Tennessee Back Roads and Country Fun

Fun from Chattanooga to Nashville

Traveling between Chattanooga and Nashville can be a real treat if you make a few stops for fun along the way. For the purposes of this itinerary, we start out in Chattanooga in the morning and head toward Nashville, but you can reverse the order if you are traveling from Nashville.

Day One

Leave Chattanooga after breakfast and head toward Nashville on I-24. At Exit 111 (Exit 81A if you are coming from Nashville), leave the interstate to those in a hurry and make your way to the famous Jack Daniel Distillery, the oldest registered distillery in the country. The free, personally guided tour will enlighten you to this unique distillery process and you’ll enjoy time in their new Visitors Center. Remember, you can’t drink or buy product in Lynchburg, as the whole county is dry, but you can buy special commemorative bottles not available in stores.

Leave Lynchburg behind and head to McMinnville. You won’t believe what you’ll find in “Tennessee’s Biltmore,” the historic Falcon Rest, where history is fun. Meet “Mr. Clay Faulkner“ of the Gorilla Pants company, the proud builder of this 1890’s Victorian house and a man ahead of his time. See if you can spot a ghost on the tour of this grand home, enjoy entertainment and food “like Grandma used to make” in the Tea Room, and play a little in the 1890s department store.

Head on up the road and get ready to explore Cumberland Caverns, Tennessee’s largest show cave, with some of the largest underground rooms in eastern America. It also features waterfalls, gleaming pools, spectacular formations, and even a three-quarter-ton chandelier. The historic 1812 saltpeter mine and “God of the Mountain,” an original underground pageant of light and sound, are shown on every tour.

After dinner at one of the local diner favorites you are sure to be entertained at the Cumberland County Playhouse. This Crossville theater has been entertaining thousands for more than 30 years with professional productions and arts opportunities. Now the only major non-profit professional performing arts resource in rural Tennessee, the playhouse is one of the 10 largest professional theaters in rural America. It serves more than 145,000 visitors annually with two indoor and two outdoor stages, young audience productions, a comprehensive dance program, a concert series and touring shows.

Rest up at your hotel and prepare for the breathtaking beauty of day two.

Day Two

Check out of your hotel and make your way to the highest waterfall east of the Rocky Mountains, at Fall Creek Falls State Resort Park in Pikeville. One of the most scenic and spectacular recreation areas in America, the park’s waterfalls, cascades, sparkling streams, gorges, timberland, and unmatched variety of recreation facilities and activities have made it one of the most popular parks in the Southeast. Enjoy a wonderful lunch in their dining room before heading on to Nashville.

Arrive Nashville and check into your hotel.