I recently spoke to Preservation Union County board member Betty Bullen to learn more about the nonprofit organization and what it does for Union County.
Preservation Union County currently operates under the Knox Heritage umbrella, Knox Heritage having received a grant from National Historic Preservation to do outreach work with the 16 surrounding counties and creating the East Tennessee Preservation Alliance.
As an example of their undertakings, the East Tennessee Preservation Alliance restored the old Alexander Hotel in Oak Ridge.
Betty Bullen and Bonnie Peters are members of the East Tennessee Preservation Alliance board representing Union County, thus forming the entity Preservation Union County.
Other board members serving Preservation Union County are Robert Ellison, Randy Turner, and Dr. Ronnie Mincey. Although COVID-19 has halted in-person meetings, work continues; especially the goal for Preservation Union County to be a stand-alone 501c3 organization that can apply for grants and manage projects exclusive to Union County, while continuing to work with Knox Heritage.
No doubt you remember the project to restore historic Oak Grove School in Sharps Chapel in 2017. The awesome historic building is now being utilized as the Sharps Chapel Book Station; it was a huge project which took five years to complete. After the completion of Oak Grove School, Preservation Union County also applied for and received a nomination for the old school to be on the National Register of Historic Places.
Their latest project is salvaging pieces of the old Highway 33 Veterans Memorial Bridge, built by TVA circa 1935. Using more than 4000 pounds of steel reclaimed from that bridge, a structure was built to house a new Wilson Park sign.
This huge undertaking included getting an architect to draft the plan, then physically building the memorial — which took a substantial amount of time and money — and finally erecting a plaque to commemorate the old bridge. This project was completed by Preservation Union County and friends.
Once the sign was finished, COVID-19 impacted our community and slowed further projects to a crawl. But organizers want to give a huge shout out to Mayor Mike Williams and Mayor Jason Bailey for their assistance with this project.
Preservation Union County accomplished a lot over the years. They provided guidance for getting the Hamilton Lay Grocery Store, which housed the first telephone switchboard in the county, listed on the historic register.
They also worked with local farmers to get family farms that have been in operation for more than 100 years recognized as Tennessee Century Farms. They worked with the road commission to get historical markers placed at Ailor Mill, the Sharps Chapel Lost Creek School, and the last hanging in Maynardville.
The group is looking for new projects and have some brewing (nothing that can be announced yet), and welcome community input. Meetings are open to the public and are typically held the third Friday of each quarter (Feb, May, Aug, and Nov); however, the meetings are currently being held via conference call. For more information, visit Preservation Union County’s Facebook page, call 865-992-1005, or write to: Preservation Union County, 1982 Highway 61 E, Luttrell, TN 37779