10 Things You Might Not Know About Tennessee, Part 8

 

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8. Millennium Manor

The Millennium Manor, nicknamed the Armageddon House, in Alcoa was built in 1938 to last over 1,000 years.

Why was it built to last 1,000 years….

From a Huffington Post article:

William Andrew Nicholson started building the so-called Armageddon House in 1938 in preparation for the end of the world, which he though would occur 30 years later in 1969, according to the current owner Dean Fontaine.

“[Nicholson] interpreted the Bible to say that 1969 would be Armageddon,” Fontaine said. Nicholson believed that he “and 144,000 righteous people would survive and go on living for 1,000 years,” Fontaine added.

Nicholson built the house — also known as Millennium Manor — by hand with stone. But his predictions weren’t exactly rock solid: He died in 1965 and — it should be noted — the world did not end in 1969 (although fans of the original “Star Trek” series, which was canceled that year, may have felt it did).

Fontaine bought the house in 1995 and has been working on preserving it and the lore surrounding it ever since.