One More Reason to Visit Lynchburg: Moore County Home to 33rd Mural in UT’s Statewide Campaign

Lynchburg has long been famous for its Jack Daniel’s Distillery and Tennessee whiskey. But the town will soon be known for more than its malts–it’ll be known for its University of Tennessee System mural, too.

Painting for the 33rd mural in the “Everywhere You Look, UT” campaign wraps up today at Brookhaven Farm.

The farm, owned by Horace Wiseman and his sister Nancy Wiseman Graham, has housed a cattle operation since Wiseman’s grandfather bought the property in 1942. It’s been in the family ever since. Moore County Extension Agent Larry Moorehead was scouting locations for UT’s mural when he approached Wiseman about using his newly built hay barn as the canvas. The barn sits in a field nestled between Highway 55 and Highway 82, making it visible to the 6,878 daily passersby.

“It’s the ideal place for the mural,” Moorehead said. “Everybody going by on both highways will see it, especially because that big UT mural is going to be eye catching.”

Wiseman, a 1974 UT Knoxville graduate, was initially hesitant to brand his new barn with the 60-foot-wide mural. But Moorehead, who thought it would be best to position the mural where visitors to Jack Daniels distillery could see it, used Wiseman’s love of his alma mater to change his mind.

“The farm is in southern middle Tennessee,” said Wiseman, who lives in Jackson but frequently returns to Lynchburg to help on the farm. “And there’s a whole bunch of University of Alabama fans that are starting to come in here. I hope this mural turns those people into UT fans.”

Aside from converting sports fans, Wiseman hopes that the mural will lead people to the statewide resources available through UT, especially the educational ones.

“If a high school student drives by and sees that UT mural and it ends up pointing them to any of the campuses in the UT System that would just make me so happy,” Wiseman said. “I’m almost certain it’s going to. I have a really good feeling about that.”

To learn more about the UT campaign, each location and to nominate a canvas for use, visit the mural website. UT plans to paint one mural in each of Tennessee’s 95 counties by 2030.

The University of Tennessee is a statewide system of higher education with campuses in Knoxville, Chattanooga, Pulaski, Martin and Memphis; the UT Institute of Agriculture with a presence in every Tennessee county; and the statewide Institute for Public Service. The UT System manages Oak Ridge National Laboratory through its UT-Battelle partnership; enrolls about 54,000 students statewide; produces about 13,000 new graduates every year; and represents more than 433,000 alumni around the world.