Knoxville Knoir: "The Ugliest City in America"

[tndude]

Originally Posted by hauntedheadnc

Thanks for the responses, everybody.
If tourists stopped visiting Knoxville, I get the feeling that it would hoist its middle finger and laugh. If tourists stopped visiting prettier Asheville, Asheville would drop dead.

Knoxville markets itself to tourists as the gateway to the Smokies but if you took the mountains away, your correct, Knoxville would be just fine (although Gatlinburg would cease to exist).

[hauntedheadnc]

Originally Posted by tndude

Knoxville markets itself to tourists as the gateway to the Smokies but if you took the mountains away, your correct, Knoxville would be just fine (although Gatlinburg would cease to exist).

And this would be a bad thing exactly how...?

[Driver8]

Your commentary is my favorite part of this thread. If you ever write a travel book, sign me up!

And I learned something new: "...most everything we know about human decomposition comes to you courtesy of Knoxville."

It looks like Knoxville has quite a large stock of historic buildings to compensate for some of its less pleasant features, e.g. that majestic Wigsphere.

[Austinlee]

Originally Posted by DoomJ

What makes Knoxville ugly, IMO, is the hideous suburban footprint extending west and north. Knoxville's central area, I think, is pretty cool. Has a certain "old brick industrial-Pennsylvania-hill-town" feel to it, which I dig.

I'm glad someone else said it. It vaguely gives me a Pennsylvania feel. Kind of a brick, german looking town.

[Austinlee]

That golden buttplug though belongs at the Oral Roberts campus not on the skyline of a metro of close to a million people.

[Buckeye Native 001]

Knoxville looks pretty charming

[arkitekte]

Originally Posted by hauntedheadnc

And this would be a bad thing exactly how...?

Gatlinburg at times gets on my nerves, but it's not that bad. It's no where near as bad as Pigeon Forge (as long as you're not including Pigeon Forge w/ Gatlinburg), Branson, Orange Beach, etc.

[Austinlee]

Originally Posted by arkitekte

Gatlinburg at times gets on my nerves, but it's not that bad. It's no where near as bad as Pigeon Forge (as long as you're not including Pigeon Forge w/ Gatlinburg), Branson, Orange Beach, etc.

I hear all the cool cats hang out in Pigeon Forge.

[Buckeye Native 001]

I've never been to Gatlinburg, but a lot of Cincinnatians would go there for vacation and it never ceased to amuse me listening to friends and family tell me how boring it was...

[KB0679]

Nice! Reminds me of a slightly larger version of Chattanooga in some ways.

[hauntedheadnc]

Thanks for the comments, everyone.

Originally Posted by arkitekte

Gatlinburg at times gets on my nerves, but it's not that bad. It's no where near as bad as Pigeon Forge (as long as you're not including Pigeon Forge w/ Gatlinburg), Branson, Orange Beach, etc.

Don't they sort of run together, along with Sevierville?

Originally Posted by KB0679

Nice! Reminds me of a slightly larger version of Chattanooga in some ways.

That was also the feeling I got, but I think Chattanooga makes better use of their riverfront. They also have some really top-notch tourist attractions like the aquarium and the Hunter Museum that take them a bit above Knoxville.

[arkitekte]

Originally Posted by hauntedheadnc

Don't they sort of run together, along with Sevierville?

Pretty much so, although there's slightly more of a disconnect between Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg. As funny as it sounds the people in Gatlinburg vacationing it up seem classier than those shopping til they drop on the strip in Pigeon Forge.

[Lakelander]

Great shots!

[llamaorama]

Did Nelson Muntz set you up for this trip?

I've always been curious about Knoxville. The fact that it hasn't really seen much new development and thus no real presence on this site is probably I have never paid much attention to it. I've been to Knoxville twice but saw basically zero of the downtown beyond the window of a car. Tennessee seems cool as a state in general; its southern but it doesn't seem to have as many pathologies as other southern states.

Why doesn't Knoxville have more urban development though; especially near the university? You think a city like that would be growing in a very significant way.

To my everlasting disappointment. However, you have to be important and have a damn good reason to visit before they'll let you visit. I am not and did not.

I checked.

I had the opportunity to visit one of these facilities(not the one in Knoxville). My business there was unrelated to the actual body farm but I got to see it and the bodies anyways. It was neat. It wasn't as disturbing as I thought it would be. First and last time I hope to see a corpse, hah.

Obviously they'd never allow photography but you probably know that. I can't imagine SSP allowing it either, lol.

[hauntedheadnc]

Originally Posted by llamaorama

I had the opportunity to visit one of these facilities(not the one in Knoxville). My business there was unrelated to the actual body farm but I got to see it and the bodies anyways. It was neat. It wasn't as disturbing as I thought it would be. First and last time I hope to see a corpse, hah.

Obviously they'd never allow photography but you probably know that. I can't imagine SSP allowing it either, lol.

Oh, of course I know that. I'd never dream of taking any pictures in a place like that. Speaking of places like that, though, there's actually a body farm nearer to where I live than Knoxville. There's one at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, NC. I keep trying to get my mom to agree to donate her body to them, because she has some skeletal deformities they'd find fascinating, but she balks at the idea. For someone as ghoulish as she is, I'd have thought she'd jump at the opportunity.

[LSyd]

Originally Posted by hauntedheadnc

They also have some really top-notch tourist attractions like the aquarium and the Hunter Museum that take them a bit above Knoxville.

Knoxville was offered the aquarium back in the 80s; the slack Republicon mayor skipped out the chance to get it, basically stalling Knoxville

Originally Posted by llamaorama

DTennessee seems cool as a state in general; its southern but it doesn't seem to have as many pathologies as other southern states.

Why doesn't Knoxville have more urban development though; especially near the university? You think a city like that would be growing in a very significant way.

see above re: the aquarium. then Knoxville failed on several other developmental opportunities that the Sevierville area grabbed.

and no; this is the state that tried prosecuting teaching evolution. but of course part of the motivation for undertaking it was a moneymaking scheme.

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