Things to Do in Tennessee

*For Tennessee's list of top yearly events, click here.

Bluff City

In the summer of 1992, I went to Cullowhee, NC to Western Carolina University for a month in a program called "Summer Ventures." While a little more like school than you'd want over a summer, we did get to do a good number of fun things like rappelling, whitewater rafting and spelunking! For this last one, we travelled into Bluff City, TN to Worley's Cave.

Our group went into the cave a mile and had to turn and come back that same mile. Our guide had been further into the cave, another mile, and said it was too hard to get us back if anyone got injured. Granted, I had no idea how he'd have gotten us out if we were injured at the point we were already...because the mile that we had already gone was so small that much of it was titled "the birth canal". Some of it you had to swim, and one spot you even had to go underwater for a few feet before you could come back up because the cave ceiling reached down to water level!

This isn't a "show cave". It hasn't been rendered a tourist trap with handrails and track lighting, this is truly a spelunking experience.

Worley's Cave by Kelsey Rodriguez

Chattanooga

Come here to see Lookout Mountain. You can ride the Incline Railway up the side of the mountain to Lookout Mountain's peak. This is the steepest passenger train in the world, making the ride "America's Most Amazing Mile." Lookout Mountain was the site of "The Last Battle of the Cherokees" in the 1700's and the "Battle of Lookout Mountain" during the Civil War in 1863. Within the Lookout Mountain area, you'll also find Rock City, where you can see SEVEN states from its’ peak. Also in Lookout Mountain is Ruby Falls, for which you travel 26 stories underground in an elevator to see the 145-foot magnificent underground waterfalls.

Crossville

Here's one of the many stops along the Americana filled list of Griswolddad oddities, the World's Largest Treehouse! Also known as the Minister's Treehouse, the 97 foot tall treehouse/church was built by Minister Horace Burgess after he was "told by God" if he built a treehouse, God would make sure he never ran out of material. Though you cannot currently climb into the treehouse as it has been closed by the state fire marshal, it is still a fun site to see. It's built on an 80 foot tall, still living, white oak.

Gatlinburg

The entrance to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is in Gatlinburg. The Park offers many hiking opportunities, from the short hikes to the LONG hikes. One of the most popular hikes is the 2.6 mile hike to the 80 foot tall Laurel Falls waterfall. This one is paved and stroller approved. The 1.4 mile long Grotto Falls hike lets you get behind a waterfall, and you don't even have to get wet. A steep 1.3 mile hike to Clingman's Dome takes you to the highest point in the park for great viewing. The Metcalf Bottoms trail, 1.4 miles, takes you to an old school built in 1882.

One of the best driving paths in the park is Cade's Cove, which is an 11 mile loop that passes through some of the original settlements where you can see old churches, schools, and houses.

Gatlinburg also has Ober Gatlinburg Ski Resort and Amusement Park with waterslides, skiing in winter, and zip lines. Gatlinburg is known for having live musical show entertainment, like at Sweet Fanny Adams Theater, but for enough shows to be overwhelmed by, see nearby Pigeon Forge for plenty of family fun entertainment shows while visiting. Otherwise, the town of Gatlinburg has shopping and bars...and lots of both.

Hurricane Mills

This entire town (though it is very small) is owned by Loretta Lynn. There are some houses in the town, but mostly its made up of Loretta's home, ranch, museum, gift shop, campgrounds, and motor cross tracks. Right beside her gift shop? Hurricane Mills post office! You can tour her home and hear all about the life behind "Coal Miner's Daughter". There's even a recreation of the small cabin she was born and raised in from Butcher Hollow.

Memphis

Home of the blues. Home of soul. Home of rock'n'roll! Memphis is the heart of music in so many genres, and they all come together on Memphis' famous Beale Street. Beale Street is lined with blues clubs and restaurants, or those that double as both, like BB King's Blues Club. Sun Studios, the launcher of Elvis, Johnny Cash and so many others is called the "birthplace of rock and roll" and open for touring.

The soul side of Memphis can be seen in the Stax Records Museum which is a replica of the original Stax Recording studio and honors soul greats that recorded there, like Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, and Sam & Dave, and other soul singers that didn't record there.

