Tennessee Ernie Ford's Birthplace

Ernest Jennings Ford, the future Tennessee Ernie Ford of “Sixteen Tons,” was born in this Bristol frame house on February 13, 1919. It stands 2 blocks off State Street, never moved or rebuilt.

Ford lived here until about age 6. In 1991 the Bristol Historical Association bought the house from an absentee owner for meeting and storage space, with no idea he had been born in it.

On learning the connection, the association contacted Ford, who offered restoration ideas before his death in October 1991. The work, from pine floors to fireplaces brought back into view, finished in 2007.

Tennessee Historical Commission marker 1A 142 went up out front in September 2012. It records his 1937 start at Bristol's WOPI radio, his Capitol Records career, and his Presidential Medal of Freedom.

The association's ownership is on the county record: Sullivan County deed Book 308, page 267, dated July 27, 1991. The same assessor card dates the frame house to 1900.

The house and marker are visible from the sidewalk. Inside, a small museum of Ford memorabilia opens by appointment only through the Bristol Historical Association, which held public tours for the February 2019 centennial.