Stop Twelve: Blount Mansion

This is what the area around Blount Mansion would have looked like when completed on Lot 18. With all the log cabins and shanties, this surely would have been a mansion, with wood siding and glass windows! Blount was intentional in building an elaborate frame house on the frontier. First, the house would act as the capital of the Southwest Territory and would need to command the respect of visiting delegations. Second, Blount wanted to fulfill a promise he made to his wife to build a home comparable to their lavish North Carolina home. Historians have determined that a slave named Cupid was the general contractor of the house. Fingerprints of the slaves that built the house can be seen in the handmade bricks that were made onsite. Andrew Jackson and John Sevier were frequent visitors to the mansion. Early guests included French botanist Andre Michaux and various Cherokee and Chickasaw chiefs who called Blount Mansion, “the house with many eyes” since they had never seen glass windows before! William Blount was one of the signers of the United States Constitution and the first senator to be impeached by the United States government after conspiring with the Cherokee and frontiersmen to attack Florida and Louisiana, held by Spain, and transfer that land to Great Britain. The Senate ordered Blount to appear to answer to articles of impeachment. Instead, Blount fled on horseback to Knoxville and refused to return. Blount’s impeachment trial, with Vice President Jefferson presiding, was held in Philadelphia without Blount’s presence. His lawyers convinced the Senate it did not have jurisdiction because impeachment did not apply to senators, and, even if it did, he was no longer a senator. The charges were dismissed on Jan. 11, 1799, by a vote of 14 to 11.

Standard tour mission:

Take a photo of the fingerprints preserved in the handmade bricks of the slaves who built Blount Mansion. They are circled with white chalk on the side of Blount Mansion.

Virtual tour trivia questions:

A county in East Tennessee is named after Mary Blount. Which one is it?

Where did the Blount family live before moving to Knoxville?