By JILL MCNEAL
6 News Anchor/Reporter
KNOXVILLE (WATE) - A 111-year-old stone monument is gone from the spot where it marked the birthplace of Admiral David Farragut.
Since 1900, the marker had been on private property off Northshore Drive near Admiral Farragut Park. It was put there by the Bonny Kate Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
"He's famous for one quote. In the Civil War he said, 'Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!'" explained history buff and Farragut resident Nic Arning.
But Arning said his town's namesake was much more than a quote.
"He went to sea at age seven with grown men, he held his own and he was fearless in battle," he said.
Lylan Fitzgerald, who owns the land where the marker used to sit, said she was tired of the controversy over the stone and the historic property, so she removed it.
Arning has been so interested in preserving the admiral's birthplace and its century-old stone marker, even though it's on private property.
"No one has access to the land so it could have been gone for months. We don't know. But I believe it was reported missing about two weeks ago," Arning said. "I was distraught to hear that something like that could be removed."
"It is so heavy, it had to be lifted and removed or moved somewhere by machinery, I would imagine," Arning said.
Fitzgerald said she was tired of people pestering her for public access, so she gave the Farragut marker to a friend in another state.
Now, she says, she hopes everyone will just leave her alone.
