In the news: faded Coca-Cola mural in Morristown gets repainted

The photo above was taken in 2009 and displays a historic Coca-Cola mural in downtown Morristown. The city is known for it's second story skywalk, and that skywalk makes the best way to get a close look.

This month, artists from Coca-Cola restored this 1940's mural along Main street. During Coke's mural painting heyday, they had nearly 16,000 murals around the country. Decades later, most of them have faded which has prompted Coke to hire these artists to bring the ghost murals back to life.

To read the whole story and see pictures of the newly restored mural, read this article from the Citizen Tribune.

Crockett Tavern (replica) - Morristown, TN

At this location in the 1790's, Davy Crockett's parents, John and Rebecca Crockett established and operated Crockett Tavern. The tavern also served as Davy's boyhood home for the Tennessee pioneer and political leader. The Hamblen County chapter of the Association for the Preservation of Tennessee Antiquities opened the replica in 1958.

Hamblen County Courthouse in Morristown, TN

Not many counties can say they still have their very first courthouse still in use, but Hamblrn County can. The county was formed in 1870 and for a few years court met in a Morristown store.

The courthouse was designed by architect A.C. Bruce of Knoxville. He drew up three plans, costing from $10,000 to $18,000, and county leaders chose the most expensive plan. The final construction cost came in at $21,750 and was finished in 1874.

The original main entrance faces south and includes a double balcony for speakers at rallies. The courtroom is on the second floor. Originally, there were two ground floor rooms without windows called "The Dungeons."

The building is three stories, but since it is built on a slope, today's entrance on the north side makes it appear two stories when over there. it is built with a tall central pavilion with slightly lower wings flanking the center, all of which are embellished with corner quoins. A tall, mansard-roofed cupola is atop the center of the roof. The rest of the roof is a combination of low hip and gable construction with mansard roof components.

An expansion was made in the early 1950's as matching wings were added to either side, matching the original design. An interior redesign was complete in 1968.

Architecture of Morristown: skywalk

The central Shopping District of Morristown has one thing that really stands out.

If you go to any preserved old town, you're going to find in the heart of town, a bunch of old buildings with interesting storefronts and various older acrhitectural styles. In the late 1960s, Morristown decided they had a problem needing a unique solution. Town leaders decided to build second-story skywalks, which they called the SkyMart. The idea was you could double the number of businesses along the main strip, potentially doubling the number of shoppers that come to town.

Did it work? If it had, you'd be seeing it in other small cities, and you won't see it anywhere other than Cincinnati, which is a big city where it didn't work.

I don't know what's transpired over the last 40 years, but when I walked the skywalk, I didn't see any businesses I could shop in. On any given day, I suppose you could find walkers, locals getting to their upper floor apartments, and the occasional tourist. Even still, if you go to the Morristown website or find a Hamblen County brochure, this will be listed as a thing to see.

Photographically, you can see things you won't see anywhere else, like getting up close to a ghost wall ad. On the down side, you can only get the top half of some of the more interesting buildings.

For the full story, check out this document on the Morristown website:
www.morristownchamber.com/documents/SkyMart.pdf