There will be a grand opening/ribbon cutting on Friday at 10 a.m. for the Historic Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary.
Historic Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary is reopening as a regional tourism destination in Morgan County. The site will feature behind-the-wall tours, the Warden's Table Restaurant, End of the Line Tennessee Moonshine and Distillery, museum, gift shop, concerts and more.
Brushy Mountain officially opened in 1896 and began operations as a convict-lease prison. The stone wall surrounding the prison was built in 1934. Standing at 18 feet high, it is constructed entirely from hand-carved stone. In 1969, Brushy Mountain was reclassified primarily as a maximum-security prison. One prisoner of notoriety was James Earl Ray, convicted in the assassination of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.