SIA 2025 Fall Tour – Knoxville, Tennessee
2025 SIA FALL TOUR – EAST TENNESSEE
September 25-27
Knoxville, Tennessee
The City of Knoxville, Tennessee, is the host community for the 2025 Fall Tour of the Society for Industrial Archeology
Knoxville is the largest city in East Tennessee and is situated within the Tennessee Valley, formed by the Appalachian Mountains to the east and the Cumberland Mountains to the west, providing a topography characterized by isolated “hollers” historically prone to flooding. The tribulations of this Appalachian region inspired the formation of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) in 1933, the largest public utility in the United States. Knoxville is now surrounded by TVA energy sites, including hydroelectric, coal, nuclear, natural gas, and renewables. Knoxville is also located just 20 miles from Oak Ridge, the “Secret City” developed by the federal government during the Manhattan Project when they constructed three facilities to aid in the production of an atomic weapon: X-10 (now Oak Ridge National Laboratory), Y-12, and K-25 (now East Tennessee Technology Park). This history inspired the theme for the 1982 World’s Fair hosted in Knoxville, known as the Knoxville International Energy Exposition. During this time, media dubbed Knoxville the “scruffy little city,” a nickname embraced by residents today.
The 2025 Fall Tour will include TVA infrastructure and Manhattan Project historic sites, as well as the genesis of Knoxville’s other nickname, the “Marble City.” Many of the historic quarries have now been repurposed and incorporated into Knoxville’s Urban Wilderness, a well-developed community asset unique to Knoxville. Fall Tour attendees will also glimpse into East Tennessee’s private industries, including a process tour of Del Conca’s tile factory in Loudon. Stops will also include food processing facilities, such as Benton’s Smoky Mountain Country Hams – slow-cured since 1947, Bush’s Beans – “that beautiful bean company”, and Sweetwater Valley Farm – where robots milk cows in farmstead cheese production.
Registration
(Registration opens Thursday, July 31 at noon Eastern Time)
Cost for the Fall Tour is $595 per person. THIS REGISTRATION FEE IS ALL INCLUSIVE. It covers a full day of tours on Friday and Saturday, a pre-tour on Thursday, and breakfast, lunch and dinner for all three days. You must be staying at the event hotel to get the free breakfast.
Distances, with estimated drive times, to Knoxville, Tennessee, from major U.S. cities and airports.
- Nashville, TN: 180 miles, est. drive time 2:45
- Atlanta, GA: 215 miles, est. drive time 3:30
- Charlotte, NC: 230 miles, est. drive time 4:00
- Louisville, KY: 250 miles, est. drive time 3:45
- Cincinnati, OH: 250 miles, est. drive time 3:45
- Indianapolis, IN: 360 miles, est. drive time 5:30
- Columbus, OH: 360 miles, est. drive time 5:30
- Pittsburgh, PA: 500 miles, est. drive time 7:30
- Washington, DC: 500 miles, est. drive time 8:00
For those who want to fly closer and rent a car, the McGhee Tyson Airport (TYS), the fastest growing airport in the country, is approximately 15 miles south of downtown Knoxville, and served by Allegiant Air, American Airlines, Avelo Airlines, Delta, Frontier, and United. The Chattanooga Airport is approximately 100 miles from Knoxville (est. drive time 1:45), and served by Allegiant, American Airlines, Delta, Spirit, and United. A quick survey of rental car prices in mid-July showed prices as low as $40 a day (plus taxes and fees) at TYS, with Chattanooga showing as low as $60 a day.
Fall Tour Hotel
The Fall Tour hotel is the Embassy Suites by Hilton Knoxville Downtown. Located on Gay Street, the hotel is in the heart of downtown Knoxville, conveniently located to National Register listed historic commercial districts, including Market Square and the Gay Street Commercial Historic District, both of which house numerous restaurants and shops. Ham’n Goodys (local café), KBrew (coffee and bagels), KoPita (Mediterranean), and the Radius Roof Top Lounge are also located within the hotel building.
Hotel information:
Embassy Suites by Hilton Knoxville Downtown
507 South Gay Street
Knoxville, TN 37902
(865) 544-8502
The SIA group rate cost per night is $194 for a single king bed. The earliest day to check in under the group rate is after 4 pm (eastern) on Wednesday, September 24th, with check out, Sunday, September 28th. The cost includes a hot breakfast bar. Valet parking is available for $35 a day; City parking garages and street parking is also available nearby.
Please be sure to register by September 3rd to secure the SIA group rate. To make reservations and take advantage of the group rate, please call (865) 544-8502 and press “0” to speak with the reservationist at the hotel – and be sure to mention that you are attending the SIA Fall Tour. If you prefer to reserve online click on the booking link.
Registration and Additional Information
Online registration opens on Thursday, July 31.
Registrants must be current members of the Society for Industrial Archeology. If you have not renewed for 2025, you do so using the enclosed registration form or online at www.sia-web.org.
Schedule at a Glance
Thursday, September 25, Pre-Tour
- TVA’s Norris Dam – Anderson and Campbell Counties, TN, or
- Coal Creek Miners Museum – Anderson County, TN
- Benton’s Bacon – Madisonville, TN
- Del Conca USA – Loudon, TN, or
- TVA’s Fort Loudoun Lock – Loudon County, TN
- Opening Reception, Embassy Suites, Downtown Knoxville
Friday, September 26
- Bush’s Beans – Dandridge, TN
- Oak Ridge History Museum – Oak Ridge, TN
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) – Oak Ridge, TN
- Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary – Petros, TN
Saturday, September 27
- Sweetwater Valley Farm – Philadelphia, TN
- K-25 History Center – Oak Ridge, TN
- “Marble City” Sites – Knoxville, TN
- Saturday evening banquet at Kerns Food Hall – Knoxville, TN
2025 Fall Tour Sites
Thursday, September 25, Pre-Tour
The pre-tour for the 2025 East Tennessee Fall Tour will kick off by heading north of Knoxville to Norris Lake. The first 25 registrants will then tour the historic Norris Dam, the first TVA project completed in 1936. The hydroelectric facility has two generating units and impounds beautiful Norris Lake, host to multiple recreational facilities and three Tennessee State Parks. The second 25 registrants will enjoy a driving tour of Norris, the planned community developed during construction of Norris Dam in the early 1930s, followed by a visit to the Coal Creek Miners Museum to learn about the battles of “free” miners against the convict lease system. The second group will then have a chance to visit the TVA Norris Dam Visitor Center before reuniting with the first group at Norris Dam.
