
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, May 7, 1993                   TAG: 9305070140
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B2   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: BRISTOL, TENN.                                LENGTH: Short

`TENNESSEE ERNIE'S' BIRTHPLACE OPENING

The birthplace of the late Earnest Jennings Ford, better known as "Tennessee Ernie," has been restored and will be opened to visitors at a dedication ceremony May 29.

The ceremony will start with a gathering at noon at the Anderson Street United Methodist Church, which the Ford family attended and where Ford once recorded an album.

Activities then will move to what will be called the Ford House, at 1223 Anderson St., for a ribbon-cutting ceremony and an open house from 1 to 5 p.m. All events are free to the public.

Members of the musical entertainer's family and friends are expected to attend. Restoration of the Ford House was done by the Bristol Historical Association, which makes its headquarters there.

Ford was born Feb. 13, 1919, and raised in Bristol, Tenn. He died Oct. 19, 1991, in Reston.

- Southwest bureau

by CNB