Stop Four: Knoxville Lot Lottery October 3, 1791

William Blount selected White's Fort as the territory's capital. James White set aside land adjacent to the fort for a new town, named "Knoxville" after Secretary of War Henry Knox, who never visited Knoxville. George Washington had been president for two years. White hired Charles McClung, his new son-in-law married to White’s oldest daughter, to draw up lots for the new town, which were sold at auction on October 3, 1791. McClung's design consisted of a rectangular grid with the Tennessee River (then called the "Holston") as its southern boundary and First Creek as its eastern boundary. The grid's original northern boundary was here on Church street, and its original western boundary was the road now known as Walnut Street. This grid was divided into 64 half acre lots and sold for $8 each ($221 today). According to Hugh Dunlap, “the whole town was then in a thicket of brushwood and grapevines.” Only five families lived in the area of downtown Knoxville when the lottery took place. (Rule Pg 222) There were no homes, only a few crudely built shacks near the river. Charles McClung lived in a log house somewhere near lot 7, on the corner of Central (Water) and Cumberland. (Rule Pg 86) In 1792, McClung surveyed and planned what is now Kingston Pike from Knoxville to Campbell's Station in Farragut.

Standard Tour Mission:

Take a creative photo next to “The Oarsman” statue, near the corner of Church and Gay Street. You are now on the northern border of the 1791 lottery.

Virtual Tour trivia questions:

In 1805, Charles McClung built a house on Ebenezer/Peters Road in West Knoxville which still stands today and is privately owned. What is the name of the home?

Charles McClung hired well known Thomas Hope as the architect for his home. What other historic home in the Knoxville area did Thomas Hope design?