The Blog

Homeschool Day at Oak Hill School on September 13 and 18

The Heritage Alliance is excited to offer two days of lessons at the historic Oak Hill School this fall. The award winning Oak Hill School Heritage Education program is currently celebrating its 20^th anniversary, and homeschool students are encouraged to come and experience history on September 13^th or September 18^th.

Click HERE to access the registration form.

Oak Hill School was built in 1886 to serve the community of Knob Creek. The building served local residents until it was closed in the 1950s. The school building was moved the seven miles from Knob Creek to Jonesborough and placed in its current location behind the Visitors Center. Today, Oak Hill School invites students to come for a day-long experience and enroll in school in 1893. Reading, writing, arithmetic, history, geography – even the pledge of allegiance – are all as they were prior to the turn of the last century.

School will last from 9:00am – 2:00pm on September 13^th and 18^th. This program is limited to 26 students, grades 1^st – 12^th, so sign up now!

Registration information is available at www.heritageall.org. The cost is $5 per student for the day at Oak Hill School. Students must register in advance. We cannot accept registration the day of the event.

August Events at the Christopher Taylor House

Join us for all sorts of fun activities this August at the Christopher Taylor House!

Follow the Chester Inn Museum on YouTube!

You can now follow the adventures at the Chester Inn State Historic Site and Museum on YouTube! Videos will share behind the scenes footage from exhibits, fun, historical facts, highlights from special programs, and much more! Subscribe today and never miss a minute.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsYn0DMdmopm9FveU8Q0kRQ/featured

The Chester Inn museum is operated by the Heritage Alliance, a history preservation and education nonprofit organization. The Chester Inn features prominently in Heritage Alliance programming through exhibit space, educational opportunities, special events, and community programs. For more information on the museum and the heritage alliance including our hours of operation and updates on our programming, you can go to our website www.heritageall.org, and you can follow us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/chesterinnmuseum/ and https://www.facebook.com/HeritageAlliance/. You can also contact us by phone at (423) 753-4580 or by email at chesterinn@heritageall.org.

This project is funded under an agreement with the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, Tennessee Historical Commission.

Christopher Taylor House Raise the Roof Celebration Set for June 22

Come out to downtown Jonesborough on Saturday, June 22 at 6:00 for a Raise the Roof Celebration at the Christopher Taylor House. The log house is an important icon of Jonesborough’s historic preservation movement and is one of the few remaining examples of v-notch log house construction that was popular during the 1700s.

Christopher Taylor fought at the Battle of King’s Mountain during the Revolutionary War and was an important presence in early Washington County. His log house was open to travelers as they headed west. One of the boarders who reportedly spent time at the Taylor residence was a young lawyer by the name of Andrew Jackson. When the Town of Jonesborough moved the home to its current location in 1974, the building became a central piece of Main Street’s restoration.

This past year, the Heritage Alliance obtained a grant from the State of Franklin Chapter of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution (NSDAR) to replace the building’s worn out roof with cedar shakes. This new roof allowed the doors to be reopened on the Christopher Taylor House, and the building is used for all sorts of activities, including weaving, storytelling, music, rug hooking, and more!

As proclaimed by Mayor Chuck Vest, June 22 is Christopher Taylor House Day in Jonesborough. Help the Heritage Alliance, the Town, and the State of Franklin Chapter of the NSDAR celebrate at 6:00 p.m. that evening with a ceremony on the Taylor House’s front lawn. The log house will be open for tours. Parking is available around the Washington County Courthouse.

The Heritage Alliance is dedicated to the preservation of the architectural, historical, and cultural heritage of our region and to providing educational experiences related to history and heritage for a wide range of audiences.  For more information, please call our office at 423.753.9580, or contact the organization via email at info@heritageall.org.  Additional information can also be found online at http://www.heritageall.org/.

