Bristol Historical Association “Big Creek, Anne W. Armstrong, and the Log House on Lavinder Lane”
2018-11-19 18:30 UTC | Bristol Public Library, 701 Goode St, Bristol, VA, 24201, United States
The Bristol Historical Association is presenting the program “Big Creek, Anne W. Armstrong, and the Log House on Lavinder Lane” for their monthly meeting at 6:30 PM on November 19 at the Bristol Public Library. The BHA Historic Markers Committee has conducted extensive research in anticipation of discovering whether the log house at 315 Lavinder Lane, owned by Ronald and Tanya Rogers, was the Anne Armstrong log house. Was it originally built at Big Creek community in Sullivan County, TN, disassembled and re-assembled at Lavinder Lane in Bristol, Tennessee? Big Creek was a former resort community that was ultimately flooded by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to construct South Holston Dam.

The Historic Markers Committee, with members Linda Kirk, Joyce Kistner, Brenda Otis, and Dr. William Wade, researches potentially historic commercial and residential buildings that, when meeting certain criteria, are considered historic to the Bristol, TN/VA area. The Committee then awards the property with a historic marker plaque that can be displayed on the building.

Linda Kirk, Committee Chair and BHA Board Member, is one of the researchers and presenters of this program. Also presenting is Dr. Katherine Hoffman, founder and principal consultant for Appalworks (www.appalworks.com) in Johnson City, TN, a company designed to promote cultural heritage as a tool for both place-based, sustainable economic development and for the educational advancement of the region’s students. Dr. Hoffman is also considered the literary expert of the works of Anne W. Armstrong, a prominent national author, novelist and pioneering businesswoman in the 1920s – 1950s. Mrs. Armstrong, known particularly for her book, This Day and Time, which portrays rural life in an Appalachian community, lived in the Big Creek Community and was forced to relocate when her property was seized by the TVA.

Local oral history claims the log house at 315 Lavinder Lane was Anne W. Armstrong’s house from Big Creek, re-assembled in the exact, original design in which it was standing at Big Creek. Is it the Armstrong house?

Answers to this and many more questions about Big Creek and the Armstrong family will be revealed at the presentation on November 19. This BHA meeting is open to the public and held in conjunction with the library’s mission of “Expanding Minds and Building Community”.

Contact Tim Buchanan, BHA Program Chairman, for details of this and other upcoming BHA programs at buchanan03@bvu.net, or visit the association’s Facebook page, Bristol History.
