Townsend, TN and Clinton, TN were filming locations for the show. Clinton was solely for the episode Echoes. Both locations are about 2 hours from my home. I’ve been to these places before and knew Christy was filmed there. But I wanted to journey back to them with Christy on the forefront of my mind, especially after creating this website.
The grounds of the Museum of Appalachia were used for the Echoes episode. It was founded in 1969 and is intended to be a historic education of Appalachia. In a sense it’s a time-capsule of early Appalachian life with cabins, tools, farming equipment, music, and much more. I believe those in the city-life would find this museum fascinating. It garners at lot of visitors. I live in more of a rural area and I’ve seen many of these items before around the area and in my life. Yet these frontier cabins always interest me. Clearly I’m not talking about your multimillion dollar cabin in the Smokies. I think the cabins I walked in would give you a general idea of those during the era of Christy. Christy’s cove was seen as something similar even though it was early 1900s. I was interested in picturing where the precise location of the cameras and actors were during the filming.
Tucked in a small building off to the side is an unmentioned Christy exhibit. Stepping inside I was engulfed with a musty smell of mold and saw give or take a 20×20 feet area. Don’t get me wrong, it was great seeing some items used in the show. But what hit me the most was the neglect and disregard it held for the whole museum. Perhaps it’s due to funding as they’re a non-profit organization, but they do have admission fees and merchandise. They haven’t even made Christy one of selling points of the museum. Hopefully things will be implemented to change that. Christy hit 40 million viewers for the Pilot episode and ran for 2 seasons. The episode filmed here guest starred the future cast member LeVar Burton. He’s a well renowned actor for the Star Trek franchise, Roots, and Reading Rainbow. It’s really a missed opportunity for the museum.
In Townsend, TN below the Foothills Parkway lies the site of the filming area of the church/schoolhouse. Townsend is far from city-life with small hustle and bustle. It’s known as the Peaceful Side of the Smokies. Behind the town though lies hidden another world. Traveling down a one lane road you find a pocket of land not seen. A couple of kids were walking their dog and another taking a stroll. I found a small tattered barn fadedly marked El Pano. It was used in the Pilot episode just as Christy gets off the train. You can hear the faint sound of a dog barking when you get a little too close to someone’s property.
Behind a large farm lies the schoolhouse in a far distance. In the dead of winter it’s barely visible through the trees. During the spring it’s impossible to see. I can’t make judgements as to why the owner is letting the church fall apart. After all that’s what part of the episode Lost and Found is about. Throughout it all sitting in front of the land of the church, you hear one thing. Nothing. There was a sense of peace there. Those are the only words that come to mind for it and not intentionally. It’s similar to the opening words in the Pilot.
Please note you cannot venture on to the sites in Townsend. They’re no trespassing. I don’t know how long these TV used props and buildings will last. However Ken Wales, the man who fought tooth and nail to bring the show to TV summed it up perfectly. “Keep on keeping on. Take the high road. Don’t give up. All words that Mike Rhodes and I especially, committed to each other to observe. And I think as I look back at that right now those are the things that propel me and strengthen me, to continue the odyssey of Christy, as long as God shall have it last.”
View addresses here: Visit
View photos of the areas here: On Location