• Neo-Nazi group Patriot Front operating training facility outside 800-person Appalachian town
• Property owned by notorious National Socialist Movement couple hosts fight clubs and networking events
• Mayor receives concerned emails as community grapples with white nationalist presence

TELLICO PLAINS, TN (TDR) — A peaceful Appalachian town of roughly 800 residents is grappling with mounting anxiety over a white supremacist compound operating just outside its limits, where the nation’s most active white nationalist group trains members in bare-knuckled combat and hosts networking events for neo-Nazis from across the country. The 124-acre property, purchased in 2021 and dubbed “Aryan Tribal Land” by its occupants, has become a focal point for Patriot Front’s efforts to establish an Appalachian stronghold, according to a CNN investigation published Sunday.

Mayor Fields Resident Concerns About Extremist Activity

Tellico Plains Mayor Marilyn Parker told CNN she regularly receives emails from worried residents questioning the group’s presence and intentions. “People concerned, asking what are they doing there? Are they militia, or are they just boxers?” Parker said, reflecting the community’s uncertainty about the facility’s true purpose. The compound sits in Monroe County, located between Chattanooga and Knoxville in eastern Tennessee, a region that has seen a surge in white nationalist activity in recent years.

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The property is managed by Ian Michael Elliott, a leading Patriot Front figure who serves as bodyguard to the group’s national leader Thomas Rousseau. Elliott, who now lives on the compound full-time, has transformed the site into what he calls “tribal land” in social media posts. Photos and videos obtained by investigators show bloody, bare-knuckled sparring sessions inside a large barn converted into a gym, with participants’ faces deliberately blurred in published materials.

Notorious Neo-Nazi Family Behind Property Purchase

The land was purchased by Liudmila Culpepper, whose husband Brian Culpepper led Tennessee’s chapter of the National Socialist Movement, once the most prominent neo-Nazi group in the United States. Both have been photographed giving Nazi salutes, and Brian Culpepper publicly defended Dylann Roof, the neo-Nazi who murdered nine Black worshippers at a Charleston church in 2015, saying Roof had “valid talking points.”

“We will be situated deep in the Appalachian mountains, removed from modern civilization. The land is secure and owned by our guys.”

Elliott wrote those words when promoting the Tellico Plains site to Patriot Front members, adding ominously that “these mountains are ancient, and violence is far from foreign to them.” Brian Culpepper died at his Tellico Plains home in late October, creating uncertainty about the facility’s future. Shortly before his death, the barn housing Elliott’s gym was listed for sale, though it remains unclear whether Patriot Front intends to maintain operations on the remaining 117 acres.

National Network Targets Tennessee as Strategic Base

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Patriot Front represents the most active white nationalist organization in America, posting over 5,000 pieces of racist propaganda across the country in 2024 alone—ten times more than any comparable group. Tennessee has emerged as a strategic target, with only Texas, Alabama, and Pennsylvania experiencing more white supremacist events last year, according to Anti-Defamation League data.

The compound has hosted multiple neo-Nazi groups, including Tennessee Active Club and white nationalist “active clubs” from other states. These decentralized fight-club-style organizations have been described as “white supremacy 3.0” by the Southern Poverty Law Center, employing increasingly violent tactics while targeting LGBTQ+ events and recruiting young white men through mixed martial arts training.

Daryl Johnson, a former senior Department of Homeland Security analyst and domestic extremism expert, warned that Patriot Front’s expansion represents part of a broader and persistent threat. “They’re part of a broader network,” Johnson told CNN, emphasizing the group’s connections throughout the white nationalist movement.

Can small Appalachian communities effectively resist the encroachment of organized white supremacist groups establishing permanent bases in their midst?

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