History of Fox Den Village Subdivision
The Early Years: 1820-1968
During the early 1800's, Solomon Harmon built a two-room home in a valley that now comprises Fox Den Village. The house was located just off Smith Road at North Fox Den Drive where a row of Cedar trees denotes the driveway that turned west from Smith Road. In fact, a large walnut tree in the area was in the side front yard of the Harmon home.
Glenn Everett’s family bought the Harmon home and expanded it from its original two rooms to a farm house design. Mr. Everett was probably responsible for the name “Fox Den” through his recounting the many stories about foxes that roamed the area from their dens located in the area just left of East Fox Den Drive. In fact, for over 100 years the area was a popular spot for fox hunters, and the charred remains of hunter's fires could be seen into the 1950's.
The Harmon home would serve an important part during the early life of Fox Den Village by being used as the first club house and pro shop. Also, the first mule breeding operation in Tennessee prospered here and, one of the two barns used on the farm would later be used by Fox Den as a storage area for golf carts and equipment.
The Dream
Fox Den began as a dream of Knoxville insurance executive, Chester A. Massey, during the mid-1960s. Massey, who was an excellent golfer, and an associate J.B. Lambert, a well known construction expert and sportsman (owner of Vulcan Materials, Inc.) were the driving forces behind the project.
Since the original idea was to build only a golf course, the development of Fox Den Country Club and the surrounding residential community are closely entwined. Lambert recalls: "we started with the idea of building the finest golf course possible, but after visiting many great golf courses, we saw what other places were doing. The total community complex seemed more attractive. People are interested in living next to or near the recreational facility of their choice."
Tom Siler, then Sports Editor of The Knoxville News-Sentinel, described the new facility as aspiring to elegance in both golf and suburban living. He also called it the most ambitious and significant recreational-residential development in the county since the construction of Holston Hills Country Club in the late 1920's.
Land Acquisition
Next to the Manhattan Project during World War II, the development of Fox Den Village and Club was one of the area’s best kept secrets. Chester Massey was afraid that if land owners figured out what was going on, prices would go up and he would be unable to acquire the land. Only Massey and a few close associates were aware of the final plans for the area.
The land was acquired over many months from 18 different owners, but the most significant parcels in terms of size were acquired from Dick Huntley, Spencer Smith, George Potter, and O.K Everett Glenn Everett's brother.
The acquisition process began when Massey approached Dr. Martin Davis, a prominent Knoxville obstetrician and gynecologist, and one of the founders of the present-day Park West Hospital. Dr Davis owned a key-piece of land, and Massey said: "Martin, how about me buying that land?" Massey relates that he did not tell Dr. Davis what he was interested in doing, but Dr. Davis set a reasonable price, and Massey said: "I would like to take an option on it".
Massey next move was to approach Breck Ellison and his brother Marvin, who had just put together the attractive Village Green Subdivision. The Ellison’s owned some land they had optioned and additional land they had acquired from Spencer Smith during the development of Village Green. Massey was a personal friend of both Breck and Marvin, and had gone to school with them at McCallie School in Chattanooga. He felt that he Ellison’s were close enough friends that he could confide in them what his plans were, and told them that he was getting ready to do something that would significantly enhance the value of their property in Village Green. Subsequently, the Ellison’s optioned the land to Massey.
Over the next two years, Massey optioned 18 parcels of land from different owners. None of these parcels were optioned in the same name, since he was convinced that the total project had to be put together before anyone could know about it. Two significant parcels stand out that almost killed the effort and without these parcels, Fox Den could not have been developed.
One parcel was a piece of land about 100 yards wide at the very entrance to Fox Den that went straight back to a ridge near the present day Club House. This property, encompassing about 50 acres was tied up in the Bacon estate. Massey went to the trust department of the bank and tried to buy the land, but was unable to do so because Mrs. Bacon would not agree to the sale. Massey knew that without this parcel, there was no way to put the total project together.
