Insiders Tour of Tennessee

Southern Tennessee was the last stop of our pre-retirement vacation.  We went to visit a good friend,  and an excellent ambassador of the state.  We'll call her Margie.  During our three day visit we saw the hidden, and world famous highlights of the area.

First a little geography.  The area we'd be exploring was on the western edge of the Cumberland Plateau.  The Plateau is a large, flat-topped table land that rises, in some places, as much as 1000 ft above the surrounding areas.  Since the Plateau is composed mostly of sandstone, the rivers and streams that run through it have easily cut out steep and deep gorges.

Margie's house is on the side of the Plateau, over-looking the valley to the North.  This meant every room, and the deck had amazing views, and that every trip started with a drive down hairpin curves to the valley floor.

Day One 

On our first drive down, we headed East for a few miles and promptly drove back up another hairpin turn road to the town of Sewanee, home of the University of the South, a classic Gothic / wooded campus.

Natural Bridge

Heading East from there we came to the town of Monteagle, and drove through a lovely assemblage of Queen Anne cottages.  The Monteagle Sunday School Assembly was founded in 1882 and dedicated to housing those interesting in spiritual pursuits...and building and maintaining lovely cottages.

We then got our first hint of the wonderful forests of the area and took a short walk to the Natural Bridge.

Lynchburg - the town that Jack Built

For dinner we went to a great Italian restaurant, Sernicola's, in Cowan. 

Day Two

After coming down from the mountain we headed North West to the town of Lynchburg and the Jack Daniels Distillery.   I don't drink whiskey and I have no affinity for "Jack" but never-the-less, the tour was really interesting and well done.  It was so well done I was almost tempted to buy not one bottle but the output from an entire Single Barrel. 

Day Three

And then it was time for hiking.  On day three we hiked in the Savage Gulf wilderness area.  First out to the Stone Door and then to Fall Creek Falls.  The Cumberland Plateau woods are generally open and mostly oak and hickory.  It was mid spring and the wild flowers were just past their peak but still flowering in some colder, protected pockets. It was a great hike through some pretty country.

S.D. on the Plateau

Day Four

Day four was our last day, only a morning really but Margie cooked up some biscuits, sausage and gravy so we could experience more of Tennessee.  With breakfasts like that, it's good that the state has such excellent hiking!

Fall Creek Falls - highest falls East of the Rockies