History Happy Hour at the Chester Inn State Historic Site

About this event

The Heritage Alliance and Chester Inn State Historic Site & Museum are excited to announce the first program in our 2025 History Happy Hour series. Marshall Adesman of the Exchange Place Kingsport TN 1850s Farm is thrilled to bring the history of the site to life for visitors both in person and off-site. This program will be hosted at the Chester Inn State Historic Site and Museum in the Board Room annex behind the main building. The program will start at 6:30 p.m. on March 20th and run until 7:30 p.m. with time for questions following this informative academic talk. This event is free and open to the public. Now for a few words from our speaker, Marshall Adesman:

Introduction to the Exchange Place

Long before there was such a thing as an interstate highway system, the Old Stage Road carried people from Washington, DC to Nashville, Tennessee, with many stops in between. It is, in fact, the oldest road in the state of Tennessee, and while it no longer sees traffic, it still runs through the Exchange Place Living History Farm in Kingsport, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. And by simply stepping across that Old Stage Road, visitors find themselves transported back to a different era, a simpler time, and a more tranquil environment.

Exchange Place Living History Farm, located on Orebank Road on the eastern side of Kingsport, is a nonprofit run exclusively by volunteers. It is at once an educational facility, a working farm, and a regional attraction whose mission is to preserve and interpret the heritage of mid-19th century farm life in Northeast Tennessee.

On the 20th of March 2025, Exchange Place volunteer Marshall Adesman will help us kick off this year’s History Happy Hour Series by bringing this Kingsport jewel to life. Free and open to the public, it will be held in the board room of the Chester Inn State Historic Site (behind the main building), beginning at 6:30 pm.