Massey recalls that one day, and quite unexpectedly, the bank called and said that they believed Mrs. Bacon might sell. The Bacon's had decided to auction the property, and Massey asked his associate, S. B. Lambert, to attend the auction and bid on it. The land was purchased for $1,200 per acre, but Massey recalls that he had authorized Lambert to go as high as $5,000 per acre. There was jubilation among the developer and his associates during the week-end, and on Monday morning Massey telephoned the bank to inform them that he had successfully acquired the land at auction. The trust officer's response was: "I don't think so, Chester." After inquiring as to what had happened, the trust officer told him that Mrs. Bacon had found out that the purchaser, J. B. Lambert, was Vice-president of Vulcan Materials Company, and quite frankly, she did not want a rock crusher or quarry sitting across the street from her front yard.
Massey then began to make his first of many visits with Mrs. Bacon. He went down and sat on her front porch and they discussed birds, a topic in which they both held an interest. After a number of additional visits, Massey confided in Mrs. Bacon as to what his plans were, and she immediately saw the value that the development would be to her property. She immediately approved the sale there on the front porch. With the purchase of the Bacon property, the total parcels of land had been acquired that would permit the development of Fox Den Village and Country Club.
With the Bacon purchase, Massey thought his troubles were over. He had hired Willard Byrd, a noted golf course architect who was just finishing an expansive course on Hilton Head, S.C. Byrd laid out the course and found that there were complications concerning land at the 12th hole. Adequate land had not been purchased from Spencer Smith to permit a par 4 hole. Without this land, number 12 would have to be a par 3, and there would not be room for the par 4 that had been planned. The land in question involved a spring house and some adjacent land that would permit residential development around the 12th hole.
However, Mr. Smith, who was elderly and sick, would not sell the land. Massey then decided to approach Mr. Smith in the same way he had approached Mrs. Bacon. On his first visit, which Massey recalls was very pleasant, the sale of the spring house and adjacent land came up Smith's response was "No." He had built that spring house as a boy, and he was not interested in selling it.
Massey then recalls that he took his bird dogs back over on what would become the number I fairway, killing a bunch of quail, dressing them out and presenting them to Mr. Smith who expressed his thanks and let it go at that. In fact, Massey recalled, Mr. Smith telephoned him later that evening and again expressed his thanks for the birds, but reiterated that he was not interested in selling the spring house property. After that, Massey gave up and instructed Golf Course architect Willard Byrd to make number 12 a par 3.
The spring house property, however, remained on Massey's mind, and on one Sunday afternoon he stopped by the Smith home and found him confined to his bed At that point, Massey had been talking to him for over a year and a half, and Smith had said "No" each time he was approached. But this Sunday afternoon, Massey was going to see the Smiths for another reason. He had no intent of bringing up the property sale again.
One of Massey's chores was the publication of the Fox Den Bugle, which was not in its sixth month of publication. During these early issues, Massey often included a feature story relating to the history of the area, and that was his mission that Sunday afternoon. He asked Mr. Smith if he minded him talking to Mrs. Smith about the area, and Mrs. Smith started relating the history of the old road that ran through the property and how it was used for many years as the main road between Nashville and Knoxville.
Mrs. Smith further related that during the Civil War three confederate soldiers came along this road, stopped at the spring house for water, and then asked the Smith's if they would feed them breakfast. While the three soldiers were eating on the front porch, eight or nine Union soldiers came along, spotted the confederate soldiers, and a fierce gun battle broke out. Mrs. Smith related that all three confederate soldiers were killed and that she fled out the back door with the children and went to Campbell Station. When she returned the next day, every bit of food had been taken except an old crippled mule which had been left at the spring house.
This story fascinated Massey, and he asked Mr. Smith if he could publish it in his Fox Den Bugle. Massey recalls that Smith got up and put his legs over the side of the bed and looked him dead in the eye. Finally, Smith said. "Young man, are you serious about publishing that story in your newsletter”? Massey replied that he was. Smith looked Massey in the eye and said: “By God, young man, if you'll do that, if you are serious about doing that, I'll sell you that spring house property”.
Not only was the story about the "Crippled Mule," as it came to be known, published in the Fox Den Bugle, Tom Siler picked it up and published it in the Knoxville News-Sentinel. Chester Massey named the street which goes down to the old spring house Crippled Mule Point, and today that street has several exquisite homes overlooking number 12 lake which is spring fed from the old spring.
………… Contributed by Fox Den Village resident Malcolm Shell.
