Veterans Heritage Site Foundation

06/17/2026

06/17/2026

🇺🇸 Appalachia in the Revolution: John Sevier

His name is written into this landscape. Sevier County. Sevierville. A highway that loops around Knoxville. But before any of that, there was a farmer and militia officer on the Watauga River who helped turn the tide of a revolution.

John Sevier was among the Overmountain Men who marched to Kings Mountain in the fall of 1780. He led his contingent of frontiersmen into a battle that stopped a British invasion of North Carolina cold. It was one of the most decisive American victories of the war.
He went on to become the only governor of the short-lived State of Franklin, and later the first governor of Tennessee.

His story is not without contradiction. The same man who helped birth a nation waged devastating campaigns against the Cherokee people of these mountains. Both things are true, and both belong to the history of this place.

That history is worth knowing. Come honor 250 years of it.

The Independence 250 Concert is July 4 at the Great Smoky Mountains Heritage Center. Tickets are limited. Reserve yours at https://gsmheritagecenter.org/event/independence-250-concert-on-the-fourth/

Images: John Sevier's grave marker at the Old Knox County Courthouse, and a 1782 portrait by Charles Wilson Peale

06/17/2026

06/16/2026

Come join us Saturday and the stop by the festival at Ramsey House

06/16/2026

Only 8 days until the kick off of Historic Ramsey Houses 250th celebration! We are happy to announce that Prof. Chris Magra of UTK will help us kick off the celebration Thursday night at 6pm. He will be doing a lecture on surveying in the 1780s! Col. Francis Ramsey was a surveyor when he first came to this region so it will be exciting to learn the history of this profession. We can wait to see you next week here at Historic Ramsey House!

06/16/2026

06/12/2026

Today is National Women Veterans Day.

06/11/2026

06/11/2026

We were on EAST Tennessee Live on WATE yesterday. Here is the link. You will have to scroll over to our segment. Thank you Joe Purser and Art Bohanan for coming.

Living East Tennessee airs weekdays at 10 a.m. on WATE-TV, but it can also be viewed LIVE on this page and on WATE6+. Thanks for watching!