Threshing barn gets a major makeover
Renovations to the historic 1830 Caleb Crosby Threshing Barn on Clear Creek in Norris Dam State Park have nearly been completed. Work included a new cedar-shake roof and side paneling for the structure, which spent most of its life along the Holsten River. (photo:G. Chambers Williams III )
A new cedar-shake roof has replaced the old, deteriorating roof on the barn, and new wooden plank siding has been installed on its sides – with still more of that work to go.
The threshing barn “offers insight into the Appalachian way of life in Tennessee,” according to the park website.
It was originally built on the Holston River in the 1830s and was relocated to its present site on Clear Creek Road, just off Norris Freeway (U.S. 441), in 1978.
Open free to visitors Wednesdays through Sundays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., the barn displays old farm tools, plows, and a horse-drawn wagon.
It is a popular wedding venue, too.
“Oxen once generated the threshing machine inside the main building,” the park website notes. “The barn stood for about 100 years along the north side of the Holston River. The land was to be flooded by the building of Cherokee Dam, so the family donated the barn to the National Park Service.
“The barn remained there dismantled for 34 years. In 1978, the barn was reconstructed at its present site.”
It’s between the two-centuries old Rice Grist Mill on Lower Clear Creek Road and the park’s Lenoir Museum, which is along Norris Freeway just southwest of the barn.
The grist mill was similarly restored in 2022, bringing it back to the condition it was when it was moved to the site from its original home in Union County, park Ranger Joseph Gamble said at the time of the rehab work.
At the threshing barn are collections of old farm tools, fanning mill grain cleaner, plows and a horse-drawn wagon located outside. The barn has two levels.
The Lenoir Museum, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in July, has a diverse collection of artifacts that depict life in Southern Appalachia.
The museum, which opened July 10, 1975, features hundreds of items representing Appalachian history that were collected over several decades by Will G. and Helen H. Lenoir.
Built on land that the Tennessee Valley Authority donated to the Tennessee state park system, the museum displays include Indian artifacts, fine china, pressed glass, furniture, farm implements, bottles, bells, baskets, rocks, historical documents and more.
The Rice Gristmill, originally constructed in 1798 in Union County, was dismantled and rebuilt on Clear Creek in 1935.
The mill originally was at the Rice family farm and home in Lost Creek, which was one of the properties taken over by the Tennessee Valley Authority in the early 1930s to make way for Norris Dam.
“The owner at the time, Rufus Rice, didn’t like TVA, but he became friends with a caseworker, Marshall Wilson,” Gamble said. “Rice gave the mill to Wilson, who wanted to move it to the park.
“Marshall Wilson called National Park Service rangers and told them what he wanted to do,” Gamble said. “They loaded up CCC workers, dismantled it, and rebuilt it along Clear Creek where it is today.”
