1802- Isaac Anderson Log House

UPDATE, Fall 2017: The Isaac Anderson Log House is being moved to the Smoky Mountain Heritage Center in Townsend, Blount County, TN and will be restored. Read about the move here. The article also includes a video and some pictures of the house, showing it inside and out.

The Isaac Anderson Log house was built in 1802.

Location: Creek Rock Lane, in the Shannondale Valley Farms neighborhood. This neighborhood has been built up around the log house, so now it's behind the backyard of a new house.

The Knox Heritage organization has included the Isaac Anderson Log House on its 2014 "Fragile Fifteen" list; this is a listing of fifteen endangered historic places in Knox County. Knox Heritage has some information about the history of this house on the Fragile Fifteen page:

"In 1802, Isaac Anderson’s family constructed this two-story log house on their land in north Knox County. Anderson had recently been named the pastor for Washington Presbyterian Church, and during his tenure at Washington Presbyterian, built a large, two-story log school building near the home. That school has since been demolished. Anderson named his school Union Academy, but it was known to many as Mr. Anderson’s Log College. The academy operated there until 1812 when Anderson moved his school to Maryville and became pastor of New Providence Presbyterian Church. His school became the nucleus for Maryville College, which he founded in 1819.

The hewn-log Anderson cabin survived for the next 200 years before residential development literally encircled it and put its future in jeopardy. It now stands in the backyard of a modern suburban house.

Although moving historic buildings is rarely recommended, Knox Heritage supports efforts to move this building to an appropriate new location, since it is unlikely to survive in its present location. We encourage East Tennessee residents to work with the preservationists spearheading this effort to identify funding to relocate and restore the structure."

Side note: Isaac Anderson's grandfather, also named Isaac Anderson, is buried nearby at the Anderson-Gouffon Cemetery.

The website www.ruskinarc.com has a good picture and some more information about this house.

Here is a screen shot that I saved from Google Maps. The view is partially blocked by the newer houses in front of it. The other pictures below are ones I took when I drove by the place. There is also a better picture on the Knox Heritage Picasa web album of antebellum homes. Click here to see it.

At the entrance to the neighborhood that surrounds the Isaac Anderson Log House, there is a large stone with a metal plaque attached to it. Here is what it says:

One-eighth of a mile west of this spot there stood the building of Union Academy, generally called "Mr. Anderson's Log College," which was conducted from 1802 to 1812 by Rev. Isaac Anderson, founder and first President of Maryville College of which Union Academy was the predecessor

This tablet is erected by Maryville College under auspices of the Simon Harris Chapter National Society Daughters of the American Revolution

November 2, 1941