Surgoinsville Bluegrass Stage Among First Venues Selected For Tennessee Music Pathways Recognition

SURGOINSVILLE — For nearly 20 years Bellamy Hardware has been a stop along the “pathway” for many of the nation’s top bluegrass performers. Thanks to a new Tennessee Tourism Commission program, it may soon be on the pathway for lots of new visitors as well. On Friday, Tennessee Department of Tourist Development Division Manager Dave Jones presented the venue with a new sign designating it as a stop on the Tennessee Music Pathways tour. Bellamy Hardware hosts concerts on the third Saturday of each month, so Friday’s sign presentation was just in time to be appreciated by what would likely be a packed house Saturday night. Tennessee Music Pathways is an online guided tour similar to two other popular Tennessee tourism initiatives including the Appalachian Quilt Trail, launched in the mid 2000s, and featuring online maps where quilting enthusiasts can find unique quilt designs painted on buildings across the state — including one on the Bellamy Hardware building. Just a few years ago, Tennessee launched its Civil War Trail, which features maps available online or at interstate rest areas of locations and routes to see locations of Civil War historical significance from one end of Tennessee to the other — including one at Surgoinsville’s Riverfront Park. What is Tennessee Music Pathways? Tennessee Music Pathways is a new Tennessee tourism initiative featuring a website (www.tnvacation.com/tennessee-music-pathways) highlighting historic music venues involving seven musical genres in all 95 counties. Phase I is just now starting with more than 200 locations receiving statues, murals, attractions, historical markers and experiences identifying birthplaces, resting places, hometowns, and locations of Tennessee’s musical pioneers and legends. “This is an initiative that connects the sites, and the musicians, and the venues, and historic places that are music-related in Tennessee,” Jones told the Times News Friday.