Ramsey House, Knoxville TN: Touring the Pink Marble Landmark

Before the Tour

The House and Grounds

The land the house sits on was originally Cherokee territory, and Francis Ramsey chose it because he believed the swampy soil could be drained and turned into fertile farmland—and he was right. As a subsistence farm, they grew corn, wheat, and flax instead of cash crops, but it was still a site of enslavement. At one point, a palisade wall surrounded the house. My tour guide pointed out that while it likely served as protection, it may also have been intended to keep people in.

Also on the property is a replica of the log cabin the Ramseys lived in while the stone house was under construction. The two-story house was designed by Thomas Hope, an English architect and the first known architect in the region. It’s made from Tennessee pink marble (technically limestone, but it polishes like marble), with blue limestone accents.

The Kitchen

We started the tour in the kitchen—an addition that Francis Ramsey’s second wife insisted on in 1806. It was the first attached kitchen in the area. Most homes at the time kept kitchens separate to avoid the risk of fire and to keep heat out during the summer, but because this house was made of stone, it was considered safe enough to build one directly onto the main structure.

This room hit me harder than I expected. The fireplace and rafters are still black with soot, the ceiling low. Above the kitchen is a small loft, where some of the enslaved women who worked here would have slept. In one corner sits a large cast iron pot that the museum interprets as a possible “prayer bowl”—something that may have been used to muffle prayers and songs that weren’t allowed to be spoken or sung aloud.

The Loft

The small loft above the kitchen is being prepared as an interpretive space to tell the stories of the enslaved people who lived and worked on the property—people like Vinnie (also recorded as Venus), Cato, Levy, Dorcas, Saphrona, Mary Hannah, and Wesley. I had a chance to peek into the loft, and it was hard not to imagine how stifling the heat and smoke must have been. This is where the women likely slept, while the men were housed in a small cabin near what would’ve been the palisade wall.

The museum is continuing to research and share these stories, and I appreciated their honesty about what’s currently known and what’s still being uncovered.

The Dining Room

The dining room was a different world entirely. It served as the main event space for the Ramsey family—hosting dinners, formal balls, political conversations (with guests like William Blount and John Sevier), and even religious services. Before the local Presbyterian congregation had a dedicated church building, this room doubled as their place of worship.

Parlor

Among the original furnishings are two Chippendale chairs, gifted to Francis and Peggy Ramsey before the house was even built, and a silver tea set, gifted to Francis’s son William on his wedding day.

But standing there, it’s hard not to feel the contrast between the room’s elegance and the labor that kept it running. As my tour guide put it plainly: “To guests, this was a mansion. To the enslaved, it was a prison.”

Upstairs: Life, Loss and Personal History

We headed upstairs next, passing through a small central room where Thomas Hope—the builder responsible for the home’s detailed woodwork—lived with his family while finishing the job. From there, we visited the main bedroom and the children’s room. At one point, around 35 people lived under this roof, including family, clerks, and enslaved workers.

Some of my favorite artifacts were upstairs. There were penny-head dolls—named because they cost a penny per head—each hand-carved with jointed limbs and painted to resemble the child who owned it. Also on display were a pair of 250-year-old baby booties, discovered during an archaeological dig on the property, and delicate baptismal garments made from flax and hand-embroidered.

But perhaps the most moving items were the birth and death samplers stitched by Eliza Jane Ramsey. One lists the births of her siblings; the other records their deaths—many lost in childhood to illness. Seeing those hand-stitched names made the family’s history feel immediate and personal in a way no plaque or timeline ever could.

Final Thoughts

The Ramsey House is a traditional house museum in many ways—period rooms, family stories, and preserved details from early Knoxville life. But there are a few moments that land differently. The soot-stained kitchen, the tiny loft above it, and the birth and death samplers upstairs all add a layer that feels personal and real.

It doesn’t dive deep into every part of the past, but it makes space for the harder stories—including the lives of the people who were enslaved here. If you’re in East Tennessee and want a glimpse into the early days of the region, it’s a stop worth making.