New Play Voices of the Chester at the Chester Inn State Historic Site and Museum

The walls of the Chester Inn are talking this June. Hear the stories from the oldest commercial building in Tennessee’s Oldest Town. Meet the people who once worked and stayed there, from past owners, to politicians, salesmen, enslaved workers, and bound children. They all have a story to tell.

Voices of the Chester is an intimate performance experience that will take guests on a journey through the historic building’s long past. Performances will take place at 7:00 p.m. on June 14^th, and at 1:00 p.m., 3:00 p.m., 6:00 p.m., and 8:00 p.m. on June 15^th. Due to the intimate nature of the experience; only 20 tickets are available per performance on Friday and Saturday.

During the show, audience members will be led throughout the Inn, up and down stairs and into the restored rooms on the second and third floors. Along the way, they’ll encounter more than ten stories from the Inn’s rich history. Who will you meet? Get your tickets today and find out!

A special performance of Voices of the Chester will be offered at the International Storytelling Center on June 16^th at 1:00 p.m. The International Storytelling Center is handicap accessible. During this Sunday matinee, the stories of the Chester Inn will come to life onstage at the Krispy Kreme Theatre which seats 95 people.

Tickets for all performances are $8.00. To purchase tickets, please call the Jonesborough Visitor’s Center at 423.753.1010. Tickets can also be purchased online at jonesborough.com/tickets.

The Chester Inn is a Tennessee Historical Commission State-Owned Historic Site. This project is funded under an agreement with the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, Tennessee Historical Commission.

The Heritage Alliance is dedicated to the preservation of the architectural, historical, and cultural heritage of our region and to providing educational experiences related to history and heritage for a wide range of audiences. For more information on the Chester Inn Museum or the Heritage Alliance, please call our office at 423.753.9580 or the Chester Inn Museum at 423.753.4580. Additional information about the Heritage Alliance can be found online at http://www.heritageall.org/. Be sure to follow the Chester Inn and Heritage Alliance Facebook pages for updates about events at the Chester Inn and other Heritage Alliance programs.

Chester Inn on Summer Hours and Expanded Tours

The Chester Inn State Historic Site and Museum will be open extended hours for summer starting on Wednesday, May 1. The museum will be open on Monday, Wednesday-Saturday from 11-6 and Sunday from 1-5. Thursday evening Town Tours return on May 2. Tours leave at 7:00 from the Chester Inn Museum. Tickets are $5.00. Old Jonesborough Cemetery Tours are back at 2:30 on Saturday, May 4. Cemetery tours will be available at 2:30 the first and third Saturdays of the month. Come and experience history in Tennessee’s Oldest Town!

Dulcimer Exhibit at the Jonesborough Washington County History Museum

How much do you know about the dulcimer? How about its construction?

The Jonesborough Washington County History Museum will be hosting a traveling exhibit about Dulcimers through early June. Coinciding with Jonesborough’s Dulcimer Days (May 13-19), this exhibit looks at the history of the instrument while focusing on the craft of dulcimer making. It features luthier Ernest Combs from the Vilas community of Watauga County, NC and also includes a hands-on dulcimer where visitors can try to play the instrument.

Leading up to and following Dulcimer Days, there will be special programming centered on dulcimers and Appalachian Folk Music. We will be working with local craftspeople and musicians to bring the space to life with music and talks.

On May 23rd at 6:00 pm, join Jim and Cheri Miller at the museum for an evening of dulcimer history and music. The program will begin with a look at the early evolution of the dulcimer from its European roots to the instruments we know today. Jim and Cheri will entertain with a selection of traditional Appalachian songs and tunes.

This exhibit is part of a larger traveling exhibit entitled The Luthier’s Craft: Instrument Making Traditions of the Blue Ridge which explores and documents the traditional arts of fiddle, guitar banjo, and dulcimer making in Southern Appalachia and the Blue Ridge Mountains. The Luthier’s Craft was produced by the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History (Mount Airy, NC) with financial support provided by The Blue Ridge National Heritage Area, Interlam, Hibco Plastics, and Dr. Mac and Becky Sumner.

