Join the Chester Inn State Historic Site and Museum on September 21st at 6:30 pm as we welcome Joshua Dacey, Site Manager at the Chester Inn Museum for this month’s History Happy Hour!

At the conclusion of the Civil War officials at the state and local levels in many of the former Confederate states vigorously fought to keep a racial caste system in place. This early Jim Crow period saw the enactment of laws and “Black Codes” specifically targeted at formerly enslaved individuals. For generations, skilled and unskilled enslaved men, women, and children were “hired out” to perform menial labor that their enslavers financially profited from. In a new system of convict labor leasing that developed after the Civil War, state and county governments likewise profited by using their prison populations to labor on commercial or private projects such as road construction, railway maintenance, logging, or mining.  What allowed them to do so was a loophole in the 13th Amendment that stipulates “involuntary servitude” will only be used as “punishment for a crime.” Beginning in 1866 and continuing until 1886, Tennessee quickly became one of the first states to implement convict labor leasing. Evidence also indicates that a system of convict labor leasing was utilized in Jonesborough as early as 1822. Mr. Dacey will be talking about all this and more. The program is entitled “I’m free from the chain gang now:” Building the Railroads of the South and Convict Labor Leasing. It will begin at 6:30 pm in the International Storytelling Festival. The program is free and open to the public!

The 2023 season of History Happy Hour will run from April through November with a new program every third Thursday of the month. The full schedule is available on the Chester Inn’s Facebook page and the Heritage Alliance’s website. If you can’t attend History Happy Hour in person, each program will be livestreamed to the Chester Inn Museum’s Facebook page.

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

Join the Chester Inn State Historic Site and Museum on June 15^th at 6:30 pm as we welcome Katherine N. Banks, University Archivist & Information Resources Librarian at Milligan University for this month’s History Happy Hour!

Mrs. Banks will be presenting on the history of co-education at Milligan University. According to Mrs. Banks, “Milligan has always permitted men and women to study at the school from its beginning, which was rather unusual for the late 1800s. My presentation will look at the reasons why Milligan allowed this and what the reality was for the students and faculty in its early years, through the early 1900s. This presentation was developed from an exhibit and the accompanying research for the Holloway Archives at Milligan University. The title is ‘“No Distinction”’: Coeducation in Milligan’s Early Years, 1881-1917.” The program will begin at 6:30 pm in the Chester Inn Museum’s Board Room. The program is free and open to the public!

The 2023 season of History Happy Hour will run from April through November with a new program every third Thursday of the month. The full lineup includes Presidential history, Jonesborough’s historic front porches, deed research, and much more. The full schedule is available on the Chester Inn’s Facebook page and the Heritage Alliance’s website. If you can’t attend History Happy Hour in person, each program will be livestreamed to the Chester Inn Museum’s Facebook page.

This project is funded under an agreement with the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, Tennessee Historical Commission. For more information on the Chester Inn Museum, History Happy Hour, or the Heritage Alliance please call our office at 423.753.9580 or the Chester Inn Museum at 423.753.4580.  You can also contact the organization via email at info@heritageall.org.  Additional information about the Heritage Alliance and its mission 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.

Photo courtesy of Milligan University Archives.

Join us for History Happy Hour every third Thursday at 6:30 pm from April-November. We’ve got a great slate of programs lined up!

Join the Chester Inn State Historic Site and Museum for the final History Happy Hour of the 2022 season. Savannah Bennett from The Reece Museum will present her topic, “Susannah and Cold Mountain: Examining the Portrayal of Appalachian Culture in Opera.”

History Happy Hour will take place at 6:30 pm on Thursday, November 17^th at the International Storytelling Center, located next door to the Chester Inn Museum. Savannah Bennett is the new Collection Manager at The Reece Museum which is located on campus at East Tennessee State University. Savannah received her Bachelor of Music in Performance degree at Western Carolina University in 2020, and will receive her Master of Arts in Appalachian Studies as well as a Heritage Interpretation and Museum Studies Certificate at ETSU in 2022. Her research examines the portrayal of the Appalachian region and its people, namely women, in two popular operas. The History Happy Hour presentation will also be available via livestream on the Chester Inn’s Facebook page. It is presented by the Heritage Alliance and produced independently of the International Storytelling Center. It is free and open to the public!

This project is funded under an agreement with the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, Tennessee Historical Commission. For more information on the Chester Inn Museum, History Happy Hour, or the Heritage Alliance please call our office at 423.753.9580 or the Chester Inn Museum at 423.753.4580. You can also contact the organization via email at info@heritageall.org. Additional information about the Heritage Alliance and its mission 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.