History is hopping at Farragut Museum
“We’re just trying to get people engaged and share our love for history with a lot of community outreach programs we’re trying to implement,” Farragut historic resources coordinator Kristi Vining said.
Since it opened April 2025, “we try to do an event every month.”
The action starts with Movies at the Museum 7:30 p.m., Friday, Sept. 18, at the BlueCross Healthy Place playground behind Town Hall, 11408 Municipal Center Drive.
“We partnered with the Knoxville House Museum with something they do every fall,” Vining said. “Every Friday night in September and October, they rotate locations and have an outdoor movie.
The movies have been shown at Mabry-Hazen House, James White Fort and other locations.
“So, we’re hosting it on Sept. 18, and we’re going to do it at the field behind the playground,” she said. “We’re showing ‘Herbie Fully Loaded.’
“There’s a special tie to that because it was written by Robert Ben Garant, who is a 1988 graduate of Farragut High School,” Vining said. “We’ll have to wait a little bit until it gets dark enough to see the movie, probably about 8:15 p.m.
“We thought kids could play on the playground if they wanted to, get some energy out,” she added. For adults, “bring your lawn chair; bring your blanket.”
Vining said people from the Dove’s Club, a Volkswagen club in Knoxville, will bring a vintage Volkswagen Beetle to display.
“We’ll have a food truck; we’ll have yard games, so it’s just a fun community event,” she said.
The activities continue with a History Hour at 11 a.m., Tuesday, Sept. 22, in Farragut Town Hall featuring Dr. Chris Magra, a University of Tennessee professor of Americans at War.
Vining said the professor will be talking about the military history of the American Revolutionary War.
“He’s just written a new book called ‘America’s First War,’ so he’ll have that for sale and talk about his research,” she said.
Then 4 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 1, the Museum will highlight a brand new program, History Readers.
“It’s a book club that we’re meeting once a quarter,” Vining said. “We’re going to give you a topic for a book to read, but you can read any book you want off that topic.
“We’re meeting at the Campbell Station Inn, 11409 Kingston Pike,” she said. “The meetings will actually be the first Thursday of every quarter, and our topic this time is the first five presidents — the people, their families, land, anything on that topic you want to read. Then people will just present on their book.”
There will be another History Hour, which will be 11 a.m., Wednesday, Oct. 21, in Town Hall, presented by retired librarian Kate Brewster. She will talk about the East Tennessee ties to American royalty, the Vanderbilts.
Also in October, the museum will host a temporary museum on loan from the Tennessee State Museum.
“It’s called Voices from Tennessee,” Vining said. “This is part of the 250th celebration of America. It’s Tennesseans who have made a great impact over the centuries in America.
“This is a very sought-after exhibit that we got on their schedule,” she said. “It will be here Sept. 10 through Oct. 15.”
The events culminated with historian Frank Galbraith, who will present The Day of Infamy 7 p.m., Monday, Dec. 7, in the Town Hall. In this event, Galbraith will relate the events that led up to the attack on World War II and Pearl Harbor.
“He covers the Roaring ’20s and Hitler coming into power, among other events,” Vining said.
All of the events are open to the public.
