Highlander Workshop Center

Highlander’s Workshop Center plays a vital role in our program of constructing democracy, creating democratic space, and base-building. Drawing on our 70-year history of support for social justice movements, the center provides a democratic “gathering place” where people can renew themselves and their organizations, address the issues that confront their communities, and lay the groundwork for a broad movement for social and economic change.

Located on our 106 acre farm near New Market, Tennessee, the Workshop Center serves a regional, national, and international constituency, providing a meeting place for activists and community leaders from Appalachia and the South, the nation, and world. At the Center, participants can

• share stories of oppression and struggle from their communities, identifying common concerns across boundaries of race, class, language, gender, sexual orientation, and geography;
• explore and validate their experiences by sharing them with others, building the trust and self-confidence needed to challenge injustice;
• reconnect with the history of people’s struggles against oppression, finding inspiration in the example of these struggles and learning from them how to fight injustice and win;
• share ideas and strategies for change, learning from each other to strengthen and enhance their own efforts;
  discover new allies and new ways to join forces to achieve their common goals;
• create a culture of justice that can inspire their ongoing work in their own organizations and communities; and
• construct a common vision of a world marked by justice and fairness for all that can provide the inspiration for a broad movement for social and economic change.

Meetings and workshops at the Center are an integral part of all of our other programs, including our Grassroots Think Tank, Pueblos de Latinoamérica, and The Young and the Restless. For more information on these programs, click on their names or follow the links at the left.

From the West (Atlanta, Chattanooga, Nashville, Lexington):

• From Knoxville, take I-40 (toward Asheville) to exit 398 (Strawberry Plains).
• Turn left (north) at the end of the exit ramp and proceed for 3.1 miles to the stop sign.
• Turn right onto Hwy. 25W-70, and proceed for 9.2 miles to Russell Gap Road. (About halfway, you will pass the BP gas station; about 2 miles down the road, there will be a long white fence on your left; following it, Russell Gap is the 2nd road on the left. At the turn on the left there is a blue sign that points towards Highlander and across from the turn is a sign on the right that reads Holiway Farms.)
• Turn left onto Russell Gap Road and proceed for l.4 miles along a road with 3 deep curves. You will see a wooden Highlander sign on your right. Take the paved road up the hill and follow the signs past the administrative building to The Center.

From the East (from the I-40/I-81 junction, Virginia, and North Carolina)

• Take I-40 to exit 412 (Deep Springs Road).
• At the end of the exit, ramp turn right (going north) onto Deep Springs Road.
• Proceed for one mile to the stop sign and turn left onto Highway 25W/70.
• Continue for 3.1 miles to Russell Gap Road. Landmarks just before the turn are two abandoned houses Directly across from the turn is a sign on the left that reads Holiway Farms and a blue sign to the right that points towards the direction of Highlander.
• Turn right on Russell Gap Road and proceed for l.4 miles along a road with 3 deep curves. You will see a blue pole with the Highlander sign on your right. Take the paved road up the hill and follow the signs past the administrative building to The Center.

If you are flying:

If you are flying into McGhee Tyson Airport in Knoxville, TN

After you have gotten your bags from the baggage claim area, please call A+ Taxi Service at 865-970-0016, and they will drive around and pick you up in front of the airport. They have to sit in a holding area at the airport, so you have to call to have them come around to the front.

Directions from the Tyson-McGee Knoxville Airport

• Go north on US 129 N toward ALCOA HWY.
• US-129 becomes ALCOA HWY/TN-115 N/TN-73 N.
• Take the I-40 exit toward ASHVILLE/I-275/LEXINGTON.
• Follow directions for “From the West” (above).