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About The Knoxville Botanical Garden Knoxville Botanical Garden and Arboretum is a 47 acre public garden located in East Knoxville, just two miles from the center of the city. The history of the KBGA spans over 200 years of family, flowers and friends. It is the story of how a daugh- ters dream to preserve the legacy of her family – the Howell family – was brought to life by a gift of love from the community. The modern history of the KBGA property begins in the 1780’s with a land grant from our fledgling new nation to one David Wessel Howell of Buncombe County, North Carolina for his exemplaryservice during the American Revolutionary War. Ten years before Tennessee became a state David Howell planted an orchard, established a family farm and began selling fruits and vegetables to local families and businesses. He also began selling the trees, seeds and small plants settlers head- ing west needed to begin their own farms and gardens. Davids farm slowly grew and several generations followed in their fathers footsteps. In the late 1870’s Davids great- grandson Sampson Sylvanus Howell established the SS Howell Nurseries and began to grow and sell ornamental plants in addition to the edibles that they had been selling for nearly one hundred years. S.S. Howell passed the business down to four of his sons – Bruce, Richard, Carroll and Cole. Bruce and Richard, the eldest brothers, incorporated the business as the Howell Nurseries, Inc. in 1916 and changed their focus to ornamental plants. Under the two brothers the Howell Nurseries grew to include 13 locations stretching from Tennessee to Florida, including 1,100 acres in Sweetwater, Tennessee where the brothers and their kin developed many of the plants they became known for, in- cluding the Burford Holly (Ilex cornuta Burfordii’) and the Cherokee Chief Dog- wood (Cornus florida Cherokee Chief’). Coles youngest son, Joe N. Howell, took a slightly different path than the rest of his family. Joe studied landscape design at the University of Tennessee and fell in love with stonework. He bought 16 acres across the street from his familys nursery and established the Joe N. Howell Landscape Nurseries in 1942. On this land Joe con- structed stone walls and small round gatehouses that showcased his design capabili- ties and accentuated the natural landscape. When visitors pay a call to the Gardens today Joes impressive stonework is the first thing they notice. When Joe Howell passed away in 1980 his daughter, Jenny Howell Jukes, left a suc- cessful career outside of the landscaping business to keep her fathers dream alive. And for 20 years she did just that. With her inherent knowledge of the land and the business and Joes experienced work crews Jenny ran the Joe N. Howell Nursery until 2002. As she approached her seventh decade with no Howells in line to nur- ture the future of the business Jenny began to search for a solution to preserve her familys work. Several of her former customers recognized the historical importance of the property and began the process of forming a not for profit botanical garden. The proposed botanical garden was a dream-come-true scenario for Jenny, and she jumped at the chance to save her familys work and to honor its place in local histo- ry. The Knoxville Botanical Garden and Arboretum (KBGA) was formed by the summer of 2001 and with help from the ASLAN Foundation purchased the 16 acres belonging to Jenny. The remaining 28 acres of David W. Howells original estate were then sold to KBGA in May of 2004. Historic preservation is a dynamic and powerful tool for placemaking. It is a movement that has proven itself to be broad-based and multi-faceted, focusing on the educational, environmental, cultural, aesthetic, social, and economic impact of historic resources. In other words, it s all about utilizing built assets of quality and character to their fullest potential in order to foster economic development and enrich our quality of life. Help us to protect and raise awareness of what is beautiful and irreplaceable in East Tennessee.

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Page 1: About The Knoxville Botanical Gardenknoxheritage.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/2019... · 2019. 5. 20. · About The Knoxville Botanical Garden Knoxville Botanical Garden and Arboretum

About The Knoxville Botanical Garden

Knoxville Botanical Garden and Arboretum is a 47 acre public garden located in East Knoxville, just two miles from the center of the city. The history of the KBGA spans over 200 years of family, flowers and friends. It is the story of how a daugh-ter’s dream to preserve the legacy of her family – the Howell family – was brought to life by a gift of love from the community.

The modern history of the KBGA property begins in the 1780’s with a land grant from our fledgling new nation to one David Wessel Howell of Buncombe County, North Carolina for his “exemplary” service during the American Revolutionary War. Ten years before Tennessee became a state David Howell planted an orchard, established a family farm and began selling fruits and vegetables to local families and businesses. He also began selling the trees, seeds and small plants settlers head-ing west needed to begin their own farms and gardens.