The Pink Palace is a museum that chronicles the cultural and natural history of the South, while the Burkle House, also known as Slave Haven, is a museum dedicated to the Underground Railroad. In the 1930's, the Peabody Hotel put ducks in their lobby fountain. The ducks are taken in and out of the fountain daily. Bellman Edward Pembroke, who was once a circus trainer, trained them to march in and out during these moves back and forth and became the Peabody Duckmaster from 1940 to 1991. These marching ducks have become a major Memphis tourist attraction over the years called the Peabody Hotel Duck March.

Now, in my opinion, I've saved the best for last: Elvis' Graceland. Graceland was Elvis Presley's home and is now a museum that honors his life, his music, and his movies. With over 600,000 visitors a year, this is the world's "most famous rock'n'roll residence," and the 2nd most toured private home... 2nd only to the White House! In the museum, you get to see the inside of the house, like the Jungle Room, the gold records, the suits, the cars, the planes, and the grave of Elvis. Free shuttles run visitors back and forth from Sun Records to Graceland.

Graceland

Beale Street

Sun Studio

Nashville

Country Music calls Nashville home. Therefore, Country Music gives the city most of its landmarks and tourist stops, like the Grand Ole Opry, Ryman Theater, the Johnny Cash Museum, and the Country Music Hall of Fame. The Grand Ole Opry is a weekly stage show that "made country music famous" and has featured many of the huge names of the genre. Tours of the Opry House let people see the stage and back stage areas, along with letting them hear stories from the acts over the years. Just be aware, the auditorium is rented out for events as well as concerts and is often closed to the public.

Ryman Theater was the original location of the Grand Ole Opry and is still a venue for live music today along with offering tours to the public, letting them see the stage, the history of the theater, and you get to take a picture ON the stage. The Country Music Hall of Fame and its museum honors the Country Music greats from Hank Williams and Patsy Cline to Tim McGraw and Taylor Swift. You hear the music, the stories, the history and see the costumes, the gold records, and the hair!

Both the Ryman and the Country Music Hall of Fame are walking distance to Broadway, Nashville's honkytonk street filled with restaurants, tourist shops, bars, and, of course, honkytonks. They have live music 365 days a year! Another live music venue that is not walking distance away from Broadway, but is known to have gotten a lot of big country names started is the Blue Bird Cafe. The Johnny Cash Museum displays memorabilia and pictures from the life of the "man in black."

Ryman Theater

Country Music Hall of Fame

After you finish Nashville's Country Music menu, be sure to see Nashville's other offerings from historical sites like plantations and presidential homes to recreations of famous Greek architecture! Belle Meade Plantation was a plantation before the Civil War, the mansion, grounds, and slave quarters can be toured today. Belmont Mansion, a famous mansion in the mid 1800s with a bowling alley, a giant greenhouse, and a ZOO, can also be toured. Hermitage, President Andrew Jackson's home is also in Nashville, and tours show you the extravagantly enormous house and the grounds. The famous ancient Greek Parthenon was recreated in Nashville in 1897 to full scale. Nashville's Parthenon also has a 42 foot recreation of the original Athena statue in its center, just like the original Parthenon.

Pigeon Forge

This town was made famous by country music legend, Dolly Parton. Her mark is all through the town. Dollywood is her theme park, complete with some very cool rides. Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede is a wild live entertainment version of dinner theater where you watch rodeo acts and music. The town is filled with live music shows, magicians, and comedy acts like Smoky Mountain Opry, Hatfield & McCoy Dinner Show, and the Lumberjack Feud Dinner Show.

Also, there's a Titanic Museum, housed in a two story recreation of the Titanic. Another attraction, Wonderworks, is an indoor amusement park with laser tag, a ropes course, simulated earthquakes, and other interactive activities meant to be "edu-tainment." The Old Mill is known for its good home-style cooking.

The "Island" at Pigeon Forge is a family fun center and entertainment complex with restaurants, shopping, rides, shows, and other family fun like laser mazes, mirror mazes, and arcades.