Alpine

A more than 90-year-old working cattle and timber farm in Alpine provides the backdrop for the campaign’s 41st mural completed in July 2023.

The 80-foot-wide mural, painted on a barn at Vaughn Farms, helps to illustrate the UT System’s presence in Overton County to about 400 travelers a day on Tennessee Highway 85. 

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 UT 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. Their 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.”