Oliver Springs, Tennessee - October Sky Museum

Visitor Tips and News About October Sky Museum

October Sky Museum reports and tips from RoadsideAmerica.com visitors and Roadside America mobile tipsters. Some tips may not be verified. Submit your own tip.

Oliver Springs, Tennessee - October Sky Museum

Back about 7 years ago, a movie called October Sky was filmed in the town of Oliver Springs, Tennessee, which has a population of about 2,500 people. If you've seen the 1999 movie, as soon as you come into the town you will recognize some buildings with the Olga Coal Company facades still on the front of them. The museum has a whole bunch of props and pics signed by the crew of the movie.

Then take highway 62 west and get off at highway 116 into the town of Petros. As soon as you come into town you'll see the house used for the movie. Olga Coal Company facades are still up in front of some of the buildings, and the steel used for the coal mine tipple is rotting away beside that building. You can clearly see where the coal mine stood as soon as you come into town .

Just a side note -- Brushy Mountain State Prison, where James Earl Ray, the man convicted of assassinating Martin Luther King was kept is in Petros. [Stuart Myatt, 04/29/2005]

[RA: Oliver Springs offers an "October Sky" Walking Tour of buildings and sites around town that were filmed as Homer Hickam's hometown of Coalwood. Call for more information.Re: Note: James Earl Ray escaped briefly from Brushy Mountain State Prison -- June 10-13, 1977.]

October Sky Museum:
Address: 610 Walker Ave., Oliver Springs, TN
Directions: I-40 east from Nashville for about 150 miles and get off at the Rockwood-Harriman exit. Take highway 61 North to Oliver Springs, then from Oliver Springs take highway 62 west, take a right at highway 116 to Petros.
Phone: 865-435-2509

Latest Tips Across Roadside America

Catch up on the latest discoveries from the road.

Explore Thousands of Oddball Tourist Attractions!

Unique destinations in the US and Canada are our special obsession. Start here.
Use RoadsideAmerica.com's Attraction Maps to plan your next road trip.

February 9, 2010

My Sights

Create and Save Your Own Crazy Road Trip!

Try My Sights

Tennessee Latest Tips and Stories

Latest Visitor Tips

Sight of the Week

Sight of the Week

U.S.S. Ling, WWII Sub, Hackensack, New Jersey [Feb 8-14, 2010]

SotW Archive

USA and Canada Tips and Stories

Latest Visitor Tips

sightings. Arrives without warning. Leaves no burn marks. A free newsletter from RoadsideAmerica.com. Subscribe now!
RoadsideAmerica.com Hotel & Motel Finder

Special online rates for hotels & motels.

Book Online Now