page_title: William Blount Mansion
section_title: Location
hierarchical_section_title: William Blount Mansion / Location
caption_attribution_description: English: Blount Mansion Visitor Center, Knoxville.
context_page_description: The Blount Mansion, also known as William Blount Mansion, located at 200 West Hill Avenue in downtown Knoxville, Tennessee, was the home of the only territorial governor of the Southwest Territory, William Blount. Blount, also a signer of the United States Constitution and a U.S. Senator from Tennessee, lived on the property with his family and ten African-American slaves. The mansion served as the de facto capitol of the Southwest Territory. In 1796, much of the Tennessee Constitution was drafted in Governor Blount's office at the mansion. Tennessee state historian John Trotwood Moore once called Blount Mansion "the most important historical spot in Tennessee."
  The house is a wood-frame home sheathed in wood siding, built with materials brought from North Carolina in an era when most homes in Tennessee were log cabins. The two-story central portion of the home is the oldest section. The one-story west wing is believed to have been constructed next; archaeologists suspect the west wing was originally an outbuilding, which was then moved and attached to the main house, and there is some evidence the west wing was originally the servants' quarters.
context_section_description: Blount Mansion occupies a lot in downtown Knoxville situated along Hill Avenue between Hill's intersection with Gay Street on the west and Hill's intersection with State Street on the east.  The area rests atop an embankment overlooking the Volunteer Landing riverfront along the Tennessee River to the south.  The Craighead-Jackson House, also managed by the Blount Mansion Association, is located across State Street to the east.
caption: Museum visitor center
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