Heiskell is not the first place that comes to mind when considering a quest for the Holy Grail. But that is exactly where Sean Messamore is looking. His personal grail is finding more photographs of his grandfather’s mercantile that sat at the corner of Depot Road and Raccoon Valley Road. The building burned decades ago.
“I’d probably die if a photo turns up of the inside of the store,” Messamore said with a laugh. Though he doesn’t have but the one photo, he does have a best guess replica that was made of the store, also known as the Heiskell Mercantile, that once belonged to Samuel Jasper Messamore. This personal quest led him to start a Facebook group, the Heiskell, Tennessee Community History Project, where members can share photographs, historical documents and memories of the community.
Sean Messamore
“The ultimate goal for me would be to have an actual museum of some sort,” he said. “The dream would be to build a replica of the old train station on site and have it there. That’s probably a pipe dream, but it’s still a dream. It plays out well in my head, anyway”
He encourages anyone, whether it’s Heiskell history or not, to dig in the boxes stashed in attics or basements for old pictures and documents to preserve history that’s yet to be recorded. And to take the time to “talk to your elders” and get their memories written down before it’s too late.
“A lot of Heiskell history has been lost, but there’s still a lot of people around with information. I encourage everyone to explore it as much as possible,” he said, including compiling a family tree. “Be prepared to not like everything you find, though. There’s going to be good, bad and sometimes ugly.”
Another dream for Messamore would be to eventually buy the home he lived in as a young child in Heiskell before his parents split.
“I would buy it back in a heartbeat. I would love to move back out there someday,” he said, noting that his love of history was nurtured by his father, a history buff himself who took his children traveling to learn about it.
To listen to him, you would think he was older than his 31 years. He and his wife, Samantha, have been together for 18 years – since they met at Whittle Springs Middle School. They have a young son, Jackson, and another little one on the way this year. When he isn’t on a grail quest, he works for ADT Security.
Model of the mercantile
Messamore also said no one should allow a lack of formal education to be a stumbling block in their pursuit of knowledge. Though he is from Heiskell, he spent his formative years growing up in North Knoxville, attending both Central and Fulton high schools (officially, he considers himself a Falcon when it comes to the Battle of Broadway, though). He ended up getting his GED due to some family hardships that necessitated him going to work. College just wasn’t in the cards for him.
“If I could get paid to go back to school, I would,” he said. “But that shouldn’t stop anyone from pursuing knowledge. Put your best foot forward and make good use of your resources, and you will be fine.”
His personal favorite resources are the library, the East Tennessee History Museum, genealogy sites such as Ancestry.com and various history groups on social media platforms like Facebook.
The Heiskell history group can be found here.
Beth Kinnane is the community news editor for KnoxTNToday.com
