Photographs in Search of a Blog

View from 11 Cafe, 100 Block, Knoxville

 Here are a few scenes that caught my attention recently. The photograph of the 100 Block is from the window of 11 Cafe. I love the little bar along the window facing the street. Sitting there reminds me of a similar bar looking out onto the street of Haight Ashbury and anything that reminds me of San Francisco in any respect is worth noting.

Couple reads James Agee inscription on Market Square, Knoxville

I love the couple standing in Market Square reading the words of James Agee. I'm always amazed at how many people read those inscriptions or the ones on the various monuments and statues around the city. I can't ever resist taking a picture of Harley the Magician. I think he's very camera-friendly. And the Whittle Building, well, I think it's pretty and I really liked the clouds that day.

Harley, Market Square, Knoxville

Whittle Building with clouds, Knoxville

James Agee Park

James Agee Park, Fort Sanders, Knoxville

I was asked recently about the funding for James Agee Park. The gentleman who asked was interested in helping with the park in some way. I believe he mistook me for the person who was appointed to an interim position on city council. I didn't point out his mistake, choosing instead to direct him to the only person I know who would have information on the park: R.B. Morris.

James Agee Park, Fort Sanders, Knoxville

I know very little about the park. I remember when R.B. and others lobbied the city for a plot of land in the Fort Sanders area. James Agee was at 15th and Highland and lived there early in his life. That home is the setting for his classic work A Death in the Family. Of course, the home was demolished and an apartment building replaced it. 15th Avenue was renamed James Agee in 1999. Unfortunately, it becomes Philip Fulmer Way as it crosses Cumberland.

Enscription at the entrance to James Agee Park

If you read the site entitled James Agee Park History, you will find that the title is misleading. It gives the background of James Agee, but not the history of the park itself. Another portion of the city's website says it was dedicated in 2003, gives directions (corner of Laurel and James Agee), and mentions the Agee quote engraved at its entrance: "To those who in all times have sought truth and who have told it in their art or in their living."

Shoes and boots dangling from power lines just north of James Agee Park

More embarrassing than not knowing anything about funding was the fact that I didn't even know the location of the park. As much as I had cheered for the efforts to secure it and as close as I live to it, I had never tried to find it. Initially I walked up James Agee thinking I would see it. I didn't without looking at the address. I think during one pass I was blinded by the hanging shoes I've photographed before. I heard someone call this a mobile. Does anyone know the story behind that?

Marker on columns at the entrance to James Agee Park

After securing the address, I took another turn and sadly, I was underwhelmed when I found it. There are a few benches, some overgrown flowerbeds and a small path winding in a circle around a very small plot of ground. It turns out I had walked past it many times without realizing it was a park of any kind. There are stone colunms at the entrance, but I'd assumed they belonged to one of the large homes located on either side of the park and that the park itself was part of the lawn.

As I mentioned earlier, there is the one quote visible in the cement if you look for it. It is unattributed. The words "James Agee Park" are inscribed on the columns, but they aren't easily viewable from the street. There is a street sign that states it is a park, but that, also, it is, ironically, not on the street. There is nothing further about who James Agee might have been for the benefit of the uneducated passerby. Certainly there is no statue, which would certainly be appropriate.

I'm glad the effort was taken to secure this small memorial to such an important Knoxvillian. I appreciate each person who worked to make it happen. I simply wonder if we couldn't do a little more. What about a statue? I've heard talk of erecting statues of coaches and players on the UT campus, what about a little love for a Pulitzer Prize winner? Could there be a historical other marker that states he was born just north of that spot or at least lists his works?

Park Benches in James Agee Park

Until something more is done, there is a very small, slightly desheveled park with a couple of benches on which you might sit and contemplate the amazing shooting star that was James Agee. Visualize your own statue.

Random Homes in Fort Sanders, Part Two

Here are more of the homes that caught my eye as I recently walked through Fort Sanders. I realize one of them is a church, but I thought it was interesting. It seemed to be missing something, as if its soul had been misplaced or somehow truncated. A missing soul would seem to be a serious problem for a church. I'm speaking of the building only, of course. It just seems to lack something that I can't name.

