Photography - Tennessee Excursion - Oak Ridge 'Alexander Inn Guest House'

[Eulogic]

hosiery mill used to be a big deal, actually

sweetwater used to be a pretty major train stop because of it

[EdgeCrusher]

Yeah, sweetwater. What a waste of time. I'm glad I'm out of that town. Only reason I ever go back is just to see my parents. Rent, if youre up for it maybe this weekend or next, I'll take you around oak ridge and we can do some pics of some of the things around there. I went around a month ago or so and did pics of all the graveyards and memorials for slaves and nuclear sites. Pretty fun stuff.

[Rent]

Yeah, sweetwater. What a waste of time. I'm glad I'm out of that town. Only reason I ever go back is just to see my parents. Rent, if youre up for it maybe this weekend or next, I'll take you around oak ridge and we can do some pics of some of the things around there. I went around a month ago or so and did pics of all the graveyards and memorials for slaves and nuclear sites. Pretty fun stuff.

Weekends are lame for me, I still work on the weekends until after 3:30, which is I suppose okay because before that the sun is too high and either I die like a burning ember or the pictures are just going to turn out flat because the shadows are obliterated by this sun pit which is Tennessee.

[EdgeCrusher]

After 3:30 is cool by me. I'm off all weekends usually, so if you wanna just meet up after work thats fine. Meet you at your place of employment or Books a million.

[Rent]

Hey, back again. Still motoring around Tennessee and getting some photos done, this time we went to Crossville. There is a place there called the Treehouse of the Way I think. It's pretty darn.. something.

Really though it's got a lot of great shots and though it's a little creepy being that it is a chapel outside of Crossville made out of a giant treehouse, it's definitely a place worth visiting. We were there a little bit before dusk and i got some pretty worthy shots out of the deal.

Here is the outside of the treehouse, the next time we go out there I'd love to get up into the upper floors, we only managed to get up to the third floor because the girl I was with was kind of a sissy

Here is a shot of almost the full house, you can nearly see the 'Treehouse of the Way' sign up there at the top and the entry point to the tower is just off to the left, the entry to the actual building is just ahead and behind that tree right in the middle to the right of the farm plow.

Once you get straight ahead you'll find a bunch of random little rooms where they've moved in different bits of furniture like this room and another angle of it from the other side of the room that shows a bed of sorts.

Once you get further into the building, up a set of stairs off toward your left from that angle, you get up into the sanctuary area of the building and then after you cross that there are a bunch of stairs that lead up into the third and fourth or so layers, but like I said we only got into the third floor. But here is the chapel/sanctuary area and yes that is a giant cross with the ladder on it.

Here is a pretty good view of what the worksmanship is like, it's insanely perplexing at times and you get lost really easily with all the tracks and walkways and doors. I was taking this shot and my friend was standing behind me in the bottom of a ladder like hole that I had clambered up through, she thought she's heard a growling noise like an animal and then Halt texted me and the phone made a crazy ghostly howl, so she started to squeal and we had to leave.

As usual there are some extra pictures that I can't post here because of the size limit, those are just the ones I really like. Here are the rest

Writing on one of the benches that serve as pews

Looking down on a 'crick' from the third floor

The Dinner Table, off the sanctuary area

A collage of pictures, this is actually the third one that is in the building. The cat in the middle is a little creepy

Side of the treehouse from the second floor outside of the chapel

The twisted walkway up into the tower

And to cap it all off I stopped in Crossville before even going out there and took a picture of this headstone. I know it's a little morbid, but I think it looks pretty neat.

Apparently that is his coat of arms on the hilt

[Halt]

Interesting, looking forward to more

[Rent]

So for the latest installment I actually have a building that has completely caught me, I've been back there about six times now since I stumbled over it with my Photography friend Whitney. The building is called Alexander Inn Guest House. I really don't have a lot of background on the building but it's someplace that I'm really interested in not only learning more about but also getting inside of. It's all boarded up and shuttered but as I'll show people do go inside of the building, there's currently an open window on the bottom floor but all we lack are the numbers to go in, the owner of the building lives nearby so it'd be a night mission and someone would have to drop off the people going in and leave them there.

