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Survey of Historic Sites and Buildings

	BLOUNT MANSION Tennessee
Knox County, 200 West Hill Avenue, Knoxville. Blount Mansion

Ownership and Administration. Blount Mansion Association.

Significance. This mansion, built in 1792, was the residence of William Blount, Governor of the Southwest Territory and outstanding political figure in North Carolina, Tennessee, and the U.S. Congress. Born in 1749 and raised in North Carolina, he served his native State as a soldier in the War for Independence and later in the State legislature. In 1782-83 and again in 1786-87 he represented North Carolina in the U.S. Congress, and in 1787 took part in the Constitutional Convention. After signing the Constitution, he returned to North Carolina and in 1789 voted for its ratification.

In 1789 North Carolina ceded the Western lands that now comprise the State of Tennessee to the Federal Government, from which in 1790 Congress organized the Territory of the United States South of the River Ohio, commonly known as the Southwest Territory. President Washington appointed Blount Governor of the newly created Territory and Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Southern Department. When Blount assumed his duties, which he carried out with tact and firmness, he acted as conciliator between the settler, who advocated preventive war against the Indians, and the Federal Government, which opposed such action. On July 2, 1791, he signed the Treaty of the Holston with 41 Cherokee chiefs, by which they ceded a large portion of their lands in present Tennessee. He then chose White's Fort, which he rechristened Knoxville in honor of Maj. Gen. Henry Knox, Secretary of War in Washington's Cabinet, as the capital of the Territory.

In 1792, at the time of the construction of this small framehouse on the Tennessee frontier, it was virtually a mansion. William Blount, Governor of the Southwest Territory, erected it and resided there until he died, in 1800. Courtesy, Blount Mansion Association.

There Blount built a two-story framehouse, the first of its kind west of the Allegheny Mountains, which became known as "Governor's Mansion," in which he resided until he died. Building such a house in a remote wilderness was an amazing feat because materials could not be transported across the mountains. The bricks used in the foundations and chimneys were made at a nearby creek and fired on the site, and heavy timbers were probably sawed at a small mill on the creek.

Blount was the foremost figure in winning statehood for Tennessee. He also supported the founding of Blount College, now the University of Tennessee. In 1796 the first legislature of the State elected Blount to the U.S. Senate, but, after he became involved in an intrigue to deliver Spanish Florida and Louisiana to the British, Congress impeached him. The charges were later dismissed. Blount returned to Tennessee, where in 1798 he was elected to the State senate, in which he served as speaker until his death, in 1800.

Drawing room, Blount Mansion, Tennessee. The rooms in the house have been restored in the late 18th-century style. Courtesy, Blount Mansion Association.

Present Appearance. The two-story frame mansion is basically Early American. It has no central chimney, stoop, or vestibule, but has large chimneys at the gable ends of the house. Its straight lines are relieved by one-story side wings. The kitchen ell, now rebuilt on its original foundations, is in back of the house, as is the restored office of the Governor. The house and office have been restored as they were in the late 1700's and include furniture of the period and portraits of prominent leaders of the time. The mansion is open to the public.

NHL Designation: 01/12/65