Home on Highland Avenue, Fort Sanders, Knoxville

Home on Highland, Fort Sanders, Knoxville

There were several homes in its immediate area that caught my eye. All of them are located on Highland Avenue. Two were directly beside the church pictured above and one was across the street from them. In two of the three someone was working at a computer just inside the window as I took my photographs. If I'm ever arrested for spying on people you guys are going to have vouch for me.

Home in Fort Sanders, Trying Desperately to Cling to its Christmas Spirit.

These homes were fairly well kept and were probably recognizable when James Agee walked this street as a little guy. Still, they could all use some work and any house that slips into disrepair in this section of town becomes at risk. As an example, the edge of a building visible to the right of the house in the shot above is the apartment complex built over the foundation of James Agee's boyhood home, which brings us to the subject of the next blog: James Agee Park.

Knox Heritage (ca 1888) Home Recieves LEED Certification

Knox Heritage Green House, Fort Sanders, Knoxville, February 2011

This will be the first in a series of posts centered in the Fort Sanders area. The densest populated area in east Tennessee, the neighborhood is known for its student housing and its proximity to the University of Tennessee campus. It is also home to many Victorian era structures in various states of beauty and decay. James Agee lived in this neighborhood, though sadly the home he remembered as he wrote A Death in the Family was destroyed in favor of bland apartments for students.

View of the Knoxville Museum of Art from the Green House

That was the old way of doing business in Knoxville. In this new era (I'm feeling optimistic today) we preserve homes and even make them better. Such is the case with the Victorian Home restored by Knox Heritage, located at 1011 Victorian Way (formerly 1011 Laurel Avenue, just off Eleventh Street) and dubbed the Green House. Not only was it returned to its original grandeur, it was built with energy efficiency and sustainability in mind, demonstrating that you can have old without the sins of the fathers. In this case, the home comes equipped with two solar power devices, one for heating water and one for generating electricity. The home is now being offered for sale.

View of the former Eleventh Street Coffee House (great coffee!) from the Green House

Other homes in the area are also in various states of restoration, while many languish and as recently as this past year, some are still being destroyed. If you are interested in older homes, I'd encourage you to take a stroll through Fort Sanders. Maybe you'll be inspired to take on a (large and expensive, but very loving) project. If that is out of your means or capabilities, maybe you'd like to join Knox Heritage and support their work. In the meantime, over the next few days, I'll give you a peak at some of the sites in the neighborhood.

Knox Heritage "Green House," Fort Sanders, Knoxville, February 2011

"The Man Who Lives Here is Looney"

You know you've seen or heard that some place, but where or when was it? You've probably known someone who fit the description, but that's not it. If you've walked around Market Square and you've looked higher than ground level, your gaze may have fallen on this window. It's a reference to a reference. It is the title of the one-man play by R.B. Morris, the title of which is in turn referring to an alleged incident in the life of James Agee, author of A Death in the Family (Penguin Classics) and Let Us Now Praise Famous Men: The American Classic, in Words and Photographs, of Three Tenant Families in the Deep South, in which a neighbor chalked those words on the wall of Mr. Agee's apartment building, due apparently to his sometimes unusual behavior. Incidentally, many of Walker Evan's photographs used in the later book are on display at the KMA as we speak.

I wonder how many people read the sign and think it's just somebody being funny, when in fact it is a direct tip of the hat to our cultural history. Here's a question: Who lives there? Do any of my readers know? I'll have to investigate as time allows. At any rate, for now, if you didn't know already, now you know to raise a glass to James Agee when you pass that way, again.

One additional word: R.B. has a newly designed web page and a new book of poetry called "Keeping the Bees Employed." He's hoping folks will pre-order a copy so that he might raise funds to get it into circulation. The first autographed copies will go to the people who pre-order. Support local artists. They support us.