Sequoyah Hills: Community honors its Cherokee heritage

By staff | 9:17 am, 07/26/2007

Sequoyah Hills is a graceful old neighborhood near the University of Tennessee and downtown Knoxville. It’s tucked into a bend of the Tennessee River between Kingston Pike and Cherokee Boulevard.

The city annexed Sequoyah Hills in 1917. Today, the area is home to millionaires, college students and everyone in between. They live in mansions, bungalows, condominiums, townhouses and apartments.
Among the doctors, lawyers, professors, writers, artists and musicians, notable residents have included Sen. Howard Baker Jr., Alex Haley and Patricia Neal.

Sequoyah Hills – with its beautiful dogwood trails and majestic fountains – blends suburban with urban. A commercial village in the heart of the neighborhood features restaurants, a bank, service station, real estate agencies and other businesses.

Residents and visitors alike enjoy Cherokee Boulevard – a 5-mile trek (down and back total) for runners, walkers and bikers. It’s common to see baby strollers and dog walkers there.

Sequoyah Hills celebrates health and fitness. It hosts annual events like the Covenant Health Knoxville Marathon and Head of the Tennessee rowing regatta.

Children and adults frolic in Sequoyah and Whitlow parks, with ball fields, tennis courts, picnic tables and playgrounds. The Sequoyah branch of the Knox County Public Library offers more entertainment, with storytimes and other events.

Next door, Sequoyah Elementary School has a long reputation for excellence.

The name of the school and neighborhood honors Sequoyah (1767-1843), a Cherokee silversmith who once lived down the river and invented a writing system for his people.

Native American influences show up in designs throughout Sequoyah Hills. Lampposts have a spider motif, in reference to Cherokee mythology. Mountain lion-head fountains honor an animal sacred to the Cherokee: the American puma, or panther.

Cherokee names for the streets include Keowee, Kenesaw, Tugaloo and Taliluna. Papoose Park off Taliluna has iron gates decorated with a thunderbird, the Cherokee symbol of protection.

  • Cherokee Boulevard, the main street in Sequoyah Hills, was Knoxville’s first dogwood trail in 1955. The center strip originally was intended as a horseback-riding trail.
  • Sequoyah Hills is about 20 minutes from McGhee Tyson Airport and 10 minutes from the University of Tennessee and downtown Knoxville.
  • The community is also minutes away from restaurants, stores, churches and synagogues on Kingston Pike. Sequoyah Hills Presbyterian Church is located at 3700 Keowee Ave., in the middle of the neighborhood.
  • Sequoyah Village, across from the church, features several businesses. Among them is Lucia’s, a gourmet pizza restaurant with classical Italian cuisine like calzones and tiramisu. It offers free wireless Internet access. Bring your own beer or wine; Lucia’s doesn’t charge a cork fee. It’s open for lunch and dinner from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and noon to 9 p.m. Sunday. (1200 Kenesaw Ave., 521-3838)
  • AmSouth Bank in the village is open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday. An outdoor ATM is open around the clock. (1185 Keowee Ave., 521-5903)
  • Sequoyah Hills Service Center across the street from the bank is open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. The gas station provides vehicle maintenance; minor and major tune-ups; and brake, transmission and air-conditioning service, and sells tires and batteries. (1180 Keowee Ave., 523-4270)
  • The 87-acre Sequoyah Park at 1400 Cherokee Blvd. has picnic tables, playgrounds, three baseball/softball fields, unpaved trails, a concession stand and restrooms open during games and practices. The park has three entrances on the river side of the boulevard.
  • Knoxville Area Transit’s Route 10 bus runs hourly through Sequoyah Hills and goes to UT and downtown, as well as Western Plaza and Knox Plaza on Kingston Pike. (215-7800)

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