| Sources |
- [S106] The Mountain Press, 30 Jan 2012.
Upland Chronicles: Portrait of Timothy Chandler comes home
- [S106] The Mountain Press, 15 Nov 2014.
Owners recognized for work at Wheatlands Plantation
JASON DAVIS
John Burns and Richard Parker stand on the staircase at Wheatlands. The stately home, built in 1825 for the Timothy Chandler family, was the largest plantation in East Tennessee.
The 4,000-square-foot Wheatlands home was the centerpiece of a 4,700-acre plantation in the 1800s. At one time, the wheat whiskey distillery on the property commercially produced 18,000 gallons per year, shipping as much as a third of that to New Orleans.
Richard Parker and John Burns, owners of Wheatlands Plantation on Boyds Creek Road, were selected by the East Tennessee Preservation Alliance as recipients of the 2014 East Tennessee Preservation Awards for their work on the historic Sevier County site.
The awards, which also honored eight other sites across the region, were presented during a special ceremony at the Children's Museum of Oak Ridge on Nov. 6, in conjunction with the East Tennessee Preservation Conference in Oak Ridge. The alliance is an arm of Knox Heritage, which covers the 13 counties immediately surrounding Knox County.
"It was nice to be recognized for all the hard work we've done," Burns said. "It's not easy."
"To be recognized by a wonderful organization like Knox Heritage, not many people get those," Parker said. "And ours is unique in this aspect — we're trying not only to save the house, but the history that goes along with it. The history of the Revolutionary War battle, the history of the Chandlers, of slavery, of everything."
Sevier County Historian Carroll McMahan, who nominated the pair for the accolade, said the work they've done on Sevier County's largest historic plantation has been remarkable.
"I think they were very deserving," said McMahan, who serves on the alliance's board of directors. "They've done so much not only to preserve, but to perpetuate the history and share it with the public.
"So many private homes that are historic are not available for the public to enjoy. They've done so much historical research to bring the history alive."
The house itself was in pretty good shape when the pair bought it four years ago, McMahan said, but Parker and Burns have done much work on the property. More importantly, they've helped unearth volumes of history about the site.
"They've done a lot of things to the property, excavating uncovering artifacts and things of that nature," McMahan said. "They're perpetuating the history for future generations by making it available, opening it to historical groups and offering tours. They've had all kinds of special events associated with history, and on and on."
The plantation has so much history, in fact, that reams could be written on it.
"You could do a whole (television) series (on the history of Wheatlands)," McMahan said. "Of any of the surviving structures in Sevier County, it's our most precious treasure. It's the jewel of the antebellum era in Sevier County that still exists."
The estate's legendary status only grows as more research is done.
"We have probably five good years of really deep historical research still going on," Parker said. "This is a big, big project for Sevier County."
Many facts about Wheatlands are already known, and they make for some incredible stories.
The plantation was established in 1791 by Timothy Chandler, who fought with John Sevier at the Battle of King's Mountain. He brought his family here from Wilkes County, N.C., and began aquiring property.
"Eventually it became the largest plantation in East Tennessee," Burns said.
Much recently discovered information on Wheatlands comes from the journals of Adell Chandler, a descendant of Timothy Chandler who lived at the plantation from the mid-1800s through the beginning of the Great Depression.
"She wrote that in 1850, they had 4,700 acres just in crops," Parker said. "They had fruit orchards, nut orchards, they made honey. And, first and foremost, was the distillery."
Parker and Burns say it was the first legal distillery in Tennessee, exporting wheat whiskey, with many barrels destined for New Orleans — 6,000 gallons at a time in 1850.
Dr. Barbara Heath of the University of Tennessee, who was lead archaeologist on George Washington's distillery, will begin leading an excavation of the old distillery site next year.
"They produced 18,000 gallons a year here ... 3,000 more than George (Washington, at Mount Vernon)," Burns said.
The owners hope to restore the distillery in the future. "We have some of the biggest people in restoration in America working with us on it," Parker said. "It's a really remarkable project."
In the four years that the duo have been working on the plantation, they've started a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and, with its board of directors, developed a 40-year master plan.
"We've had it opened for about a year and a half," Parker said. "We're working with some of the major historical homes in America — like Mount Vernon (and) Jefferson's home, Monticello.
Last week, the plantation was featured on "Ghost Stalkers" on the Destination America channel.
The episode will be repeated in the coming weeks. Check local TV listings for times, and visit wheatlandsplantation.org for more information.
- [S147] Find a Grave, (Memorial: 134381757).
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