Bethlehem Walks!

As a companion to our Summer Reading Challenge, we are inviting the community to join us in a collective physical challenge: Bethlehem Walks! Use this form to submit your walking data to us, and we’ll compile it to show how far we’ve walked together as a town and include some fun information about the places we’ve “visited.” Include minutes walked, distance walked, or steps taken, as well as elevation changes (if you have it). Submit as often as you like. Adventure starts in Bethlehem!

 

Week 7 (8/4- 8/10)

Miles We’ve Walked This Week: 42

Miles Walked So Far: 696

With all the rain last week, there was good reason to stay close to home, but even with limited outdoor time, Bethlehem Walked down to Knoxville, TN.

The earliest settlements in the Knoxville area were during the Woodland period (1,000 BCE to 1,000 CE). The oldest known artificial structure is a burial mound, which was constructed sometime during the Mississippian culture period (1,000 CE to 1,400 CE). Although the burial mound has been preserved, the area surrounding it has been developed by the University of Tennessee. By the 18^th century, the Cherokee were the dominant tribe in the region. They called the area kuwanda’talun’yi, which means “mulberry place.” In the late 1700s, William Blount was placed in charge by George Washington to negotiate with the Cherokee on territories. Although Blount believed he had purchased a portion of land from the Cherokee with the Treaty of Holston, the terms came under dispute and violence broke out. The Cherokee refused to cede the area between Clinch River and Tennessee River (now the city of Kingston), and Blount had to move his plans for the capital to where Knoxville is. His immediate superior was Henry Knox, for whom the town is named.

Initially, Knoxville served and survived as a way station for travelers heading west. Located at the meeting of three major rivers, the waterfront allowed for flatboat and steamboat traffic, and Knoxville soon grew into a merchandising center. Local agricultural products, such as corn, tobacco, and whiskey, were traded for important products like cotton. In the 1850s, the population more than doubled thanks to the arrival of the East Tennessee and Georgia Railroad.

During the Civil War, Knoxville struggled between fighting Union and Confederate supporters. Though the greater Knox County voted against secession, Tennessee as a state had voted to secede, and in mid-1861, Tennessee joined the Confederacy. By the following year, west Tennessee was captured by the Union, but it wasn’t until 1863 when the Union took control of East Tennessee. After the war, Knoxville recovered quickly with a manufacturing boom, but this left the city vulnerable during the Great Depression. For much of the 20^th century, Knoxville alternated between economic success and hardships.

Today, Knoxville is thriving. After several revitalizations, the city has improved, with a successful downtown area, with parks, galleries, and new businesses.

Some famous Knoxville names include Ashley Capps (co-creator of Bonnaroo), actress Christina Hendricks (Mad Men), daredevil Johnny Knoxville (Jackass), filmmaker Quentin Tarantino, and writers Nikki Giovanni (Rosa), Frances Hodgson Burnett (The Secret Garden), and Cormac McCarthy (The Road, No Country for Old Men).

 

Things to do in Knoxville:

Anyone looking for arts will have plenty to do! Check out the Knoxville Museum of Art, the Knoxville Police Museum, or the Frank H. McClung Museum for a mixture of art, history, and science. If you’re more interested in music, you’ll have to see a performance by the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra. This orchestra is the oldest in the southeast and performs at over 200 events every year. Also popular is the Knoxville Opera, which performs every year at the Tennessee Theater.

 

History buffs and architecture admirers should check out James White’s Fort, which is the fort and settlement that eventually became Knoxville. Blount Mansion, the home of William Blount, is a wood-frame house with wood siding. What seems normal today was actually a novel construction in Tennessee at the time, where most houses were log cabins. There is also Bleak House, an antebellum Classical Revival style house, that was home to Confederate generals during the Civil War, and the Mabry–Hazen House, which was occupied by both Confederate and Union soldiers during different points of the war. This house features both Italianate and Greek Revival elements. Finally, a stop at the Sunsphere is a must! This 266-foot structure topped with a 75-foot glass sphere was built for the 1982 World’s Fair, which is when the Rubik’s Cube was introduced!

Events take place year-round in Knoxville, and there is something for everyone! Some of the most well-known are the Big Ears Festival, a musical festival that was once described by the Rolling Stone as the “classiest, most diverse festival in the country,” and has featured artists like Sufjan Stevens, The National, Vampire Weekend, and St. Vincent. For any athletes, the Knoxville Marathon is held every March or April and features a $10,000 prize that is distributed between the top finishers. If you prefer nature, the Dogwood Arts Festival is held every April and celebrates the blooming dogwood trees. Check out the parade, the house and garden show, and a demonstrations of number of arts and crafts.

 

 

 

 

Total Elevation Gain: 26,989 feet

We didn’t add much to our elevation this week, so it might be time to explore below the ocean. There are four ocean zones, and at just under 27,000 feet, we are in the Hadalpelagic zone, or the Hadal zone, which is named for Hades, the God of the Underworld in Greek mythology. This zone is the deepest part of the ocean. It only occurs in trenches and is located between 19,700 feet all the way to the very bottom of the Mariana Trench at 36,000 feet. The pressure in the Hadal zone is over 1,100 standard atmospheres, or 110 MPa, or 16,000 psi! Due to this extreme pressure, many of the fish in the Hadal zone have gelatinous skeletons and bodies.

While the Hadal zone is not as rich in animal life as other ocean zones, it is certainly not without its fish. One of the only known fish this far down, however, is the Snailfish, a tadpole-like that can only grow to be about 12 inches long. It was found in 2023, in the Japanese trenches of the northern Pacific Ocean at around 8,300 meters down, which is more than the 27,000 feet we’ve descended, but not by much. Typically in the Hadal zone, because no sunlight reaches this depth in the ocean, animals use bioluminescence to communicate and navigate the ocean, but the snailfish does not use bioluminescence. Unfortunately, not much is known about animals at this depth, so scientists are not sure why. One of the only other fish to have been located at this depth is the cusk eel, which was discovered at 8,370 meters, or 27,455 feet.

Besides bioluminescence helping fish find food, one of the main sources of food in the Hadal zone is “marine snow.” This is a continuous shower of primarily organic material that falls from the upper layers of the ocean. This can include anything from animal remains or waste, phytoplankton and other small organisms, dust, and sand.

 

 

 

Last week we visited Raleigh, NC. Check back next week to find out where Bethlehem Walks!