top of page
alayna66

Mural Trail spots that will leave you feeling fabulous

Updated: Jul 1, 2023

Welcome to the Greeneville Mural Trail... Happy Travels!


The 13 pieces include: "Greetings from Greeneville", David Crockett, Train, Buffalo Bill, Coca-Cola, Blind Pony, Austin Company Tobacco, PET milk, Andrew Johnson in Window, Magnavox, Sallie Rose Bohannon, Wings, and The U.S.S. Greeneville mural.





 

GREETINGS FROM GREENEVILLE

by Samantha Culbertson

115 Academy St., Greeneville TN 37743


The mural, painted by Samantha Culbertson, was created to celebrate

Greene County. The artist wanted to feature nods to local history depicted

in a modern style. The mural incorporates some of the old and some of

the new. From the well-known hat of Davy Crockett to a silhouette of our

17th president, the mural captures a spirit of reverence for the past while

taking "a positive look forward." It is located in the parking lot at the

Greene County Partnership and serves as the backdrop for an outdoor

gathering area and starting point for the new mural trail.








DAVID CROCKETT

by Joe Kilday

104 S Main St. Greeneville TN 37743


The mural of David Crockett, popularly referred to as "Davy" Crockett, was

placed near the Capitol Theater to recognize the significant historical

role of the pioneer-turned-politician, born in nearby Limestone, and it

commemorates the fact that the Walt Disney movie that made "Dav

Crockett" a household name premiered at the Capitol. In 1955, when the

Disney movie "Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier" was released, its

star, Fess Parker, visited Greeneville, as the film premiered both here and

in San Antonio, Texas, site of The Alamo, where Crockett died fighting in

support of Texas.





TRAIN

by Joe Kilday & Mike Durham

100 S Main St. Greeneville TN 37743


Local artists Joe Kilday and Mike Durham collaborated on the train mural

located on the side of the Laughlin, Nunnally, Hood and Crum law office

It represents the first train that ever came to Greeneville, which was

actually green. The mural also represents the founding of Greeneville

and shows some of the 17 train hotels that popped up along the railroad

tracks, including what is now known as the General Morgan lnn. The

railroad and railroad hotels were the heart of Greeneville's economy in

the mid 19th century. The rails reached Greeneville on March 20, 1858,

and the first depot was built at a cost of about $4,000. It served the

community until 1905, when the current depot at the end of Depot

Street was built.





BUFFALO BILL

by Sam Lane

148 W Depot St, Greeneville, TN 37743


The hand-painted mural by local artist Sam Lane is styled as an old-

time Opera House poster for Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. The sign is

reminiscent of what Greene County residents must have seen when

the Wild West Show came through town in the 1890s. Lane also hand-

lettered a sign outlining a brief history of the Opera House building

which is commonly referred to as "The Wall," as part of the project. The

former Opera House, now a vacant brick building at the corner of West

Depot and Irish streets, has been touted as a place once visited by the

famous plainsman, U.S. Army scout, and Wild West showman: William

Frederick "Buffalo Bill" Cody, Cody, whose Wild West Show was seen by

multitudes across the globe over a 30-year span in the late 1800s and

early 1900s.





COCA-COLA

by Joe Kilday

227 W Depot St. Greeneville TN 37743


More than 125 years ago, Coca-Cola introduced its brand-new refreshing

soft drink with painted advertising wall murals in towns and communities

across the country, particularly in the rural South. By 1910, a quarter

of The Coca-Cola Company's advertising budget was dedicated to wall

murals with seemingly every town and crossroads having its own Coca-

Cola sign painted on the side of a building. Candler, founder of the Coca-

Cola Company, once famously boasted that a motion picture couldn't

be made anywhere in America without capturing the image of a Coca-

Cola wall mural advertisement. Thousands of these iconic advertising

murals remain but many have become faded 'ghost signs '. At one point

there were around 16,000 Coca-Cola wall murals across the country and

unfortunately, over the years, a lot of those signs faded away and that's

where they came up with term "ghost signs". Thankfully, more and more

are beginning to be restored to their former glory.






BLIND PONY

by Joe Kilday

114 W Summer St, Greeneville, TN 37743


The mural depicts the arrival of youthful future president Andrew

Johnson in Greeneville, leading a blind pony that pulled a small wagon

It is located on the side of the Leonard & Hensley law firm on Summer

Street. The historic building, for most of its near-century of existence

housed dry cleaning businesses. The mural is done mostly in silhouette

and painted by local artist Joe Kilday using a paint roller on an extender

handle. According to local lore, the young girl, Eliza McCardle, is shown

pointing to young Johnson as she tells her friends that he is the one she

will marry. Within the year, on May 17, 1827, Eliza and Andrew Johnson

were wed.





