Along the north side of downtown Knoxville’s riverfront, the Secret History Walk at Volunteer Landing tells stories of the city and the Tennessee River carved in stone.
Bruce Bennett collaborated with Jack Neely, Knoxville writer and historian, for the installation, selecting quotes from historical accounts, literary passages, and local stories for the Story Stone markers placed along the riverwalk.
The quotes encompass Knoxville history in the words of its most prominent residents, authors, and historical visitors, weaving a story of life along the Tennessee River.
Bennett’s archive incorporates passages by James Agee and poet Donald Davidson reflecting on the Tennessee River, while another from Sidney Lanier’s Tiger-Lilies describes the Little Tennessee River as it leaves the mountains and approaches a larger stream.
The Story Stones weave a walk of Knoxville’s literary history, incorporating a passage from Frances Hodgson Burnett, author of The Secret Garden, whose family lived in Knoxville after arriving from England. Another references Cormac McCarthy and his novel Suttree, deeply rooted in life on Knoxville’s riverfront.
The walk touches on recent history, featuring Chinese writer Liu Zongren’s visit to Knoxville during the 1982 World’s Fair. He later wrote about his experience in the city and the mighty Tennessee River. Another reflects on Knoxville’s steamboat boom and the vessels that dominated the Upper Tennessee River.
Near Neyland Stadium sits a memorial to General Robert Neyland, his coaching career, and his Seven Maxims of Football. With the University of Tennessee football stadium behind the stone, the memorial becomes an homage connecting Neyland to the arena that immortalizes his name.
Bennett’s Story Stones feature carefully carved text embedded into rough-hewn stone still bearing the marks of the quarry, turning the stones into pages in the landscape and creating a relationship between story, stone, and location.
The installation is also part of the riverfront’s evolving history. The Frances Hodgson Burnett marker, intended for an area nearer her former Knoxville neighborhood, and a Nikki Giovanni marker were mistakenly switched during installation and remain switched today.
Bennett’s stonework at Volunteer Landing gives those stories permanence in raw Tennessee stone. They remain an informal historical trail where Knoxville’s literature, people, river culture, and local memory are encountered within the landscape we all love.
Bruce Bennett’s Archive of the Volunteer Landing Story Stones
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