The tour will then travel south through Knoxville and into Alcoa, another planned community built around the historic Aluminum Company of America (ALCOA) plant, now known as Arconic. Bus windows will offer glimpses of the historic South and North Plants, which grew substantially in the 1940s when aluminum needs were on the rise for airplane production as part of the war effort. Attendees will then disembark at Benton’s Bacon to enjoy a process tour illuminating slow-curing methods for country hams used since 1947.
The tours will conclude with a process tour of Del Conca’s tile manufacturing facility in Loudon for the first group that toured Norris Dam earlier in the day. Tennessee has become a magnet for international tile, porcelain, and ceramic manufacturer with over $300 million in investments since 2018. Proximity to ball clay resources in west Tennessee, feldspar in the Appalachian Mountains, and other regional mineral resources – combined with strong transportation infrastructures and a comprehensive workforce development plan – have attracted new production facilities from American, Brazilian, and Italian corporations. The second group will tour Fort Loudoun Lock, located at TVA’s Fort Loudoun Dam and operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. This lock allows Tennessee River traffic to navigate from Watts Bar Reservoir to/from Fort Loudon Reservoir by raising/lowering vessels 70 feet.
The bus will then return all pre-tour registrants to downtown Knoxville for an opening reception at the Embassy Suites where they will enjoy dinner and an engaging presentation.
Friday, September 26
The Fall Tour will begin with a beautiful drive out to Jefferson County, east of Knoxville, where attendees will visit “that beautiful bean company,” also known as Bush’s Beans, for a special plant tour. The site also includes a museum, general store, and the Bush homeplace. Bush’s Beans has been family-owned since 1908, when A.J. Bush began a humble cannery in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains.
From there, the bus will wind through the East Tennessee rolling hills overlooking Douglas Lake, impounded by TVA’s Douglas Dam, built in 1942 as part of the war effort. Douglas Dam was constructed in a world-record 12 months and 17 days. Registrants will enjoy a picnic lunch at the Douglas Dam overlook, providing sweeping views of the dam, lake, and Great Smoky Mountains. The Jefferson County historian will provide a presentation regarding Douglas Dam construction and impacts on Jefferson County and Dandridge, Tennessee’s second oldest town.
After lunch, the bus will head to the west side of Knoxville to Oak Ridge, the “Secret City” created by the federal government during the Manhattan Project. The tour will include the Oak Ridge History Museum and a driving tour focusing on the remaining Secret City buildings, including the famous Alphabet Houses, guard stations, a glimpse of the heavily guarded Y-12 National Security Complex gate, and more. The driving tour will conclude inside Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), previously known as the X-10 site and presently a government-secured world-renowned research institution managed by the Department of Energy. Fall Tour registrants will disembark to tour the original anchor of the X-10 site: the Clinton Pile, also known as the X-10 Graphite Reactor, the world’s first continuously operating artificial nuclear reactor. This historic resource was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1965 and is presently closed to the public.
After an electrifying afternoon in Oak Ridge, the bus will head to the Historic Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary and Distillery, Tennessee’s first maximum-security prison, opened in 1896. The prison also served as a coal mine, using the prisoners for labor under the South’s burgeoning convict lease program. The prison tour will be followed by a fresh southern dinner at the Warden’s Table Chow Hall, located on site.
The bus will then take registrants back to the Embassy Suites with an anticipated arrival of approximately 9pm.
Saturday, September 27
Registrants will begin their Saturday with cows and robots during a dairy farm process tour at Sweetwater Valley Farms, Tennessee’s first Lely XL robotic facility. Eight robots milk 500 Holstein cows to produce milk used in cheese production and in the milkshakes made on site at their gift shop barn.
The bus will then head off to the K-25 History Center, overlooking the K-25 Gaseous Diffusion Plant building footprint, which at a mile long was the world’s longest roofed building in early 1945. Registrants will enjoy a picnic lunch at the site and a special guided tour of the museum.
From there, the bus will return to Knoxville and explore the city’s marble history, beginning with a visit to the National Register listed Candoro Marble building, the 1923 Beaux-Arts style office and showroom for the Candoro Marble Company, once the leading producer of finished Tennessee pink marble. The building now provides art gallery space for Tri-Star Arts. Registrants will then view one of the local quarries that the City of Knoxville has reclaimed, among many other abandoned industrial sites, and repurposed as part of the Knoxville Urban Wilderness, a unique interconnected system of greenways, swimming holes, hiking trails, and more. This scenic spot will provide registrants a lovely place to get out to stretch their legs and appreciate a creative and successful adaptive reuse project.
The closing banquet will be held at Kerns Food Hall, another adaptive reuse project. The food hall is housed in the historic Kerns Bakery, built beginning in 1931 and listed on the National Register in 2017. Many original industrial elements remain throughout the building, and tour attendees will have several food hall vendor options to pick from (food vouchers included in registration fee), along with a cash bar.
Caption for photo at top: Norris Dam on the Clinch River, Anderson and Campbell Counties, Tennessee.