Dozens of people gathered at Maryville College’s Lloyd L. Thornton Stadium to catch the moon pass between the earth and the sun on Monday.
While the duration of totality was a bit shorter than other areas around East Tennessee, Blount County also saw full eclipse.
Kids watching could barely contain their excitement.
"It's happening! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!" Chloe Porter, 14, exclaimed.
She had her camera set on the sun as she intently scribbled in her journal through every phase of the eclipse.
“One day I can show my grandkids the video and my journal will sell for like a million dollars. Haha!” Porter said.
She watched the eclipse alongside her parents and younger siblings. All four of the Porter children learned about the eclipse in school. But, the actual moment was more than they could imagine.
"It's amazing and breathtaking, because, I've never seen anything like it," Fiona Porter said.
Their mother, Amy Porter, got to see the eclipse as child back in 1979. But, watching totality with her children was a whole new experience.
"This is something you just can't get away from the awe and grandeur of just looking at the sky," Amy said.
Kids were not the only one enthusiastic about the eclipse. Students from Maryville College spent the day collecting data for NASA.
“It was amazing. The whole experience was amazing. From the first contact until the actual totality of the eclipse,” Cameron Moore, a student scientist said.
They collected information on temperature, pressure and light streams as the eclipse reached totality. They will send their findings to NASA so that scientists have a more complete picture of what the eclipse looked like in East Tennessee.