Martha, Elizabeth and Josephine Ijams

An outdoor treasure in your own backyard

Located five minutes from downtown Knoxville, Ijams Nature Center is a 175-acre wildlife sanctuary and environmental learning center for all people. Ijams provides community-wide connections and outdoor experiences through education, conservation, recreation and responsible environmental stewardship.

This year, Ijams celebrates the 100th anniversary of the Ijams Family legacy, which began 100 years ago when H.P. and Alice Ijams purchased 20 acres of land on the outskirts of Knoxville in 1910. Over the years, the Ijams family developed the land into a natural showplace known as the Bird Sanctuary, which attracted birders and nature lovers everywhere.

H.P. Ijams, a talented commercial artist and bird fanatic, spearheaded Knoxville’s first ornithologist movement and hosted annual bird counts at the Ijams Bird Sanctuary for decades. Members of the East Tennessee Ornithological Society would camp overnight at the Ijams place and rose early the next morning to regularly document more than 100 species of birds before noon.

H.P. Ijams’ wife, Alice, ran a commercial horticultural business. Her passion for education and conservation inspired the formation of numerous local garden clubs. Alice was also involved with the Knoxville Girl Scout Council, who has been coming to the Ijams place since 1923. The four Ijams daughters, all talented naturalists, were the first Girl Scouts to be educated at the Ijams Bird Sanctuary. In the 1940s, students began making regular field trips. Similar expeditions still happen frequently today.

The Ijams Family Legacy also extends across the region through H.P. Ijams’ connections to the first campsite on Mt. LeConte. During the 1930s, H.P. used his artistic talents to promote the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Ijams and Townsend family ties also helped create Camp Margaret Townsend for Girl Scouts, which was directed for a time by Elizabeth Ijams, the eldest of the Ijams’ daughters. The site of the legendary camp is now home to the Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont.

The story of the Ijams family will be told in a new history book, Ijams Nature Center, written by Ijams’ Executive Director, Paul James. The book will be released on May 17 by Arcadia Publishing as part of its popular Images of America series and will feature 185 vintage photographs, drawings and maps from the Ijams family archives and other local sources. Coinciding with the book is the opening of a new permanent exhibit on the Ijams family at Ijams Nature Center. The exhibit will be open in time for a special Founder’s Day event for the public on Saturday, May 22nd from 10:00 am-2:00 pm. Visit www.ijams.org for further details.

In 2001, Ijams acquired Mead’s Quarry, a historic site that once produced Tennessee Marble used in local and national buildings and monuments, and is also featured in the new book. The National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. is at least one famous building that features Tennessee marble extracted from numerous East Tennessee quarries such as Mead’s. Although for many years Mead’s Quarry existed as an abandoned dumpsite, now once restored, the property, with its clear-blue 25-acre lake, scenic vistas and looped trails, has become a visitor favorite and a genuine jewel in the crown of Knox County Parks.

The success of Mead’s Quarry has facilitated further land expansion at Ijams with the addition of the Ross Marble Quarry, which Ijams is slated to open in November. The new 100-acre property features unparalleled scenic views, including natural rock formations and abandoned blocks of Tennessee Marble form rock bridges and keyholes that punctuate the landscape. An unforgettable experience, the Ross Marble Quarry echoes the rugged terrain of the Big South, and adds yet another dimension to Ijams’ natural areas.

For outdoor lovers seeking a more close-to-home destination, Ijams Nature Center offers a genuine alternative to driving to the Smoky Mountains. With new exhibits and plenty of nature programs for all ages, Ijams really is much more than one of Knoxville’s best kept secrets. Ijams is a historical, cultural and natural treasure.