the property, continuing to lease the cottage before selling it in 1939 to Nolia Norton Peery. Her husband, Ira, one half of the well-known Peery Brothers, ran a local feed store, now Davis Lots, and a mill on Little River in Walland.. Their son Clyde even raised his family in the cottage’ s upstairs rooms for a time.
Then came the barbers.
In 1938, Ben Martin( 1901-1976) and his son Ray( 1920- 2011) opened a barbershop in the cottage with two fellow barbers. Ben had been cutting hair downtown since 1927, and Ray remembered nights when the shop stayed open past midnight to serve folks coming in from Cades Cove, Walland, and Townsend. Ben cut hair until the day he died. Ray, a World War II veteran who fought in the Battle of the Bulge, went on to play steel guitar for country star Patsy Montana and was said to be the first student of Maryville musician and radio personality Tommy Covington.
In 1994, attorney and WWII veteran Frank B. Bird purchased the cottage. Ray kept cutting hair there until January 2005, closing the last barbershop in downtown Maryville. Later that same year, Bird sold the cottage to artist Leanne Moe McQueen. For more than a decade, her pottery shop, Studio 212, filled the space. Her hand-thrown dinnerware, crafted under the McQueen Pottery brand, even found its way to the tables of Blackberry Farm.
Today, as downtown Maryville continues its renaissance, the little Toole cottage sits quietly, waiting for its next chapter.
Ray Martin cuts Ben Martin’ s hair.
PHOTO COURTESY OF MARK BENNETT
# Family
Your Trust
I S I N S A F E H A N D S
SERVING BLOUNT COUNTY FOR OVER 40 YEARS! blountdiscountpharmacy. com
DELIVERY
WINTER 2025-26 • BLOUNT COUNTY QUARTERLY | 25