Vaughn Farms Hosts Newest “Everywhere You Look, UT” Mural

ALPINE, Tenn.— A more than 90-year-old working cattle and timber farm in Alpine provides the backdrop for the newest “Everywhere You Look, UT” mural.

The 80-foot-wide mural, the 41st in the statewide campaign, painted on a barn at Vaughn Farms, helps to illustrate the University of Tennessee System’s presence in Overton County to about 400 travelers a day on Tennessee Highway 85. UT’s mural campaign has a goal to have one mural in all 95 Tennessee counties.

Vaughn Farms has been in Nathan Vaughn’s family for nine decades.

“When I started taking serious responsibility for the farm, I reached out to an agent with the UT Agriculture Extension, and he gave me a lot of assistance. There’s a lot of things that I didn’t know about running a farm and UT helped quite a bit,” Vaughn said.

For the Vaughns, UT is also a family legacy. Vaughn graduated from UT Knoxville in 1992 and his wife Stephanie graduated from UT Knoxville in 1994. His daughter currently attends UT Knoxville.

“I had seen one of the murals before and at some point, I realized it wasn’t just a single barn, it was actually a program,” said Vaughn, “then I got to thinking I’ve got the perfect barn for that since I’m right on the highway.”

Vaughn Farms is on a popular Tennessee highway known for its hairpin turns, which makes it popular with motorcyclists and drivers.

“I think this mural will remind the community that we have great universities here in Tennessee,” Vaughn said. “The UT System is a great asset to the state and something that high school students should consider.”

To learn more about the campaign and its locations, download photos or to nominate a canvas, visit the campaign website.

The University of Tennessee is a statewide system of higher education with campuses in Knoxville, Chattanooga, Martin, Pulaski 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.