I arrived at the Coal Creek Miners Museum, two friendly ladies greeted me, set up a short video, then gave me a private tour.

I learned about convict labor and the establishment of the 11/29 law that ensured only convicted Black and African-American men were sold for labour.

One lady led me through the progression of miner strikes and revolts against insufferable conditions, illustrated by glass prints and framed documents.

Various tools, hats, lunch tins, water canteens, medical kits, gas masks, and newspapers from the time are on display also.

There is an exhibit room with territory maps and scales, and one in the back that tells of the 1902 Fraterville Mine disaster.

Nearly every male in these communities were killed, leaving only the youngest of male children that could not yet work.

Many did not die immediately, but were trapped and slowly suffocated to death. You can read letters some of them wrote while waiting for their last breath to pass.

The mining company showed no penance, and the damage inflicted on the land left it impossible to use for agriculture or civilization. The people who remained have had a long, miserable journey to build the communities that thrive there now.

W.G. Lenoir Museum Complex has hundreds of thousands of artifacts tracing to Early American life in East Tennessee, but not as rustic as the Museum of Appalachia. 

The Rice Gristmill, Water Wheel, and Threshing Barn are on surrounding property, and the vibe there is a little more about celebrating the innovation than “look how miserable you would have been back then.”

Admission is donation-based and you can find anything from typical home décor and furniture, farm/kitchen machinery and tools, weapons, pottery, glassware, baskets, quilts, and more.

Just around the corner, Clinch River Brewing & Tap Room is in the former Aquatics Lab building, and peacefully overlooks the water. 

My favourite sandwich here is the Piggy Back with smoked pork belly, Benton’s bacon, sweet chili pepper jam, and homemade pickles on toasted French bread. It comes dressed with something called Chow Chow that I learned is a spicy mustard and cabbage-based relish. 

Archer’s Foods serves as the neighbourhood grocery, farmers market, liquor store, and general store. It is located in a large building central to Norris Square with a few other small businesses.

Archer’s has a walk-up butchery that supplies several restaurants and patrons with fresh locally-sourced meat. After hearing about Dave’s famous Kimchi, I dutifully picked up some to take home.

In addition to any type of food your heart desires, they have an excellent selection of wine and craft beer from local and international companies.

Norris does not have many restaurants unless you go toward I-75, and most of those are fast food chains. Be sure to stock up on picnic supplies and snacks at Archer’s before you set out to explore the town. 

 

In the area for a few days? Follow me to Clinton and Oak Ridge.

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