By Tabitha Evans Moore | EDITOR & PUBLISHER

Lynchburg may be a quaint, southern town located in a small Tennessee county, but we still experience big headlines. Here are the top 10 stories, I think had the biggest impact on Lynchburg in 2024. Happy New Year everyone.

#10 | Scuffletown Smokers win The Jack in 2024 | In October, they travelled all the way from Booneville, Indiana to compete in the “Super Bowl of competitive barbecue” and walked away with the $25,000 grand champion prize. Their win is a Cinderella story. They first visited as event volunteers and 10 years later pitmaster Alby Ransom and his crew took home top honors on their first team visit. They’ll get a chance to defend their title on October 11 as the Jack Daniel’s World Championship Invitational Barbecue returns to Wiseman Park.

#9 | Solar farm moves forward with $650,000 energy siting agreement |Bringing Tennessee largest solar farm investment into one of its smallest communities is no easy feat and in November, local officials and Silicon Ranch finally agreed to a $650,000 energy siting agreement that will allow the project to move forward. In addition to the $100,000 building permit fee, and $650,000 community benefit fee, Silicon entered into a separate agreement with the Metro Highway Department to ensure any roads in Moore County damaged during the construction process will be repaired at Silicon Ranch’s expense.

#8 | Jack releases highly-anticipated Coy Hill Barrelhouse 8 Single Barrel | Google the words “Coy Hill” and you’ll discover a wealth of information about the most popular whiskey-making spot in Lynchburg. Each fall, the distillery announces a new Single Barrel line special release and the 2024 one caused a stir. In September, they released Single Barrel Special Release Coy Hill Barrelhouse 8 – a complex Tennessee Whiskey from barrels matured at the distillery’s highest elevations. It’s also bottled at proofs ranging from 122 to 137.5. To read our full review of it, click here.

#7 | Metro Council increases minimum agricultural building lots sizes to “slow growth” and allow more citizen input | Tiny Lynchburg has experienced a ton of growth in the past couple of years. From a tiny home community to a solar farm to numerous subdivisions on former farm land – the landscape of Moore County is changing. In February, the Metro Council voted to increase the required minimum building lot size on agricultural land from one acre to five acres. Officials said at the time that the purpose of the change wasn’t to stop growth but rather slow it by forcing major subdivisions who wish to build on smaller tracts of land spaced more closely together into the rezoning process and in front of the Metro Council where citizens will get more opportunities to be heard and voice objections.

#6 | Metro Council abolishes controversial R3 zoning | Local officials created the R3 or high density zoning category to accommodate projects like the Oakstone Land & Capital’s tiny home community approved but not yet built along Main Street in Lynchburg’s former Urban Services District. In September, Metro Planning Commission Chair Dexter Golden made a motion to abolish the category to further development and instead use the subdivision guidelines that have been on the books for years. It passed unanimously. The tiny home development will be grandfathered in, but abolishing R3 both prevents them from expanding and prevents similar developments in the county in the future.

#5 | Legends of UT Camp comes to Lynchburg | Former UT Vol’s Head Coach Johnny Majors hails from Lynchburg and many of its citizens boldly wear UT orange. So when local Marsha Hale and her son, Colt Russel, got a chance to bring former UT players to Lynchburg to teach local student athletes, they jumped at the opportunity. In June, the Legends of UT Football Camp made it’s first-ever stop in Lynchburg. As an added bonus, a gaggle of six local flag football phenoms by the names of Annie Wilhelm, Emaley Thomas, Ayla Overcast, Lilly Millspaugh, Journey Fox, and Sunsaray Johnson attended the camp and showed the girls can play football too. To read more about them, read Lynchburg girls breaking gender boundaries in youth flag football

#4 | Raiderettes settle for Class 1A State Runner Up | Last year’s Moore County Raiderettes post season play was a wild ride. They beat McEwen 44-32 on March 3 in a Sectional game to earn their spot in the TSSAA Class 1A State Tournament. Then on March 7, they earned a heart-stopping 58-55 overtime win against Clay County to move onto the final four. Two days later, the all-sophomore led team put on a gritty performance with a 38-28 come-from-behind win over Greenfield. Moore County trailed by four at the half then put up 16 points in the third while holding Greenfield to just five points. Then on March 9, the Raiderettes fell to Pickett County 56-45 in the state championship game – settling for state runners up. They are gunning for the gold ball again this year.

#3 | All Jack tours are now tasting tours | There’s a lot more whiskey being poured in Lynchburg these days. In August, Jack Daniel’s announced that all tours at the distillery would become tasting tours. Then in September, they opened six new tasting rooms directly behind the Motlow House. We got a chance to take The Jack Daniel Distillery Tour with local guide, Maddy Durm, and it did not disappoint. To read our review of the experience, click here.

#2 | Tank collapses at anaerobic digester plant | Remember all of that growth we mentioned earlier in the round up? One of those projects, an anaerobic digester facility located along Good Branch Road, experienced a bit of a snag in September when two holding tanks collapsed during testing – spilling 2.2 million gallons of water across Good Branch Road. Luckily, the tanks only held lake water and no one was injured during the accident. However, locals roads remained closed for days while 3 Rivers Energy Partner’s and local officials investigated and started the clean up process. According to their last appearance before the Metro Planning Commission, 3 Rivers is still investigating the accident and plans to rebuild as soon as possible.

#1 | Moore County voters reject quarter-cent sales tax increase | Sales taxes are often referred to a regressive taxes because they affect low-income individuals at a higher rate than high earners. However, in March, the Metro Council argued that due to the higher than average rate of tourism in Moore County thanks to The Jack Daniel Distillery, that a quarter-cent increase might generate an estimated $80,000 in tax dollars on the backs of those aren’t “from around here” and help avoid a property tax increase. In Metro, sales tax increases go to the people and local voters voted against it in March and then again on the November Presidential ballot.

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