Tusculum University will be able to make valuable enhancements to historic facilities on campus that will strengthen the guest experience and provide beneficial updates with the recent receipt of a capital maintenance and improvement grant from the state.
The university has received a $40,000 capital maintenance and improvement grant administered by the Tennessee State Museum. Dr. Peter Noll, professor of public history and museum studies, said the grant will enable the university to tackle needed projects at the Doak House Museum.
“We are thrilled to receive these funds and are grateful to the state for recognizing the value of our historic structures,” Dr. Noll said. “The Doak House has become a focal point for many of our public events at Tusculum that have enriched personal lives in the past few years. These additional resources will support our efforts to incorporate and celebrate the past as we enjoy these facilities well into the future.”
Tusculum will use some of the funds to repair the Doak House parking lot, where the gravel has washed out at least five times in the last two years after heavy rainfall. The majority of the money will go to exterior building maintenance to the house, including painting and repairing wood trim, reglazing windows and installing flashing to protect the inside from water seeping through the roof.
The Tennessee Legislature made available $5 million in funding from the 2023-2024 Appropriations Act to provide grants to museums with a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization or affiliated with a governmental entity for capital maintenance and improvements.
This highly competitive process resulted in the Tennessee State Museum receiving 170 applications, totaling $12.5 million in funding requests. The Tennessee State Museum made full or partial awards to 108 museums across the state, representing 58 counties.
“The Tennessee State Museum serves the state of Tennessee through history, art and culture,” said Ashley Howell, Tennessee State Museum executive director. “There is incredible work being done throughout the state by our strong network of Tennessee museums and historic homes. This grant is an extension of how we can further support their efforts and the preservation of local and state history. We thank the Tennessee General Assembly for their support for Tennessee museums.”
Tusculum’s receipt of this grant comes two years after the university raised funds to restore the chimneys at the Doak House and the academy. As part of that initiative, the Greene County Heritage Trust donated $2,250 to Tusculum to support that project.
The Doak House and the adjacent academy building have increasingly become the location of events that draw the community. Tusculum Arts Outreach has held “Edgar Allan Poe and Other Haunted Stories in the Woods” the last two years as part of pre-Halloween activities. The university also holds camps on the grounds.
The university will host Tennessee Tree Day at the Doak House Saturday, March 16, and community members can reserve trees at https://www.tectn.org/tennesseetreeday.html.
During the spring, summer and fall, the Greeneville Farmer’s Market holds sales every Saturday morning at the Doak House. In addition, the university has grown vegetable crops on the property the last few years. Tusculum students also participate in periodic social activities on the grounds.
Through the leadership of Dr. Noll and Jordan Baker, an assistant professor of biology, Tusculum has created a nature trail through runs from the spring house at the Doak House through the woods to the Paul E. Hayden Educational Wetland with the help other Tusculum family members and the community.
Moving forward, Dr. Noll said Tusculum is eyeing additional arts programming at the Doak House. That includes a new program called “Doak After Dark” in which the university will project performances and movies of cultural significance in the evening on the gable of the Doak House. Another potential use of the grounds is open-air theater.
The Doak House is a nonprofit educational institution established as a museum in 1975. In about 1830, the Rev. Samuel Witherspoon Doak, who co-founded Tusculum Academy with his father, the Rev. Samuel Doak, built the house. Doak descendants continued to live in the house until the 1970s. In the mid-1970s, the house was donated to Tusculum University, and the Heritage Trust restored it with the help of a grant from the American Revolution Bicentennial Administration.
The academy building, located behind the Doak House, is a reproduction of the original Tusculum Academy, which merged with Greeneville College to become what is known today as Tusculum University.
“We are extremely proud of what we have achieved at the Doak House, the academy and the rest of the grounds,” said Wayne Thomas, dean of the College of Civic and Liberal Arts. “They contribute significantly to the active and experiential learning we provide students, reinforce our respect for the past and show how we take our status as Tennessee’s first higher education institution seriously. We are excited about what we will achieve as we continue to expand the use of the Doak House and the grounds.”
Additional information about Tusculum’s history program is available at https://site.tusculum.edu/history/.
