In 1942 – the year that the federal government acquired property for the Manhattan Project – there were seven properties that fronted on the portion of Kerr Hollow Road that now lies within the borders of the UT Forest Resources Center and UT Arboretum. Each of the links below give a brief description and photos of these properties. The information and photos presented here was generously provided by Mr. Daniel Raby whose family owned property in the area. More information about the Manhattan Project and Mr. Raby’s collection of photos taken by the federal government is available at various locations in the area and in many publications – some available at the Oak Ridge Public Library. A note about the photos: We are presenting these photos as digitized by Mr. Raby from the original government photos and have only made minor adjustments in size and clarity.
Property Plot E 426
The Mollie Kerr house was the first property on the left just up from the junction of Kerr Hollow Road with Edgemoor Road. The government inventory for the property lists the house, a tenant house, barn, smokehouse, garage, hog house, chicken house, stable, and privy – all evaluated by the government as in fair to good condition. The main dwelling was evaluated at $1000 which made it one of the highest evaluations along the road. Click on the links below to view the original 1942 photos of this property.
Mollie Kerr Dwelling Side 
Kerr Tenant House Front 
Kerr Barn 
Kerr Garage 
Kerr Stable 
Kerr Smoke House 
Kerr Hog House 
Kerr Chicken House 7 Crib 
Kerr Privy
Property Plot E 402 and E 427
The JL Kerr property was “just up the road” from the Mollie Kerr house on Kerr Hollow Road. Actually, there were two parcels associated with J.L. Kerr – one containing the dwelling and some outbuildings and the other had what was listed as the “central office”. The inventory list for the two properties includes the house, garage, chicken house, and privy on one site; and the central office plus another privy on the other site. Click on the links below to view the original 1942 photos of this property.
Kerr JL Dwelling Side 
Kerr JL Central Office 
Kerr JL Central Office Rear 
Kerr JL Garage 
Kerr JL Chicken House and Privy 
Kerr JL Central Office Privy
Property Plot E 404
The Clyde E. Foster house was located on the site of the present day Arboretum Visitors Center. The government inventory for the property lists the house, barn, smokehouse, hen house, and privy. The structures on this property were evaluated by the government as being in fair condition – giving them a value of $1250. Click on the links below to view the original 1942 photos of this property.
Foster Barn 
Foster Smoke House 
Foster Privy 
Foster Hen House
Property Plot E 403
The Taylor property was located just below the Foster house. The Taylor house was previously owned by the Winchester family who built the log cabin style house. There is a display in the main lobby at the UT Arboretum Visitors Center of photos and artifacts of this house dating from the mid-1920’s. The inventory list for the property includes the house, a second dwelling, barn/garage, hen house, and privy. The value for all of the structures was less than $750. The links below lead to the original 1942 photos of this property.
J. Walters Taylor Dwelling Side 
J. Walters Taylor Barn Garage 
J. Walters Taylor Hen House 
J. Walters Taylor Chicken House 
J. WaltersTaylor Privy
Property Plot B 134
The Robinson property was located across from the Scarbrough property. There were seven structures – most in poor to fair condition including the main dwelling. Of particular interest on this property was the Spring House located on the site of the spring feeding the creek that parallels Kerr Hollow Road. Interesting stories about the Spring House are related in the link to Kerr Hollow History. The total value of the Robinson property was $1110.
Robinson Barn Shed 
Robinson Shop 
Robinson Spring House 
Robinson Privy
Property Plot B 132
This property was located on the left side of the upper portion of Kerr Hollow Road. There were eleven structures located on the property including the main dwelling and many outbuildings. Most of the outbuildings were evaluated by the government as being in poor to fair condition. The total value of all the structures was just over $1000. The links below lead to some of the 1942 government photos of the Scarbrough property.
Scarbrough Shop 
Scarbrough Barn 
Scarbrough Stable 
Scarbrough Smoke House 
Scarbrough Chicken House 
Scarbrough Privy
Property Plot E 419
The Hackworth property had the newest main dwelling of all the properties along Kerr Hollow Road. However, the federal government inventory evaluation of it was just $850. There were only two other structures on this property – a smokehouse/shed and a privy. The links below show the 1942 photos of all the Hackworth structures.
Hackworth Dwelling Side 
Hackworth Smoke Shed 
Hackworth Privy