The Jonesborough Washington County History Museum is located in the Historic Jonesborough Visitors Center and is operated by the Heritage Alliance.

Saturdays at the Christopher Taylor House

Last year the Heritage Alliance and the Chester Inn State Historic Site and Museum partnered with the Town of Jonesborough to offer a series of programs and activities in the Christopher Taylor House. This historic home was Jonesborough’s first preservation project, and it will be open again on Saturdays throughout the calendar year. We’ve already got a full slate of fun activities in April, from hands on crafts to storytelling and basket weaving! Check back monthly to see what else we have going on in this eighteenth century log house.

Schedule is subject to change. The Christopher Taylor House is located at 124 West Main Street. The home is owned by the Town of Jonesborough. Programming arranged by the Heritage Alliance and the Chester Inn State Historic Site and Museum. The Chester Inn is a Tennessee Historical Commission State-Owned Historic Site. This project is funded under an agreement with the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, Tennessee Historical Commission.

Washington County Digitization Day May 18

The Heritage Alliance will have an open donation day for the general public to bring in pictures to be digitized on May 18th. This is part of our ongoing project to digitize photos and negatives related to Jonesborough and Washington County History.

As part of this project, we are asking local donors to help us fill in some of the gaps in our collection. While we would typically rather a donor gift the original hard copy of a historic picture so we can preserve it for future use, we do have the option of a digital donation. This allows us to scan the original image and save a digital copy for our uses and then return the original to the donor. In either case, we can provide a digital copy to the donor if you bring a flash drive to save it on.

We hope that you will be able to join us in preserving the history of our region for future generations. If you are unable to attend, you can contact us any time regarding any photographs you may have that relate to Jonesborough or Washington County by emailing us at info@heritageall.org or by calling us at (423)753-9580 or (423) 753-4580. You can also help out by spreading the word about the date, time, and goal of this event!

Heritage Alliance Homeschool Activities Spring 2019

We are excited to offer two Homeschool Days this Spring! On April 10, we’ll have our third Homeschool Day with history-based activities throughout town. On May 10, we’ll have a full day at Oak Hill School. Registration is open now and the registration forms for both days are attached to this email. Read below for more information. We hope to see you in Jonesborough this Spring!

The Heritage Alliance is excited to offer two days for homeschool students this spring. On Wednesday, April 10, we’ll host our third Homeschool Day. History and heritage based activities are planned from 9:00am – 3:30pm that day and will offer a wide variety of experiences for multiple ages. Students from first grade through senior year of high school are encouraged to come and experience history with their families in Tennessee’s Oldest Town.

Activities include Town Tours, an Old Jonesborough Cemetery Tour, and hands-on activities with artifacts in the Jonesborough/Washington County History Museum. In addition, students can explore primary sources at the Chester Inn State Historic Site and Museum, learn all about the railroad at the Chuckey Depot Museum, and listen to a Storyteller. Oak Hill School will be open for mini-lessons on Homeschool Day, but students will have a chance to participate in a full day at Oak Hill School on Friday, May 10.

Oak Hill School was built in 1886 to serve the community of Knob Creek. The building served local residents until it was closed in the 1950s. The school building was moved the seven miles from Knob Creek to Jonesborough and placed in its current location behind the Visitors Center. Today, Oak Hill School invites students to come for a day-long field trip and enroll in school in 1893. Reading, writing, arithmetic, history, geography – even the pledge of allegiance – are all as they were prior to the turn of the last century.

School will last from 9:00am – 2:00pm on May 10. This program is limited to 26 students, grades 1^st – 12^th, so sign up now!

Registration is now open for Homeschool Day (April 10) and the day at Oak Hill School (May 10) at www.heritageall.org. The cost is $7 per student for Homeschool Day and $5 per student for the day at Oak Hill School. Students must register for both days in advance. We cannot accept registration the day of the event.