Anyway, here goes.

A little geography on the place. The front of the building has a breezeway with a red concrete walkway, the entirety of the front and off to the sides a little are covered in some really neat scrollwork railings which are covered in vines. Here is the corner at the front of the breezeway just as you turn toward the (and for lack of my knowledge of directions) 'Rooms Side' of the Hotel.

Now on the 'Rooms Side' as well on the far other side of the building around the opposite corner of the same breezeway you have the 'Bar Side' of the hotel because under the boarding I've been told there is a bar. On either end of the building there are two doors that are up on the second floor, accessible by ladders. This door is on the 'Rooms Side'

Alright, on the 'Bar Side' of the building, down off the breezeway, not being the actual front of the building but being the first piece of it that you see when you drive in, there is a pool. This pool is really cruddy and it currently has a television floating in it. I know that this picture isn't very informative but I like it a lot. So here is the drug bottle floating in the pool.

Also not very informative, but every time I got near the pool or leaned down to take pictures I had alternating fears that someone was going to either push or pull me into it.

The last picture I'm going to straight post is again not very informative but it's the breezeway post with one of the vines wrapped around it

As before, here are the links to all the photos I couldn't get passed the 4 photo rule. I'm going to get some detail about the area of the building they are in. Also as a warning I'm sure this won't be the first time I post this place since I'm in love or a little obsessed.

Okay this is on the left 'Rooms Side' of the House, when you're standing out on the road looking at it, it's just off the the right.

In that same back corner there are a flight of stairs that lead down to what I assume is a cellar

This is a partial shot of the 'Rooms Side' wall of the building to the left of those stairs and the corner. You can see individual windows this way

Here is the full 'Rooms Side', off to the right is that corner/cellar, and to the left where the wall comes toward you there is an open window

Aaaand speaking of the open window, here is a good shot of that wall.

If you come back toward the road and go left around the wall with the open window, there is a stairwell which you can climb up and get this view, still the 'Rooms Side' of the building if I had panned a little to the right you'd have seen the second floor door

Here is the front Breezeway, 'Bar Side' and showing a little of the damage of time

Some more of the Breezeway vines, cause I think they are pretty

Breezeway from the 'Rooms Side' pointing toward the bar. If you look off to the left right before the white turns into the background, you can see what I think is a windowseat in the bar.

Side view of the front of the inn, later at night.

This is through the open window, into one of the rooms.

Railway Vines, full breezeway

Second floor door on the 'Rooms Side'

Barside Second floor Door Ladder

I know this is a lot, like I said I'm obsessed, every time I go back i get a different view of the place. Next time I'll post up four full side shots of each side.

[Halt]

How old this building anyways? just out of curiosity?

[Rent]

How old this building anyways? just out of curiosity?

That I'm not quite sure of, I'm still doing research on it.

[Rent]

So far what I have been able to find is this

The Guest House served to house the visiting dignitaries during the Manhattan Project and continued to provide exceptional accommodations through the years as the Alexander Inn. It is in a sad state of disrepair at present. Several individuals are working through the Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association in an attempt to find ways to preserve this historic structure. It is a natural for a "bed and breakfast" of the grandest kind."

Oak Ridge is home of Y12, the nuclear power plant that played a big part in the Manhattan project. Apparently a lot of people met there regarding the construction of nuclear weapons.

[Halt]

So far what I have been able to find is this

Oak Ridge is home of Y12, the nuclear power plant that played a big part in the Manhattan project. Apparently a lot of people met there regarding the construction of nuclear weapons.

Oh, Historical. The meeting of, making things that blow the shit out of stuff, wooo. My kind of meeting.