NASHVILLE — A statue of legendary frontiersman and Northeast Tennessee native David ‘Davy’ Crockett will be erected in front of the Tennessee state capitol.
The estimated $1 million project is planned for completion by late 2026. The Office of the State Architect confirmed the statue will be installed in time for the inauguration of Tennessee's next governor in January 2027.
The contract was awarded to Vandalia Bronze in late May. The company’s artist, Jamie Lester, has previously designed the obverse side of a commemorative quarter for the State of Virginia. He also sculpted the Brooklyn Wall of Remembrance in New York, commemorating the 105 Brooklyn firefighters who lost their lives in the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center.
Currently, the statue is in the design phase. Lester will create a 3-foot-tall “mockette†by Sept. for a committee’s review prior to the full-sized structure being developed for display.
The statue will replace that of Edward Carmack, a former newspaper executive and prohibitionist. That statue, erected in 1927, was toppled in 2020 by protesters after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Crockett, an American folk hero, militiaman, and politician, lived in modern-day Greene and Jefferson Counties. He served Tennessee as both a state and federal representative and fought in the Texas Revolution in 1836. He died in the Battle of the Alamo.
A bust of Davy Crockett already sits on the second floor of the State Capitol.
