On the brisk afternoon of Nov. 21, Loudon County joined the Civil War Trail, marking not only a memory celebrated by the county, but East Tennessee as a whole. 

Of the nearly 800 sites commemorated amid states where Civil War factions clashed, two markers were unveiled Friday in downtown Lenoir City - Lenoir Plantation and Lenoir's Station. They are some of the first Civil War sites officially marked under this program in this region of the south. 

There are many other areas within the state brandishing noteworthy tales of battle on other forms of signage, but the present couple in Lenoir City and those at Sullivan County Courthouse mark the only progression of the Civil War Tail on this side of Tennessee.

The Civil War Trail is a program that helps promote, through wider public recognition with the help of the Internet and various distributable literature, the historic sites of the Civil War.  The organization currently has helped establish sites in North Carolina, Maryland and Virginia as well. 

City and state officials, along with members of local and out-of-state tourism agencies, gathered for the unveiling and to give thanks to those who helped mark the occasion.

Each site that is officially recognized has an "interpretation" - a marker with illustrations and explanatory text - created and placed most appropriately on the site.  Along with the marked location, the Civil War Trails program also installs markers along the interstate that offer directional guidance, known as "trailblazer signs." 

Local historian Gerald Augustus, who was bedecked along with his wife in period garments, was present as well.  Augustus brought the matter forth several weeks ago to the Loudon County Commission, which ended up financially handling four of the six signs for the county that have yet to be installed: one in Philadelphia and Loudon and two in Greenback. Lenoir City Council was approached as well. Augustus, having already done the preliminary work for such signage, (from site suggestion to interpretive text and photography) and Lenoir City Utility Board footed the bill for one sign with the other being obtained by various local donations. 

Each of the signs cost $1,100 on a 80/20 grant - through which $4,400 is covered - from the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT), which some time ago offered the Department of Tourist Development $537,420 in way of a federal enhancement grant. 

The idea is for those who enjoy the history of the Civil War to travel the trail, frequenting sites of interest, thereby adding to the revenue a city receives through tourist spending.  According to literature from the organization, the Virginia Tourism Corporation's visitor profile study shows that a "Civil War Car Route Travel Party" spends nearly 30 percent more than "Pleasure Travel Parties" while on vacation. 

All of this is facilitated with the inclusion of each site on multi-state brochures and promoted on everything distributed throughout the program as well, state to participating state, and also featured at www.CivilWarTrails.org.

The Lenoir's Station marker rests beside the gazebo alongside Broadway.

"This is what people come to small towns to see," said Lenoir City Mayor Matt Brookshire prior to the unveiling at the Lenoir's Station marker."  He further stated that retail sales from foot-traffic, that which lends to the city's downtown commerce, which he said he feels the city lacks, hopefully will improve with the county's participation with the Civil War Trail. 

Mary Bryant, director of the Loudon County Visitors Bureau and coordinator of sorts for the county in this program, thanked everyone who helped acquire the signage prior to Brookshire and Loudon County Mayor Doyle Arp addressing the crowd.

Remarks were brief due to the chill in the November air, with the breath of those gathered circulating around a new marker on a very old site.