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2010-11-13 - 8:04 a.m. all photos © 2010 by elaine radfordThe Minister's Tree House is a work-in-progress -- the original owner is still there and still making additions. Our next stop, Millennium Manor, was built from 1938 to 1946, by a man who started when he was 61 years old and still working full-time at the Alcoa plant across the street. He and his wife built it by hand, with no help from outside labor. They used Roman techniques, with no wood or nails in the architecture, because he planned to use it both to survive Armageddon and to have a place to live for the 1,000 years following that event. The stone is Tennessee Pink Marble from Friendsville, Tennessee, and the structure is so strong that it's said that even if all of the cement mortar was removed, it would remain standing. And that's pretty amazing, since the roof supposedly weighs more than 400 tons. Take that, dark zombie horsemen of the Apocalypse! You weren't expecting that, were you? The current owner is working to restore the manor, after the tender efforts of generations of vandals. But he isn't above adding the personal touch -- check out the home-built cannon in some of the photos. Because why hide in your bomb shelter from the Four Horsemen of Endtime when you can fire a few cannonballs in their general direction? How to Get There: You won't have any trouble finding it, as the Alcoa plant is still across the street. The address is 500 North Wright Road, Alcoa, TN, so put it into your GPS or Mapquest, and you're all set. This is a private house, so don't trespass or make a general nuisance of yourself. It is well-marked with a nice sign, and it's easy to see from the road. Apparently, the owner sometimes offers an open house on Memorial Day, so I'd check with the Knoxville news outlets around that time, if you wanted a tour inside. We were there when we were there, in November, but it's still quite an interesting structure from the outside. I do not know if the marble quarry at Friendsville is still open or if there is any more of the pink marble available for other ambitious owner/builders.
All Rights Reserved, Copyright 2002-2017 by Elaine Radford
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