Gone but not forgotten: Knoxville area restaurants and retailers we miss.

[TN Jed]

He was my academic advisor

I'm jealous! He would have been a good one for me! He did really well leading the college of engineering. Just all around good fella.

 

[TN Jed]

Sorry to be “that guy”, but I am that guy. I just realized recently that it is Merchant Dr. Not Merchants.

Phillip, not Phil…

Fair point. Technically, it is spelled without the 's'; however, most folks pronounce it with the 's'. At least from what I've always heard from other folks from here, and that's how I pronounce it.

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

Sorry to be “that guy”, but I am that guy. I just realized recently that it is Merchant Dr. Not Merchants.

Phillip, not Phil…

Similarly Sharps Gap and Sharps Chapel usually don’t have an apostrophe. I’ve seen Sharp’s Ridge with and without. The city of Knoxville has the apostrophe and the Veterans Heritage Site Foundation uses both.

 

[Tennessee Jedi]

Fair point. Technically, it is spelled without the 's'; however, most folks pronounce it with the 's'. At least from what I've always heard from other folks from here, and that's how I pronounce it.

I have ALWAYS said Merchants, but after seeing it and being legalistic, the struggle is real.

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

Fair point. Technically, it is spelled without the 's'; however, most folks pronounce it with the 's'. At least from what I've always heard from other folks from here, and that's how I pronounce it.

I use Merchants Drive. Old habit.

It was planned to be extended to Weisgarber at Middlebrook Pike. That sure would have resulted in a vastly different landscape for the West Hills/Bearden/Amherst areas.

 

[MAD]

I always said Le Mercha

 

[Ted]

Google says that Middlebrook is “temporarily” closed.

Google says that about a lot of businesses that actually open. Apparently that was something that came about during the pandemic. The Middlebrook location is closed.

 

[Ted]

The street signs on Merchant Dr. go both ways, Merchant and Merchants, so even the City doesn't know for sure, apparently. All they'd have to do is make a determination, change the street signs, and the property tax records. Too much to ask, I suppose.

One thing I wish Knoxville would do is get rid of the obsolete directionals on the street names! Most older streets here have NW or SE or E or one of the other compass directions as part of the signage.

* * *
According to the US Geological Survey, apostrophes should not included in map place names. A couple of examples from the Smokies: Charlies Bunion and Clingmans Dome.

I was not a fan of the government changing the place name of Clingmans Dome to "Kuwohi." The Knox County Commission voted last year to support the name change, for some strange reason. I emailed my commissioner and asked, "Doesn't the Commission have anything better to work on?"