Note: This story was updated at 12:30 p.m.
The Freels Bend Cabin, Oak Ridge’s oldest structure, was recognized with a historical sign in October.
The historical sign by the Tennessee Historical Commission said the Freels Bend Cabin, next to Melton Hill Lake east of Clark Center Park in south Oak Ridge, is the only Oak Ridge home that is still standing that was built in the 1800s.
It was one of the earliest cabins built in Anderson County. It’s on the National Historic Register.
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You can join a National Park Service ranger for a bike ride on the North Boundary Greenway to see how the former communities of the area have changed during the past 75 years.
The free program is presented by the Manhattan Project National Historical Park, which includes Oak Ridge.
The bike ride program will start at 10 a.m. Saturday, October 19, at the Turnpike Gatehouse and travel down Big Oak Trail and North Boundary Road.
“Along the ride, we will explore the former communities that were here before the Manhattan Project,” a press release said. “Rangers will stop several times along the bike ride to point out the rich history that is found within the Oak Ridge area.”
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The Manhattan Project National Historical Park will commemorate the tennis court dances that occurred in Jackson Square 75 years ago with a dance and costume contest in October.
The Tennis Court Dance and Costume Contest is scheduled from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, October 11, in the Jackson Square tennis courts. The free event will feature swing dancing music from the 1940s World War II era.
The National Park Service is partnering with Explore Oak Ridge to host the dance, a press release said.
“All ages are welcome to attend and everyone is encouraged to participate in the costume contest with their best 1940s costume,” the press release said. “One winner will be announced for best individual costume and one for group costumes.”
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The Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association will celebrate its 20th anniversary and the receipt of an S80,000 state grant during a ceremony on Saturday.
The state grant is for the new Oak Ridge History Museum, a press release said.
The public is invited to Saturday’s ceremony. The Oak Ridge History Museum is at 102 Robertsville Road in central Oak Ridge.
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The City of Oak Ridge hosted visitors from across the country as part of the recent Energy Communities Alliance Peer Exchange focused on the continued implementation of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park, a press release said.
The meeting, held on August 14 and 15 in Oak Ridge, had an excellent turnout with many guests from the additional national park host communities of Los Alamos, New Mexico, and the cities near Hanford, Washington, making the trip to Oak Ridge, the press release said. Other attendees traveled from Aiken, South Carolina, to learn more about Oak Ridge and the national park, the release said.
Local officials, including Oak Ridge Mayor Warren Gooch, Roane County Executive Ron Woody, Oak Ridge City Council member Chuck Hope, and City Manager Mark Watson welcomed the invitees. National Park Service officials and representatives from tourism bureaus, historical societies, and economic development councils also took part. Oak Ridge Mayor Pro Tem Rick Chinn and City Council members Ellen Smith, Kelly Callison, Jim Dodson, and Derrick Hammond attended sessions as well.
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You can learn more about the history of desegregation and profiles of those who have shaped the area during a September 9 meeting in Oak Ridge.
It’s a kick-off meeting for Women’s Interfaith Dialogue of Oak Ridge. It is scheduled to start with a brief meet-and-greet at 10:45 a.m. Monday, Saturday 9, at St. Stephens Episcopal Church at 212 North Tulane Avenue, and the program will start at 11 a.m.
Rose Weaver—an active member of the Oak Ridge community, a poet, and a historian—is currently working on researching the history of desegregation of the area and the people who have had the greatest impacts in shaping Oak Ridge, a press release said.
Weaver will also speak about the exciting NAACP Tennessee State Convention that is being hosted in Oak Ridge from Thursday, September 26, through Saturday, September 28, the press release said.
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Join a park ranger for a walk through the pre-Manhattan Project community of Wheat on Saturday, September 14.
Wheat was in what is now west Oak Ridge, around the area of Heritage Center, the former K-25 site. It was one of several local communities displaced by the Manhattan Project, a top-secret federal program to build the world’s first atomic weapons during World War II.
Oak Ridge and two other sites involved in the Manhattan Project—Hanford, Washington, and Los Alamos, New Mexico—are now part of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park.
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The last Oak Ridge Reservation Nature Walk of 2019 will be held at the historic Freels cabin—the oldest structure in Oak Ridge—on Saturday.
The cabin is on Freels Bend near Melton Hill Lake in south Oak Ridge, east of Clark Center Park. It was built in 1844, and it’s been reported to be on the National Historic Register.
The opportunities to see the cabin are rare because it’s on restricted U.S. Department of Energy land.
Saturday’s walk is titled “History of the Oak Ridge Reservation—Freels Bend.” Registered walkers will meet at 1 p.m. in the parking lot behind the ORISE building at the corner of Bethel Valley and Pumphouse roads, a press release said.
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Filmmaker Keith McDaniel has completed a nine-year project to document the oral histories of about 400 current and former Oak Ridge residents, including those connected to the Manhattan Project during World War II.
The life stories were used to build a digital collection for the Oak Ridge Public Library’s Center for Oak Ridge Oral History, or COROH. McDaniel was part of the group that made plans for the COROH and, following the city’s receipt of an annual grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, took the contract for the documentary work.
“A lot of original Oak Ridgers were dying and getting older,” McDaniel said in a press release from Carson-Newman University. “We felt it was really important to collect their memories, to collect their stories.”
The one-on-one filmed interviews gave those connected to the Manhattan Project, and later to the city at large, the opportunity to share their life stories, the press release said.
[Read more…]You can learn more about Wheat, a community that was here before the Manhattan Project, during a walk with a National Park Service ranger on Saturday, July 27.
The Manhattan Project National Historical Park will present the ranger-led walk starting at 10 a.m. July 27. The program is free, and it will start at Blair Road and the North Boundary Greenway.
“The walk will be about one-and-one-half miles, so wear comfortable walking shoes and bring water to drink,” a press release said. “Stops will include ‘downtown’ Wheat, George Jones Memorial Baptist Church, Roane College site, and the Crawford Cumberland Presbyterian Memorial. There will be stories about the development and significance of each site.”
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Two new bus tours offered in Oak Ridge in August will allow you to learn more about the unique heritage of the Manhattan Project, a press release said. The bus tours are the “Secret City” and “Oak Ridge Museums” tours.
The “Secret City” tour will be led by a National Park Service ranger, last three hours, and include that day’s admission to the American Museum of Science and Energy.
“During the Manhattan Project, a community was created almost overnight to accomplish the monumental task of producing enriched uranium on a large scale,” the press release said. “During the tour, visitors can develop an understanding of what life was like during World War II in a city behind a fence that no one was supposed to discuss. The tour will also include a visit to the X-10 Graphite Reactor, a National Historic Landmark, and the world’s first nuclear reactor designed and built for continuous operation.”
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The Manhattan Project National Historical Park will present a program about secrecy, security, and spies on Saturday, July 20. The program is scheduled from 3:30-4:30 p.m. at the Turnpike Gatehouse in Oak Ridge.
“The program will give visitors some insight to what life was like in Oak Ridge during the Manhattan Project with all the security, the need for secrecy, and the worry of spies,” a press release said. “This program is free and open to the public; parking is limited, so please try to carpool if possible.”
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