AUSTIN COMPANY TOBACCO

by Joe Kilday & Mike Durham

100 W Summer St. Greeneville TN 37743


On Summer Street, behind Main Street Place are two murals which

depict the tobacco industry Tobacco was the money crop for many

Greene Countians from the early 1800s through the 1900s with

warehouses "on every corner". The Austin Company led the state and

region in the processing and selling of Burley Tobacco, trading in seventy

countries during the 1960s. Most of the big warehouses stood along

busy Greeneville streets within just a few blocks of the center of town-

huge, of course, but very familiar to just about everyone, usually closed

and empty, and hardly given a passing glance most of the time. Except

from October to February each year, when the wide doors opened, the

bright lights inside came on, the giant buildings came alive with farm

trucks and people - and just about everyone in the county paid close

attention to what was going on within the walls. By the early 1990s, loca

tobacco sales often accounted for more than $20 million in pay-outs

10 and sometimes more than $25 million.




PET MILK

by Sam Lane

100 W Summer St. Greeneville TN 37743


Artist Sam Lane paints the mural of the first farmer bringing in milk

to the new Pet Milk Condensery in 1928. A photograph was taken of

G. H. Thomas carrying in two cans of milk across the back of his horse

Pet Milk came to Greeneville at a critical time and began producing Pet

Evaporated Milk along with other products, such as canned milk and ice

cream, at the Greeneville plant for decades. When the Pet Milk Company

came to Greeneville, James H. Rader, of State Farm Insurance Agency

and Edith O'Keefe Susong, publisher of The Greeneville Sun, were asked

to pour out the first can of milk because of their efforts to bring the new

company to town to give the area farmers additional income for their

products. The plant closed in the 1980s as the dairy business shifted

away from family farms and small regional dairies.







ANDREW JOHNSON IN WINDOW

by Joe Kilday

100 W Summer St. Greeneville TN 37743


Located on the corner of Main and Summer Streets is the mural of

Andrew Johnson, the 17th president of the United States. He is looking

out of a window of his Land Office building. He is wearing his Masonic

uniform and the Masonic Lodge was located on the upper floor of this

building. Johnson was an active Mason throughout his his life and remained

a member of Greeneville Lodge No, 119 until his death. He frequenty

participated in Masonic functions and ceremonies such as cornerstone

layings and was a mentor for the Greeneville Lodge. His funeral was

conducted by its members, This mural showcases the talents of local

artist, Joe Kilday.




MAGNAVOX

by Joe Kilday

101 E Summer St, Greeneville, TN 37743


The shield shaped mural was painted using the original 1953 master

mold of the symbol. In 1947, Magnavox opened a plant in Greeneville

Tennessee shortly after the conclusion of World War ll. The company

announced plans to begin production of televisions, and in 1948, the

first Magnavox television was created in Greeneville. As the popularity

of the television grew over the next two decades, so did the company's

workforce. At its high point, almost 5,000 people worked at the Greeneville

Plant. The fact that a small town in East Tennessee became the epicenter

for one of the largest and most respected electronics companies in the

worid is little known outside of the region. Magnavox was to Greeneville

what automobiles were to Detroit, The mural was painted by local artist

Joe Kilday on the side of the building that was once Brown's Furniture.






=





SALLIE ROSE BOHANNON

by Joe Kilday

129 S Main St. Greeneville TN 37743


This mural is painted by Joe Kilday on the backside of the Bohannon

Building. The scene depicts Sallie Rose Bohannon, holding the Crown

of Thorns Quilt made by her mother, Bettye Howell. Sallie, an early

prominent businesswoman, was the first of five generations of the

Bohannon family to operate a business downtown. The building is still

owned by the same family today. Miss Sally Bohannon, one of the richest

women in Greeneville in the 1920s, moved here with her widowed mother

to be near several uncles who were local potters. After teaching ceramic

painting at Tusculum College, she opened a millinery store that sold hats

and ready-to-wear piece goods that she purchased in New York.





WINGS IN GREENE

by Joni Parker & Dana Wilds

115 Academy St., Greeneville TN 37743


Wing murals have become popular in many cities over the past few

years from LA to New York, even around the world. One of the first wing

murals was painted by artist Colette Miller in Los Angeles in 2012. Miller

says, "| created the interactive street art angel wings project to remind

humanity that we are the angels of Earth." Without prompting, people

began posing with the wings and shared the photos on social media

The angel wings paintings have since taken flight. In 2014, artist Kelsey

Montague painted a wings mural in New York. Taylor Swift Instagrammed

a photo of herself in front of the wings, then had her come to Nashville

and paint yet another pair right across the street from the Gulch wings.

The wings murals come in all different colors, sizes, and designs. Check

out Wings in Greene for a great interactive photo.







THE U.S.S. GREENEVILLE

by Joe Kilday

115 Academy St., Greeneville TN 37743


asdfasf










 

Physical Books Available for the Greeneville Mural Trail















108 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

Comentários


bottom of page