Update- Recently (February 09) received the lower picture over e-mail from a cousin. It's a sketch of the area around Simpson's Ferry and not only indicates the site of the ferry, but also the Jesse Simpson (Jr.) house. Thanks Susan!
The following is an excerpt from the writings of Katherine Baker Johnson, regarding the life of her grandfather Jesse Simpson, Jr. (Jesse was the brother of my fourth great grandfather, Sanford Simpson). These notes were written c. 1940-
In 1869 Jesse Simpson Jr. bought from John Jones 116 acres of land lying along the south bank of the Tennessee River about 1 mile east of the Knox County Courthouse. After the Knox County toll bridge was blown down in a small cyclone about 1875, Jesse Jr. established a toll ferry near his home. Jackie (John) Jones also owned a ferry which crossed the river near where the present Gay Street Bridge crosses over. For the accommodation of his customers Jesse Jr. built a large shed near his ferry. This shed had sleeping quarters at one end and a large fireplace for cooking. Usually there was a supply of free wood for fires during cold weather. The writer has seen as many as a dozen mountain wagons and their owners camping there at one time. The huge wagons with their billowy white covers and loaded with apples, chestnuts and other products of the mountain farms, were drawn by oxen. Roads were poor in those days and oxen were sure-footed and well adapted to mountain travel. Sometimes, after spending a night at the convenient Simpson Camp, enjoying its shelter and often the free firewood, the mountaineer would turn his oxen and drive off to cross the river on his competitor's ferry closer to town. This was most exasperating.
Although the exact the location of Jesse Simpson's ferry has been lost to history, one can assume from the descriptions above, as well as the current location of "Simpson Avenue" (a short stretch of road situated about halfway between Island Home and the Gay Street Bridge) that the location of the ferry was somewhere in that general area. The photo and map above probably reflect the original location of the property and ferry. Jesse Simpson's holdings in the area also included the quarry along Island Home Pike, as well as the adjacent property containing the Cunningham-Flenniken Cemetery.
