A Walk Through U.T. Gardens and Back Into the City

UT Gardens, Neyland Drive, Knoxville, May 2020
UT Gardens, Neyland Drive, Knoxville, May 2020

I took a lot of long walks before the heat got turned up to full volume in recent weeks. It was a good way to get some exercise and to see something besides the four walls of home. I’d walked through UT Gardens before, but it had been quite a while and it had been a pretty superficial visit.

The photographs here show the gardens in late spring. There were a few irises left, but they were fading quickly. As you’ll see in one of the photographs, there were UT graduates and their families around, mixing and mingling as if a virus wasn’t lurking about. I kept my distance, but seemed to be one of only a few trying to do so.

UT Gardens, Neyland Drive, Knoxville, May 2020
UT Gardens, Neyland Drive, Knoxville, May 2020
UT Gardens, Neyland Drive, Knoxville, May 2020
UT Gardens, Neyland Drive, Knoxville, May 2020
UT Gardens, Neyland Drive, Knoxville, May 2020

The gardens were beautiful and the whimsical touches added a bit of fun to an otherwise serious era. With these photographs, I’ve shared most of those I shot during this spring. It was a brilliantly beautiful spring. Or perhaps it only seemed so because I payed more attention.

UT Gardens, Neyland Drive, Knoxville, May 2020
UT Gardens, Neyland Drive, Knoxville, May 2020
UT Gardens, Neyland Drive, Knoxville, May 2020
UT Gardens, Neyland Drive, Knoxville, May 2020
UT Gardens, Neyland Drive, Knoxville, May 2020

After leaving the gardens, I walked back along Neyland, which I would have to say is not entirely pleasant. There were sections where I had to walk along the road due to construction, etc. We still have work to do around the city in order to become more pedestrian-friendly or even pedestrian-safe.

UT Gardens, Neyland Drive, Knoxville, May 2020
Third Creek, Knoxville, May 2020
Third Creek, Knoxville, May 2020
Neyland Boat Ramp, Knoxville, May 2020
Railroad Bridge off Neyland Drive, Knoxville, May 2020

Several things struck me as I moved at a slow pace: I didn’t realize how big Third Creek is at that spot. It’s quite attractive and navigable, if only for a short stretch. I also had no idea there was a boat ramp alongside the road. Finally, the rail bridge, once discussed as a pedestrian walkway, is now fading quickly, standing as a sad and beautiful monument to another era.

Neyland Stadium, Knoxville, May 2020
Construction Beside Neyland Stadium, Knoxville, May 2020
Back in the City, John Prine Lyrics on Bijou Marquee, Knoxville, May 2020

Thompson Boling’s scrolling digital marquee advertised a Def Leopard/ZZ Top show that would never happen. Construction continued rapidly on a building beside the empty Neyland Stadium. As I returned to downtown, the marquee at the Bijou more accurately captured the moment, with a lyric from John Prine, who died of COVID-19 early in the pandemic, “You don’t have to be alone. Just come on home.”

 

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