Granddaddy Dogwood Tour

As part of the Dogwood Arts Festival April 6-April 29, several driving tours are traditionally featured in order to showcase some of Knoxville's most beautiful dogwood trees in bloom.  This year a new tour has been added, called the Granddaddy Dogwood Trail, which celebrates some of Knoxville's oldest dogwoods and other significant species of trees.  Old North Knoxville is honored on this tour, with its Tennessee State Champion Black Oak, located at 226 West Glenwood Avenue.  Currently measuring 18 feet in its circumference, this oak predates the Civil War!

The Granddaddy Dogwood Trail is a new concept in admiring the beautiful dogwoods. With the help of Jim Cortese of Cortese Tree Specialists Inc., a selection of the largest dogwood trees in Knox County are featured on a 1 1/2 hour driving tour. There are more than 15 trees on the tour, including seven dogwoods and several "champion" trees, such as the Yaupon Holly, 109 W. Fifth Ave., a Tennessee State Champion. Maps for the Granddaddy Dogwood Trail begin and end at the festival office, 111 N. Central Street, and are available in the open gardens brochure at the festival office and Dogwood Trail mailboxes.

The trees on the tour are:

• Yaupon Holly - 109 W. 5th Ave., Tennessee State Champion
• White Dogwood - Cleveland Park, 729 Morgan Street - 49-inch circumference, 30-foot height, 37-foot spread
• Bald Cypress - 1111 Luttrell Street - Knox County Champion
• Black Oak - 226 West Glenwood Avenue, Tennessee State Champion
• Happy Hollow Pregnant Oak - 1611 Central Street - Heritage Tree
• Red Dogwood - Oakwood Baptist Church, 111 E. Columbia Avenue - 69-inch circumference, 35-foot height, 46-foot spread
• Incense-Cedar - 1009 Atlantic Avenue - Tennessee State Champion
• White Dogwood "Most Photogenic" - Second Baptist Church, 2909 Broadway - 49-inch circumference, 26-foot height, 42-foot spread
• Dogwood - vacant lot across from Post Office, 1410 Washington Pike - 53-inch circumference, 28-foot height, 35-foot spread
• Red Dogwood - Catholic Diocese of East Tennessee Calvary Cemetery, 1916 Martin Luther King Blvd. - 82-inch circumference, 34-foot height, 42-foot spread - National champion for the United States
• White Dogwood - 2020 Island Home Blvd - 70-inch circumference, 29-foot height, 41-foot spread
• White Dogwood - 2250 Hillsboro Heights - 78-inch circumference, 36-foot height, 45-foot spread - Tennessee co-champion, Knox County Champion
• Horse Chestnut - Old Knox County Courthouse, across from 912 Gay Street - Tennessee State Champion
• Hackberry - First Presbyterian Church Cemetery, 620 State Street, Knox County Champion

Employees of Cortese Tree Specialists install lightening rods in the 226 W. Glenwood Ave. Black Oak in February 2000 (click on each to see an enlarged view).