Calendar of Events

November 8, 2019 @ 10:00 am – November 10, 2019 @ 5:00 pm

This Holiday Season, the Great Smoky Mountain Heritage Center is proud to announce the return of the Smoky Junction Model Train Exhibit. Running through the season, the exhibit is sure to be a delightful experience, because nothing says holiday enchantment quite like seeing little faces look on in wonderment as model trains zip by. With three different displays and including a bit of history from the Townsend/ Walland area, this exhibit will showcase different styles and scales of model trains and is sure to be a joy to the whole family, as well as train enthusiasts.

This exhibit, in operation on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays at the Heritage Center, brings back the fond memories of the holiday trains of our childhoods. “The Maryville Model Railroad Club has been instrumental in helping us design and creating these displays. We hope that this experience becomes an annual holiday tradition for the families in our community and for folks of all ages.” says Logan Hull, Director of Special Events at the Heritage Center. “We hope that we can create memories that will last a lifetime for families and promote this unique hobby, all while sharing the great history of this region. This is the perfect way for the Heritage Center to promote the history of our region in a fun and engaging way, while giving our guests an experience like none other!”

A special “Boarding Pass” will be included in the admission price to the Great Smoky Mountain Heritage Center ($8 for adults, $6 for Children & Seniors) on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, from November 8th through January 5th. It can also be purchased separately for only $4 for ages 6 and up. This experience is free to the members of the Heritage Center. Each day the trains are running, a knowledgeable member of the MMRC will be onsite to answer any questions and to show how they run the trains.

10am-5pm on Friday and Saturday; 12pm-5pm Sundays

Great Smoky Mountains Heritage Center, 3/4 mile east of traffic light at the Highway 321 and 73 intersection towards the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Townsend, TN. Hours: M-Sa 10-5. Information: 865-448-0044, www.gsmheritagecenter.org

Science in Motion: The Photographic Studies of Eadweard Muybridge, Berenice Abbott and Harold Edgerton

Photography itself was born out of a passionate engagement between art and science.

“…there needs to be a friendly interpreter between science and the layman. I believe that photography can be this spokesman, as no other form of expression can be; for photography, the art of our time, the mechanical scientific medium which matches the pace and character of our era, is attuned to the function. There is an essential unity between photography, science’s child, and science, the parent.”
—Berenice Abbott, Photography and Science, 1939

Photography’s pioneers, Josef Nicéphore Niépce, Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre and William Henry Fox Talbot, were inventors, scientists and mathematicians. The results of their intellectual endeavors dramatically affected the art form and forged a reciprocal relationship between art and science in photography that has continued to this day.

This exhibition of thirty-six photographs offers a rich and extensive view of the scientific studies done by three of photography’s greats—Eadweard Muybridge, Berenice Abbott and Harold Edgerton. Each of these artists invented devices to study and represent aspects of light and motion scientifically and photographically. Their works not only illustrate scientific phenomena clearly and elegantly but also reveal the artists’ individual artistic sensibilities.

McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture, 1327 Circle Park Dr on the UT campus, Knoxville, TN 37996. Hours: Monday-Saturday, 9AM-5PM, Sunday, 1-5PM. Information: 865-974-2144, http://mcclungmuseum.utk.edu

"It’ll Tickle Yore Innards!”: A (Hillbilly) History of Mountain Dew

Special Members Preview: Thursday, June 27, 2019, from 4:00-6:00 p.m.

The exhibition highlights the drink’s history, from the origins of the term “mountain dew” and the development of the marketable hillbilly image that influenced media and culture, to becoming the third most popular soft drink brand.

The exhibition includes more than 200 artifacts highlighting the drinks history, moonshining, and the hillbilly image. The exhibition begins with video footage of early moonshine busts and a visit to a moonshine still in Cocke County in 1938. A variety of liquor jugs, dating from as early as the 1890s are on display with other moonshine paraphernalia. There is an assortment of artifact reflecting the early color writers and their effects on the hillbilly image, as well as artifacts from Knoxville’s 1910 Appalachian Exposition. One case contains a variety of “hillbilly” memorabilia, including Beverly Hillbillies dolls, comic books, Lil’ Abner items, and a pair of Hee Haw overalls.

The exhibition features a 1900 carbonation machine from the Roddy Coca-Cola Bottling Company in Knoxville and a sizeable display of rare and highly collectable bottles, including a few dating to Knoxville in 1927, a progression of Mountain Dew bottles over the years, and a variety of other vintage soft drinks from around the region. Of special interest are the “Barney and Ally” bottles, which were the first Mountain Dew bottles ever produced. In 1951 and 1952, the Hartman Beverage Company produced 7 oz. green and clear bottles. The applied color label’s bare the name of the creators of Mountain Dew. In the early 1950s, green bottles were reserved for “colorless” flavors, while clear bottles were used for drinks where the color would reflect the actual flavor. Mountain Dew was originally bottled as a set of flavored drinks and not as a specific flavor like today. Also displayed are a variety of items relating to the Hartmann family.

East Tennessee Historical Society, 601 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. Museum hours: M-F 9-4, Sa 10-4, Su 1-5. Information: 865-215-8824, www.easttnhistory.org

Dogwood Arts Art In Public Places - Temporary Sculpture Exhibition

An exhibition of large-scale outdoor sculptures in downtown Knoxville, the McGhee Tyson Airport, Zoo Knoxville, and Oak Ridge. The annual rotating installation is one of many Dogwood Arts programs focused on providing access to the arts for everyone, promoting awareness of the strong visual arts community thriving in our region, and creating a vibrant and inspiring environment for residents and visitors to experience.

Sculpture installation will take place March 22-23, 2019.

Dogwood Arts, 123 W. Jackson Ave, Knoxville, TN 37902. Information: 865-637-4561, www.dogwoodarts.com