Historic Isaac Anderson Cabin to be formally dedicated in new home Feb. 8

Jan. 23, 2019

The former home of Maryville College founder Isaac Anderson will be formally dedicated in its new location at the Great Smoky Mountains Heritage Center in Townsend, Tenn.

Maryville College is inviting the public to the grand opening ceremony for the Rev. Isaac Anderson Cabin at the Great Smoky Mountains Heritage Center on Fri., Feb. 8 at 3 p.m. The ribbon cutting will mark the cabin’s official opening to the public.   

The two-story log cabin where Anderson lived before founding Maryville College 200 years ago was slated for demolition in 2017, when donors raised the necessary funds to move the structure from Knox County to Townsend.

After the cabin was dismantled and the pieces were hauled to the grounds of the Heritage Center, log cabin experts documented every piece with photographs, numbered them with plastic tags, and then carefully reassembled them as part of the restoration project.

“It is both amazing and gratifying to know that the original 1802 home place of Isaac Anderson, the founder of Maryville College, has been saved from destruction,” said Cole Piper ’68, a Maryville College alumnus and member of the Great Smoky Mountains Heritage Center’s board of directors. “Thanks to the generosity of many Maryville College alumni, friends and community leaders, it has been fully restored and moved to its new and fitting home at the Great Smoky Mountains Heritage Center located in Townsend.”

The cabin is now a permanent part of the Great Smoky Mountains Heritage Center and will be open daily.

“Since construction began, the cabin has drawn a great deal of attention,” said Bob Patterson, executive director of the Heritage Center. “We are pleased with this joint venture with Maryville College and look forward to other unique opportunities this will offer us in the future.”

Founded as the Southern and Western Theological Seminary by the Synod of Tennessee on Oct. 19, 1819, Maryville College is celebrating its 200th year in 2019.

Maryville College is a nationally-ranked institution of higher learning and one of America’s oldest colleges. For more than 200 years we’ve educated students to be giving citizens and gifted leaders, to study everything, so that they are prepared for anything — to address any problem, engage with any audience and launch successful careers right away. Located in Maryville, Tennessee, between the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the city of Knoxville, Maryville College offers nearly 1,200  students from around the world both the beauty of a rural setting and the advantages of an urban center, as well as more than 60 majors, seven pre-professional programs and career preparation from their first day on campus to their last. Today, our 10,000 alumni are living life strong of mind and brave of heart and are prepared, in the words of our Presbyterian founder, to “do good on the largest possible scale.”