Sharps Ridge Veterans Memorial Park

Sharps Ridge Memorial Park is a Knoxville City Park that was dedicated to Knox County’s Veterans in 1953. The Park is located between Broadway and Central Street in the Oak Wood – Lincoln Park community, just North of Downtown Knoxville. If you have ever seen the large “mountain” with the Antenna Farm on it running along I-640 and I-275, that is Sharp’s Ridge. The park runs along the top of the ridge and is 111 acres but will soon receive a land grant of an additional 42 acres from Legacy Parks Foundation.

Visitors can find the park by using the address 329 Sharp’s Ridge Memorial Drive. The Park offers one of the best views in the City to see the Smoky Mountains and features a scenic overlook platform. The park also features several unpaved walking/hiking trails including 4.7 miles of multi-use trails that wind across the wooded hills. The Appalachian Mountain Bike Club has also installed a 0.6-mile downhill-only trail for the exclusive use of bikers. Sharp’s Ridge is home to many songbirds and bird watchers often frequent the park to view them. The Knoxville Chapter of the Tennessee Ornithological Society holds many group hikes at Sharp’s Ridge for bird watching.

While the natural beauty and the features in the park that take advantage of that beauty can make for a nice visit, the park has not been maintained well over its many decades of service and has garnered quite a bad reputation for illicit activities and crime. In addition, the Veteran’s Park contains very little to indicate that is memorializing veterans, in fact, the only evidence is the dedication stone that was placed in the park when it was first dedicated. Until recently, this was hidden by shrubs and weeds.

In 2016, The Veterans Heritage Site Foundation officially adopted the park and began a clean-up project. Later that year, we gained approval from the City of Knoxville to transform it to an environment more befitting a Veterans Memorial Park. A few days later we submitted a request to add the word “Veterans” to the park name. On Veterans Day 2016 Knoxville City Mayor Madeline Rogero officially announced the renaming of the park as “Sharps Ridge Veterans Memorial Park”. Over the past few years we have been working closely with the City, KPD and Oakwood Lincoln Park Neighborhood Association to clean up the park grounds and its reputation. We have been told by KPD that our efforts have dramatically decreased the negative traffic in the park and the with it the crime rates.

Currently we are working with Knoxville Parks and Recreation and a small coalition of other interested organizations to renovate and improve the park. A Master Plan has been approved by the City of Knoxville and we are in the midst of fundraising and developing construction plans.

WE WANT YOU! Please join us in this very important project. You do not have to be a Veteran to join our group and all ages are welcomed! There are a wide variety of projects and tasks that require all types of skills. Some examples of volunteer work include:

  • General Clean-up
  • Landscaping
  • Construction, painting and equipment operation
  • Artistic and Craft projects
  • Graphic design and Printing
  • Public Affairs/Media Communications
  • Social Media Development
  • Marketing and Fund-Raising

As a 501c3 Non-Profit Organization we can supply Volunteer Credits for your educational or organizational Community Service programs!

 

Click the buttons below to view master plans for Sharps Ridge