Sumac trees ring the southern perimeter of Everly Brothers Park at Kingston Pike, a pocket park located at the intersection of that busy road and Forest Park Boulevard in Bearden. With a dedication and groundbreaking for the park in summer 2015, and visits from the famous crooners’ family later that season, the .79-acre-site began to be transformed into a community space that will ultimately contain a small stage, walkways and informational plaques about the Everly Brothers’ career.
The trees are growing at Everly Brothers Park.
Terry Faulkner is the Bearden Council project chair for the Everly Brothers Park. With the city and other council members, she has been shepherding the park’s progress all the way. She says the council is currently accepting bids from contractors to finish the walkways, stage and other “infrastructure” elements. Faulkner says the council expects to make a decision next week. The hope is to have such work completed before this year’s Bearden Christmas Tree Lighting.
The “Christmas Tree,” which is actually three cypress trees together, is at the northwest sector of the site, adjacent to the shopping center containing Earth Fare and Elder’s Ace Hardware.
The park connects to the city’s Bearden Greenway and is part of a larger vision of pedestrian- and community-friendly green and recreation space.
The land for the park belongs to the Tennessee Department of Transportation, which is leasing it to the city of Knoxville long-term. The park itself was funded by the city and sponsoring donors, including the East Tennessee Community Design Center, Visit Knoxville and the Legacy Parks Foundation.
The Legacy Parks Foundation serves as the fiscal agent for the project, and is actively accepting donations for the completion of the park. Visit https://www.legacyparks.org/shop/everly-brothers-park/ to donate.
Donors so far include West High School Class of 1957. Don and Phil Everly moved to Knoxville in 1953, where they originally performed on Cas Walker’s radio show and enrolled in West High School. They stayed in Knoxville until Don graduated in 1955 and famously said it was the first place that felt like home to them. The brothers moved to Nashville after and soon made music history.
