Route 12 Maloneyville Road

Growing up here in East, TN, we used to use Post Office Route numbers. From what I understand the USPS still uses them but regular citizens do not. When I was a boy growing up in the 70's, I lived on Route 12 Maloneyville Rd. Knoxville, TN 37918. Then sometime in the early 80's (as far as I can remember) Corryton enlarged and annexed our road and serveral others. We were then given a house number and our address changed to Corryton, TN 37721, which was really more fitting that we were part of Corryton instead of Knoxville because we lived in a pretty rural area. 

I have some fond memories of Rt. 12 Maloneyville Rd. We didn't have computers back then or video games so as kids we stayed busy playing outdoors. We rarely played inside unless it was raining or too cold. My summers were filled with walking through cow pastures, playing in barns, swimming in Roseberry Creek, walking the railroad tracks, and hanging out in the woods. I had the best of all worlds back then. 

My biggest worry was trying to cross Babelay's cow pasture and make it to the railroad tracks before being spotted and chased by the big white Charolais bull. I would sit on top of a fence post and watch the cows and wait until they were as far away as possible, then I'd jump down into the field and run with all my might, making it to the creek just in the nick of time. 

My best friend growing up was Kevin Roberts. He lived exactly one mile down the road from me. I could get to his house on my bicycle in about 10 minutes (5 minutes of that was pushing my bike up the steep hill that runs up beside my cousin Danny's house) it was tough going up but a joy coming back down! A lot of times we would go back and forth between our houses by walking the railroad tracks, of course that took a lot longer. 

Maloneyville Road was a pretty quiet road except when Hillcrest changed shifts, then traffic picked up some and we would have to actually watch for cars. Other than that, we could play in the road all day long with no worries of getting hit. 

There is a lot of history on Maloneyville Road that I may write about sometime. There used to be a train station at the intersection of Maloneyville and Wise Spring Road. There was also a Service Station on that same corner. Of course, I've written about Mrs. Sharp's Grocery before which was also on Maloneyville Road but on the other end going toward Tazewell Pike. 

Of course, most people have heard about the George Maloney Homes, also called the "Poor House" that used to be where the Knox Co. Sheriff's Detention center is now. 

Well, I didn't really have anything in-depth to write about, I was just thinking about Route 12 Maloneyville Road this week and thought I would jot a few things down.