John Nolan grew up in Toledo, Ohio, and attended Bowling Green State University to earn a bachelor’s of fine arts in painting and drawing with a minor in history. After further studio art studies at the Chautauqua Institution in New York and a summer studying art history in Florence, Italy, he came to Greenville in 1992 to earn a master’s in studio art at Bob Jones University. For 20 years Nolan has served as the curator of the world-renown collection of old masters at the Museum & Gallery at Bob Jones University. The combination of his research and tour giving experience at the Museum & Gallery, love of history and for the city of Greenville led to the establishment of Greenville History Tours in 2006 as the first tour company in Greenville. In the years since, Nolan has given tours to well over 50,000 guests on historic walking tours, driving tours, and culinary tours. His tours have been featured in articles and media ranging from NBC Washington, US Airline’s in-flight Spirit Magazine, the Chicago Tribune, Huffington Post, Southern Living Magazine, New York Post, Money Magazine, the Boston Globe, and National Geographic Traveler to name a few.