Cute Retro House in Knoxville Countryside

In 2020, our Uncle Foy’s home—this home at 200 Drummer Lane— became available. So, we were so grateful to finally acquire a piece of property on Drummer Lane. Drummer is my husband’s family name. This home where you are currently staying? It was built in 1952 by my husband’s Uncle, Foy Drummer. We refer to the home as, “The Foy Manor” in honor of Uncle Foy. Uncle Foy really enjoyed playing the harmonica. He worked many years at Reeder Chevrolet car dealership in the parts department. He was a car parts man. We reside next door in the 1915 farmhouse, which is where the Drummer family began.

We have added a few 1950s mid-century modern touches to reflect the era of when our Uncle Foy and his wife Iva built and moved in. We have discovered receipts from where the home was constructed and where Foy & Iva purchased their furnishings. The home appears to be one of the home kits of Sears & Roebuck. The original kitchen cabinets were installed by Sears & Roebuck.

My husband and I have lived in this neighborhood since 1998. Our home is across the grassy field in the farmhouse next door. Back in ’98, we had the opportunity to purchase the Drummer family’s ancestral family farmhouse. We would drive by sometimes, and Don would say “My grandfather built that farmhouse in 1915,” but we never dreamed we’d have the opportunity to actually purchase it. Through the decades, the old farmhouse had passed out of the hands of the Drummer family, and one day a distant cousin put it on the open market, and we were able to make our farmhouse dream happen. Anyway, no one “willed” or passed down the farmhouse to us. We had to purchase it on the open market. So, from 1998 until 2010, we enjoyed living next door to our Uncle Foy Drummer. We were grateful to be able to purchase and spruce up The Foy Manor. My husband and I are next door and mostly retired. We are enjoying the short-term-rental scene and learning a lot. It is such a joy to share The Foy Manor with everyone.