The Niota train depot will be the first site in Southeast Tennessee to receive a Civil War trail marker. The unveiling will take place at 11 a.m. EDT on Wednesday, April 1 at the Niota Depot.
NIOTA, Tenn. - The Niota train depot will be the first site in Southeast Tennessee to receive a Civil War trail marker. The unveiling will take place at 11 a.m. EDT on Wednesday, April 1 at the Niota Depot.
Niota, once known as Mossy Creek, is home to Tennessee's oldest railroad depot built in 1854— now home to City Hall. The brick depot had two separate sections: one as a ticket booth, office and customer seating; the second as a large open warehouse for freight. Federal forces occupied Niota – then known as Mossy Creek – during the war and even turned the depot into a mini- fortification by knocking out bricks from the freight section so their rifles could fire on passing troops.
The Tennessee Civil War Trails program is both a freestanding, statewide program and also part of the existing Civil War Trails program which includes Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina and West Virginia. This trails program allows Tennesseans to create the nations best program for telling the whole story of the Civil War and to benefit our towns and communities through heritage tourism.
Interested parties and members of the media are invited to attend the ceremony for the unveiling of the marker.
Other info: The Tennessee Civil War trail program was made possible through a federally funded grant program administered by the Tennessee Department of Transportation and the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development. This project would not have been possible without the efforts of the City of Niota, Mayor Martha Walden and McMinn County Mayor John Gentry.
Directions: I-75 Exit 56. Travel TN 309-E and turn right on U.S. 11. Go one block and turn left on Staley St. Depot is on the left.