Located in the West View Neighborhood along Keith Avenue, West View Cemetery District is a group of three abandoned African American cemeteries – Southern Chain Cemetery (est. 1898), Longview Cemetery (est. 1915), and Crestview Cemetery (est. 1922.) It is estimated that there are over 15,000 burials between the three cemeteries, though unrecorded burials may make that figure much higher. Combined, these cemeteries are the final resting place of educators, authors, doctors, musicians, lawyers, and business owners.

In the 1960s, ownership of the three cemeteries was the responsibility of Crestview Cemetery, Inc, a perpetual care cemetery. During this time, hundreds of Knoxville’s Black citizens, feeling secure in the owners’ promises and obligation to maintain the site, purchased burial plots. By 1984, all three cemeteries were abandoned, overgrown, and had become an illegal dumping ground.

Efforts to save and maintain the cemeteries have been attempted throughout its almost 40-year abandonment, with small successes over the years. Crestview proved to be easier to clean and maintain because it was the only cemetery of the three set up as a business at its inception, which meant it fell under the jurisdiction of the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance. This allowed the department to acquire the cemetery in 1993 through legal action and the West View Community Action Group took over the maintenance and advocacy of the historic cemeteries using all volunteers, but they could never unravel the legalities and ownership issues.

Although West View Community Action Group does not have legal control over the cemeteries, they maintain watch over them and mostly rely on family members and volunteers to help care for sections of the cemetery. For several years, through a partnership with the West View Community Action Group and the Knox County Department of Corrections, Crestview was mowed and maintained. But due to the COVID-19 pandemic this partnership ended.

Fort Sanders is named for the Civil War-era Union bastion that once stood near the center of the neighborhood and was the site of a key engagement in 1863. During the 1880s, several of Knoxville’s wealthiest residents built notable houses in the area alongside more modest dwellings for plant managers and workers employed in factories along Second Creek. Fort Sanders’ residents included some of Knoxville’s leading industrialists and politicians, as well as professors from the University of Tennessee and the author James Agee. Today, the neighborhood still contains a notable number of its original Victorian-era houses and other buildings which were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980 as the Fort Sanders Historic District.

Lord Lindsey, the iconic Hill Avenue building located in downtown Knoxville, was originally built as a private residence in 1901. The home was built by businessman and civic leader, A. Percy Lockett (1870-1926) and was designed by local architect, Leon Beaver (1847-1905.) In 1919, the home was purchased by Lockett’s mother, Margaret Augusta Lockett, who lived in the house until her death in 1925.

The congregation of the First Church of Christ, Scientist (organized in 1899) purchased the house in 1926 and renovated the house into its new church. The congregation moved to a new location on Kingston Pike in 1976.

In 1979, the building became the restaurant, Lord Lindsey’s, that was owned and operated by renowned Knoxville preservationist, Kristopher Kendrick (1935-2009). As a restaurant, catering service, and eventually a nightclub, Lord Lindsey’s has been important to many people in Knoxville who have attended functions there and admired its architectural details, associating important events in their own lives with this beloved space.

Knoxville College was founded in 1875 as part of the missionary effort of the United Presbyterian Church of North America to promote religious, moral, and educational leadership among freedmen and women. The campus was the first African American college in East Tennessee and hosted prominent figures such as Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. DuBois, and Martin Luther King, Jr.

While pursuing their education, students assisted in the design and construction of these historic buildings and used bricks made on campus. The National Register District is composed of eight contributing buildings. The historic buildings, with their fine craftsmanship and solid design, deserve to be restored and used again. Currently, many campus buildings are condemned and suffering from a severe lack of maintenance. Arson fires and the fact that many buildings are completely vacant have heightened the critical need for immediate intervention.