Graduate research assistant Harris Abernathy explores and documents a historic railroad tunnel in Giles County with community members and our partner organization, Wolf Gap Education Outreach.

The Center for Historic Preservation’s new Professional Services Partnerships, implemented for the first time in 2017-2018, have brought lots of great new projects our way from across the state. Staff and students have been working on projects from Memphis to Morristown and many places in between. In Giles County, programs manager Dr. Lydia Simpson, along with M.A. students Harris Abernathy and Typhanie Schafer, have been working with Wolf Gap Education Outreach to develop new interpretive and educational approaches to the county’s history, discovering great local resources along the way. Other projects include a walking and driving tour of historic sites in Morristown and Hamblen County, also led by Dr. Simpson; exhibit panels for Clay County’s historic courthouse, overseen by assistant director Dr. Antoinette van Zelm; interpretive development for three historic African American cemeteries in Knoxville, and exhibit panels for the Walter Brewer Bemis Community Center (a former Rosenwald school) in Madison County, both led by Dr. Stacey Graham, research professor. Keep an eye out in March for our Call for Proposals for the next round of Professional Services Partnerships!