New Tazewell goes for a new look
A spat over a railroad created New Tazewell, and it’s alongside the railroad that the tiny Tennessee city focuses its revitalization efforts nearly 150 years later. New Tazewell was part of the neighboring community of Tazewell until a railroad company tried to lay tracks through the town in the 1880s. “Tazewell residents didn’t want the railroad, and New Tazewell did, so they split,” says Cyndi Chumley, city recorder for New Tazewell. To this day, the tracks running between Knoxville and Kentucky make a sudden turn just outside of Tazewell, curving through downtown New Tazewell. A block from the tracks, the city has fixed up storefronts and added benches along Main Street, the early stages of a long-term plan to revamp the community. It’s also making updates elsewhere, adding amenities to the local park and welcoming new businesses.
Hilltop houses and riverfront homes in East Tennessee
Clusters of ranch-style houses and mobile homes are scattered around town. East Tennessee’s rolling terrain means many homes have hilltop views of nearby valleys and farms. A few houses are near the train tracks, which Norfolk Southern uses as a freight route. Noise levels from passing trains are moderate, according to U.S. Department of Transportation data. Homes sit on anywhere from 2 to 100 acres in the rural area west of the city limits. Cabins overlook the Clinch River, which flows into Norris Lake. Prices for smaller houses vary from $120,000 to $305,000, while most new construction sells between $280,000 and $325,000. Large waterfront homes cost between $630,000 and $1.3 million.
The CAP Index Crime Score is 2 out of 10, lower than the national average of 4.
Claiborne County Schools offers open enrollment
Kids can go to Tazewell-New Tazewell Primary School for kindergarten through fourth grade and advance to Soldiers Memorial Middle for fifth through eighth grades. Niche gives both schools C grades. Claiborne High receives a C-minus. The high school teaches 10 Career & Technical Education programs, including Horticulture Science, Cosmetology and Therapeutic Services. Every August, Claiborne County Schools allows parents to apply for their children to attend any schools in the district.
Pickleball and pool at C. W. Gose Municipal Park, Clinch River nearby
At C. W. Gose Municipal Park, two pickleball courts were recently added, and New Tazewell Little League plays baseball and softball games. The city often hosts free movie nights at the park. Chumley says many municipal swimming pools in the area have shuttered in recent years, and the public pool at C.W. Gose Municipal Park is one of the only ones left between Morristown and Kentucky. Dogs run through obstacles and play with other canines at the Claiborne Animal Shelter’s public dog park. Marinas and ramps line the Clinch River, where boaters can fish or navigate downriver to the open waters of Norris Lake.
Businesses include new coffee shop
A few new businesses opened in New Tazewell in 2025. The community’s first liquor store debuted in a shopping center, alongside Walmart and Ingles Market. Off Main Street, Hangar 37 Coffee began serving cups brewed from Ecuadorian beans. Pizza Plus is one of New Tazewell’s only restaurants, but Chumley says wooing more eateries is the next initiative for the city.
Renewed events scene on Main Street, at New Tazwell Municipal Airport
One way the city is reviving Main Street is with events. A few days before Halloween, New Tazewell puts on a dance, costume contest and pumpkin painting contest on Main Street. On Halloween night, businesses set up vendor tents along the street, where New Tazewell Police Department officers hand out candy. Churches put on events too, such as trunk-or-treat at Midway Missionary Baptist Church and New Tazewell Methodist Church’s Holiday Art and Craft Fair.
The community is also bringing festivities to the New Tazwell Municipal Airport, a facility for private aircraft and charter jets. In the fall, the public heads to the airport for live music, airplane simulators and helicopter rides. Chumley says this new event ends a years-long hiatus on community gatherings at the airport. “[Several years ago], they’d give helicopter rides, and people would parachute in when the leaves were changing,” she says.” This is a revamped event; it’s bringing something back that the community loved, but we’re making it bigger and better.”
Route 33 links to Tazewell, Knoxville
Tennessee state Route 33 connects New Tazewell to Tazewell, where Claiborne Medical Center provides emergency care and other medical services. The highway covers part of the 45-mile drive to Knoxville, East Tennessee’s largest city. South of Knoxville, planes fly nonstop from McGhee Tyson Airport to more than 30 destinations across the U.S.
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Written By
Alex Soderstrom
