I know it's kind of a cop-out to just glom on to someone else's work, but Jack Neely has a compelling article this week in the Metro Pulse about the "shanty towns" of houseboats and boathouses that were prevalent along the Knoxville waterfront for many decades up into the 1960's. I've always been fascinated by this subject, as the husband of a friend I once worked with actually grew up among this population of folks.
Anyone who has ever read Cormac McCarthy's "Suttree" has probably found themselves trying to imagine this odd community of people living on the fringes of Knoxille society. Now, thanks to Jack's excellent work and archived data from a project commissioned by the Tennessee Vally Authority long ago, we can finally know just what this area of town looked like.
Thanks Jack!
