Tennessee Backroads: Briceville Community Church

 Briceville Community Church, 1888. Tennessee Highway 116, Briceville.

A few days ago, following up on a suggestion by my son Don, who lives in Knoxville, I drove the remote, incredibly winding Tennessee Highway 116 through the rugged mountains of northeast Tennessee.

Getting off Interstate 75 at Rocky Top, I followed 116 to my first stop: a village called Briceville, once a center of coal mining in the surrounding mountains. 

The first thing I saw as I approached the town was a white church with two steeples situated on a commanding elevation above the village. 

From a nearby historical plaque, I learned that the church had been built by Welsh coal miners in 1888. The church and its cemetery are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Miners fought the Tennessee National Guard over the use of convict labor in the mines in the Coal Creek War in the early 1890s and the church was a temporary jail for captured miners in 1892.

Twenty-two of the 300 miners killed in the 1902 Fraterville mine explosion and the 1911 Cross Mountain Mine explosion are buried in the Briceville Church's cemetery.

There was a cable across the steep drive up to the church, so I walked. Just as I got to the top and began to photograph, a large group of mostly young people arrived. I inquired, and they informed me that the church was often used as a wedding venue, and that they were there to prepare for a wedding the next day. 

The church and the wedding party.

I made the photos with my Fuji X-T3 and the Fujinon XF 16-80mm lens (24-120mm equivalent). It's a fine lens, and the widest I carry, but in this case I could have used something wider for the photo at the top, because I couldn't back up any further without falling off the hill!

More adventures on Tennessee 116 to come.

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Photography and text copyright 2025 David B.Jenkins.

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

Tags:   photography     digital photography      travel photography    Fujinon XF 16-80mm lens         Bricevill, Tennessee     Tennessee travel     Coal mining in Tennessee   Fuji X-T3 camera    Coal Creek War     Briceville Commuity Church     Tennessee Highway 116