A novel called “The Peace Tree,” was written by members of the Marion County Writers Workshop, and edited by Stephen L. Brayton. The book is a mystery where the center of action is an old sycamore tree where settlers and native Americans met for generations. The tree, believed to be around 500 years old, for many years stood tall and proud out of the flooded waters of Lake Red Rock until it eventually rotted away.

Michael Van Natta, one of the writers, told KNIA/KRLS News, “When Red Rock was flooded the Peace Tree still stood above the water until finally it rotted away. When it rotted away, the idea for the book came about, for the mystery we have. What happened to the Peace Tree? That’s the basis of the story and some hijinx and some criminal activity and some of the basic stuff you see in Knoxville.”

In 1843 the Peace Tree Treaty was signed, which at the time marked the western edge of European settlement.