Introduction

Along the winding, one-mile length of Timberlake Drive, there is one break in the trees near the highest crest of the ridge that offers a glimpse from the road of the Great Smoky Mountains off in the distance to the southeast. If the sky is clear and you pause to look, you can see through the treetops the overlapping layers and silhouettes of foothills and peaks fading gradually into the distance. Like that vista, shared by more than 150 families during the past 60 years, the history of the Timberlake neighborhood similarly unfolds as a series of juxtapositions and interconnections of lives.

Sadly, too few of the earliest generation of Timberlake residents are alive to help tell this history. Yet, their presence (and that of those who followed) is physically documented all around in the lanes, yards and houses they tended and in the written records they kept. Many of those who called Timberlake home – briefly or for a lifetime – made an impact that extended far beyond the boundaries of the subdivision, but their impression also lingers here, vividly, in personal memories shared by neighbors and children. To accommodate both those factual and personal accounts, the “Timberlake History Project” is organized in two parts:

Part I – Documented History catalogs and summarizes information publicly available about the Timberlake neighborhood, both past and present.

Part II – Living History serves as an ongoing repository – a neighborhood scrapbook for personal accounts, stories, profiles, biographies, obituaries and other information shared by past, current and future residents.

Together, these two parts reveal the history of the Timberlake neighborhood from our perspective in 2009. Enjoy the view!

Contents

PART I – Documented History

1.   Timberlake Area History, 1783-1948

2.   The Development of the Timberlake Community Property

3.   Planning and Building the Neighborhood

4.   Land Use and Natural Features

5.   History of the Timberlake Community Club, Inc.

6.   A Short History of Alcoa Highway


APPENDICES

A.   Property Owner List

B.   Summary of the Alcoa Highway Redevelopment Project

C.   Structural Changes to Timberlake Homes

D.  Bylaws, Charter and Restrictions

E.   Bibliography

F.   Acknowledgments

G.  Documents and Resources (CD version only)

 

PART II – Living History

Introduction

Memories of Home,  by Ann Hake

Repository of Stories, Biographies and other Contributions
(Organized by Street Number)

3308 Timberlake - Brown
3313 Timberlake – Shea
3408 and 3412 Timberlake – Shivers
3500 Timberlake - Bazzoon
3505 Timberlake - Prose
3523 Timberlake - Johnson
3601 Timberlake - Bowmaster
3605 Timberlake - Nielsen
3612 Timberlake - Johnson
3708 Timberlake - Barber, George F. Jr.
3715 Timberlake - Taylor/Boarts
3722 Timberlake - Mary Witherspoon
3701 Maloney - Brott
3600 Montlake - Way/Hill