David’s farm slowly grew and several generations followed in their father’s footsteps. In the late 1870’s David’s great- grandson Sampson Sylvanus Howell established the SS Howell Nurseries and began to grow and sell ornamental plants in addition to the edibles that they had been selling for nearly one hundred years.

S.S. Howell passed the business down to four of his sons – Bruce, Richard, Carroll and Cole. Bruce and Richard, the eldest brothers, incorporated the business as the Howell Nurseries, Inc. in 1916 and changed their focus to ornamental plants. Under the two brothers the Howell Nurseries grew to include 13 locations stretching from Tennessee to Florida, including 1,100 acres in Sweetwater, Tennessee where the brothers and their kin developed many of the plants they became known for, in-cluding the Burford Holly (Ilex cornuta ‘Burfordii’) and the Cherokee Chief Dog-wood (Cornus florida ‘Cherokee Chief’).

Cole’s youngest son, Joe N. Howell, took a slightly different path than the rest of his family. Joe studied landscape design at the University of Tennessee and fell in love with stonework. He bought 16 acres across the street from his family’s nursery and established the Joe N. Howell Landscape Nurseries in 1942. On this land Joe con-structed stone walls and small round gatehouses that showcased his design capabili-ties and accentuated the natural landscape. When visitors pay a call to the Gardens today Joe’s impressive stonework is the first thing they notice.

When Joe Howell passed away in 1980 his daughter, Jenny Howell Jukes, left a suc-cessful career outside of the landscaping business to keep her father’s dream alive. And for 20 years she did just that. With her inherent knowledge of the land and the business and Joe’s experienced work crews Jenny ran the Joe N. Howell Nursery until 2002. As she approached her seventh decade with no Howells in line to nur-ture the future of the business Jenny began to search for a solution to preserve her family’s work. Several of her former customers recognized the historical importance of the property and began the process of forming a not for profit botanical garden.

The proposed botanical garden was a dream-come-true scenario for Jenny, and she jumped at the chance to save her family’s work and to honor its place in local histo-ry. The Knoxville Botanical Garden and Arboretum (KBGA) was formed by the summer of 2001 and with help from the ASLAN Foundation purchased the 16 acres belonging to Jenny. The remaining 28 acres of David W. Howells original estate were then sold to KBGA in May of 2004.

Historic preservation is a dynamic and powerful tool for placemaking. It is a movement that has proven itself to be

broad-based and multi-faceted, focusing on the educational, environmental, cultural, aesthetic, social, and economic

impact of historic resources. In other words, it’s all about utilizing built assets of quality and character to their fullest

potential in order to foster economic development and enrich our quality of life.

Help us to protect and raise awareness of what is beautiful and irreplaceable in East Tennessee.

Page 2: About The Knoxville Botanical Gardenknoxheritage.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/2019... · 2019. 5. 20. · About The Knoxville Botanical Garden Knoxville Botanical Garden and Arboretum

Campbell County (Anonymous Donor)

Thank You Sponsors!

Crossroads Downtown Partnership (Morristown)

City of Sweetwater

Thomason & Associates

Conference Program

9:00 a.m. Wake-up and Meet-up. Breakfast snacks and coffee provided.

9:30 Welcome

"State of Preservation" in East Tennessee

2019 Knox Heritage Fragile & Fading Announcement

2019 East Tennessee Preservation Alliance Endangered Places

Announcement Todd Morgan, Executive Director, Knox Heritage

10:00 History: Welcome to Park City Jennifer Montgomery, Trotta-Montgomery

10:30 Neighborhood Revitalization: Bringing Burlington Back Leslie Fawaz, Studio Director, East TN Community Design Ctr.

11:00 Break

11:15 Preserving Place: Parks and History Carol Evans, Ex. Director, Legacy Parks

11:45 Luncheon

12:15 Gardens of History Jim Richards, Ex. Director, Knoxville Botanical Gardens

12:45 Tour the Knoxville Botanical Gardens Experience the history and beauty of the gardens

2:00 Break

2:15 Heritage Tourism: Mabry-Hazen House Patrick Hollis, Executive Director

3:00 Funding Preservation: New Strategies at Play

New Market Tax Credits, Opportunity/Entrepreneur Zones Mark Mamantov, Bass, Berry & Sims

4:00 Preservation Partners: Knoxville Community Development

Programs for Preservation Making an Impact Becky Wade, Knoxville Community Development Director

5:00 Closing Reception

MIDDLE EAST TENNESSEE TOURISM COUNCIL