Joe Swann

Honorary Board Member

Joe Swann is passionate about history.  “I think you are born with it,” says the Blount County native who has deep roots in Blount and Jefferson Counties. Joe is the owner of David Crockett’s rifle that has been handed down in his family since Crockett was a neighbor on Long Creek in Jefferson County in 1806. The rifle is now one of the premier artifacts on display in the East Tennessee Historical Society Museum, and Swann is working on a book about Crockett’s East Tennessee years, 1786-1812. A few of Swann’s wide-ranging civic involvements include the East Tennessee Historical Society Board of Directors (president, 1999-2002) and past-president of the Blount County Historic Trust. He is an inductee in the Jefferson County Historical Society Hall of Fame and the Maryville Daily Times Wall of Fame and was a University of Tennessee Chancellor’s Associate, 2005-2008.

The mayor of Maryville from 2003-2009, Swann is now on the Maryville City Council and president of Workshop Tools, Inc., Pigeon Forge. He held an appointment to the Tennessee Historical Commission, 2011-2016, and is on the Tennessee Archaeology Council and the David Crockett Statue Commission. All of this is in addition to his past and present service on a variety of business and agency boards. 

When not chasing history, Swann enjoys fly fishing, bird hunting, and tennis. He and his wife, Becky Greene Swann, have three sons, Tony, Will, and Ben.