Fort Sanders is the neighborhood closest to UT’s campus, so naturally its residents are primarily UT students. Of course there are the wildcards: the families who want to be close to campus for game days, the UT alum who wants to live close enough to campus life to relive their glory days, and the poor souls who actually had no idea what they were getting themselves into when they chose the Fort as their home.
It’s a truly high-quality, high-class neighborhood that so many people are fortunate to call home. Fort residents really create a sense of community that is comparable to that of a gated community, only without the gates, money and standard of living. The houses are mostly from the same era, and there are several markets in the neighborhood, conveniently located for all who inhabit it.
However, there are a few things that set "Fort Life" apart from experiences in other college town neighborhoods:
You have to accommodate for technological glitches by doing things like turning off your air conditioning to use the microwave.
Your trash hasn’t been taken care of in weeks so your backyard is a heaping pile of trash that takes up an entire parking spot…otherwise known as Garbage Island.
You call maintenance so often that they are in your phone’s “Favorites.”
You recognize other houses by the house names (The Blue House, The Fire House, etc.) rather than their addresses.
Walking through the Fort is a lot like walking through a furniture store because of all of the furniture that lives outside of the houses rather than inside.
You have to get creative with your organizational strategies because chances are, your place lacks closets, shelves and cabinets.
The older a house is, the more likely it is that a fraternity has claimed it as a party house (and given it a name so that there is no mistaking it).
You threw your couch off your balcony when you moved out because it was hard enough to get it in your apartment, and you’d rather just leave it than have to deal with moving it again.
You can get wherever you want to go by simply walking, but you walk everywhere with your keys held close to you because you just never know.
You are genuinely concerned for the dogs you see in the Fort because God only knows what goes down in their homes.
You never worry about having a place to live in the Fort because what person in their right mind would buy one of these houses…or live this close to college kids.
You’ve made friends with the local dumpster divers who are often nice enough to take your trash to your dumpster for you so that you don’t have to worry about it.
Price range is about 300-800 per month, which incidentally coincides with how aesthetically appealing your place is.
Everybody you know is broke.
Without a doubt, the best part about living in the Fort is that even though it’s a little bit rough around the edges, we wouldn’t have it any other way.
