Harrogate, Tn. -- If you are a Civil War and/or Abraham Lincoln history buff or you are just interested in some of the unusual history of East Tennessee, this little town in Claiborne County -- some 55 miles north of Knoxville -- offers a unique daytrip possibility.
For example:
* The state's largest hotel (700 rooms) and spa once stood on the grounds where Lincoln Memorial University is now located here. There is an interesting story on why such a giant hotel (especially for the times) came to be built here. More on that later.
* Lincoln Memorial University is one of the most beautiful college campuses in Tennessee, with some 1,000 acres set on a landscaped hillside with a forest backdrop abutting the Cumberland Gap National Park.
* The most exhaustive collection of Abraham Lincoln memorabilia is housed here at the 20,000 square foot Lincoln Library and Museum.
The President Lincoln connection to this little backwoods community also contains some intriguing history.
During the Civil War this area of Tennessee was greatly divided between Union and Confederate sympathizers. The community was right smack at the critical part of Cumberland Gap and was considered a key military site by both the North and the South.
Word had gotten back to Lincoln that Union sympathizers here were being treated poorly, so Lincoln at the end of the war sent one of his top generals, General O.O. Howard to this area with the purpose of creating a great university for the people of this particular region.
In the late 1800s, Colonel A. A. Arthur, an organizing agent of a British company, purchased several hundred acres where Lincoln Memorial University is now located. His company built a hotel of 700 rooms called "The Four Seasons," as well as a hospital, an inn, a sanitarium, and other smaller buildings. Roads were laid and the grounds planted with a wide variety of shrubs and trees.
A group of Eastern businessmen after getting an investment loan from a London company had laid the groundwork for the establishment of such a hotel as they had planned to make the nearby town of Middlesboro into "the Pittsburgh of the South" because of the area's large coal supplies and railroad facilities. Harrogate was to be a bedroom community and hotel facilities for the town. But their grandiose plan failed and in 1895 the company was forced to abandon its project when a financial panic swept England. The hotel was sold and dismantled.
But the Rev. A. A. Myers, a Congregational minister, had come to the Cumberland Gap in 1888. and established the Harrow School, for the purpose of providing elementary education to mountain youngsters. On a visit to the area to give a series of lectures at the Harrow School. General Howard remembered his commitment to Lincoln and joined with Rev. Myers, M. F. Overton, C. F. Eager, A. B. Kesterson, and M. Arthur to establish Lincoln Memorial University. That group, along with Robert F. Patterson, a Confederate veteran, became a board of directors and purchased The Four Seasons property. In commemoration of Lincoln's birthday, the institution was chartered by the state of Tennessee on February 12, 1897, as Lincoln Memorial University.
From its earliest days, LMU began to receive and put on display Civil War and Abraham Lincoln memorabilia. In 1929, a room in the Duke Hall of Citizenship was dedicated to house the growing collection. The Lincoln Room served as a showcase for the collection until the early 1970s.
In 1973, University President H. Y. Livesay and Dr. Frank G. Rankin, chairman of the executive committee of the Board of Trustees, promoted their dream of a permanent facility to house the Lincoln Collection. Col. Harland Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame, a trustee, responded by providing $500,000 to construct the library and museum. The trustees raised another $500,000, and on December 31, 1974, the university completed the building's fundraising campaign.
The Lincoln Room was retired and a few months later, groundbreaking for the Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum was held. The facility was completed in 1977. Today, the museum sees an average of 14,000 visitors per year.
Among the thousands of exhibits are many rare items - the cane Lincoln carried that fateful night at Ford's Theatre, two life masks, the tea set he and Mary Todd used in their home in Springfield, and numerous other artifacts. Approximately 30,000 books, manuscripts, pamphlets, photographs, paintings and sculptures tell the story of President Lincoln and the Civil War period in America's history.
Among the other exhibits:
CARNAGE ON CAMERA: Photographs of the Civil War Dead
During the Civil War, armored battleships patrolled the seas and rivers. Commanders used the telegraph to communicate with armies miles away. A submarine sank an enemy vessel for the first time. Railroads carried troops and supplies over vast distances. And people at home could see the war and its effects firsthand, thanks to the new medium of photography. Of the thousands of photographs taken from 1861 to 1865, none are more powerful than those showing dead soldiers on the battlefield. This exhibit examines these photographs and the stories they tell.

"In the Shadow of the Pinnacle: Actions at the Cumberland Gap"
This exhibit features graphics, historical accounts and photos detailing the activities of both Union and Confederate forces who met briefly four separate times in the rugged, unforgiving wilderness that was the Cumberland Gap.

The Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum is located on U.S. Hwy. 25E in Harrogate some 30 miles north of Morristown. The museum is open 9-4 weekdays (11-4 Saturdays, 1-4 Sundays) except for Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day as well as on other University holidays. Call 423-869-6235 for details.
Admission (group equals 10 or more): Adults $5 (group rate $3.50), senior citizens (60+) $3.50 Children 6-12 years $3 (children's group rate $2). Motor coach groups $3.

This story was published on 01 Aug 2008.