STATEWIDE - From the Mississippi River to the Great Smoky Mountains, Tennessee is waiting for you to discover the best of America’s riveting history, exciting outdoors, great musical styles, friendly people and mouthwatering foods! Take a back road or stroll city sidewalks; it’s all here, so come to Tennessee where you’ll be center stage on your next vacation!
Tennessee has endless blockbuster entertainment from Beale Street blues and Elvis’s rock ’n’ roll in Memphis to Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry and Music Row’s country, gospel, and pop music to the bluegrass of Appalachia. There’s world-famous events including BBQ cook off’s at Memphis in May, Gaylord Opryland, and Jack Daniel Distillery. Tennessee offers eclectic festivals like South Pittsburg’s Cornbread Festival, Bell Buckle’s Moon Pie Festival and Jonesborough’s International Storytelling Festival. And for Tennessee’s fine arts, there are world-class galleries like the Frist in Nashville, the Hunter in Chattanooga and Knoxville’s Museum of Art.
Outdoor enthusiasts can take a hike through the deep forests of Big South Fork, raft down roaring Olympic gorges of the Ocoee River, follow pioneer footsteps through the Cumberland Gap and the Great Smoky Mountains, and catch a glimpse of the nesting American bald eagles in the cypress trees of Reelfoot Lake. Can’t decide? You don’t have to. In Tennessee, you’re welcome to try a little bit of everything.
History is everywhere, from the homes of U.S. presidents Andrew Jackson, James K. Polk and Andrew Johnson, to the Civil War battlefields of Shiloh, Stones River and Franklin. Tour the self-guided Antebellum Trail through Davidson, Williamson and Maury counties, and ride along the ancient Natchez Trace Parkway in Middle Tennessee. Travel by paddlewheel in Clarksville and Savannah. Explore English ancestry in Elizabethton and Rugby, and follow the origins of country music in Bristol, Knoxville and Nashville.
And there are museums to showcase it all. The Sequoyah Birthplace Museum in Vonore details Cherokee Heritage, and the American Museum of Science & Energy in Oak Ridge chronicles our transition from the 18th century to the Atomic Age. The Stax Rock ’n’ Soul Museum and Sun Studio in Memphis reveal our influential impact on American music in the last 50 years, and the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville showcases all of country music’s roots. The Casey Jones Village in Jackson illustrates one man’s deeds in legend and song, and the International Towing Museum in Chattanooga reveals how everything has a history worth telling.
Hear our best music for yourself in small town festivals and attractions. There’s the Smithville Fiddler’s Jamboree where famous musicians are actually discovered, and the Brownsville Blues Festival rooted in talent that started in the cotton fields and played all the way to Memphis. Dollywood theme park in Pigeon Forge is jam packed with musical shows, and the Cumberland Playhouse in Crossville offers the best in Broadway musicals every year. And The Dixie Carter Performing Arts Center in her hometown of Huntingdon offers some of Tennessee’s finest theatrical events.
Tennessee is a four season state. In deep winter, there’s cross country skiing at Roan Mountain State Park. In spring, massive clouds of white dogwood blooms fill the forests of East Tennessee in and around Knoxville and are celebrated each year at Knoxville’s Dogwood Festival. In summer, cool off in Sweetwater’s underground Lost Sea, or take a pontoon ride at Birdsong Resort in Camden to see divers harvest freshwater pearls. In the fall, pause under a tree of brilliant fall leaves at one of our 54 state parks. So, what are you waiting for? Come to Tennessee, where you’ll be center stage!
