---

 

AROUND THE USA

Tennessee is complex, historical and interesting

Prepare to be surprised by Tennessee. The Volunteer State can be an awesome experience with stunning scenery, rich history, compelling music, delicious food and friendly folks.

The information on these pages is your tour of the state we proudly call home. Your guide is one of the few people to have lived in all three of Tennessee's Grand Divisions, and we'll give you a comprehensive and candid overview of the state with in-depth information on special areas.

The Tennessee Bicentennial stamp was issued in 1996 by the U.S. Postal Service to commemorate two centuries of statehood. A statue of President Andrew Jackson is silhouetted against the east side of the State Capitol at night.

This page is constantly being updated and expanded. As with all of our web pages, reviews and endorsements are our honest opinions and not paid for.

The Big Picture Politics & Government 50 Years of Tennessee Politics Touring Tennessee Cool Links		Click here to send us e-mail [webmaster@hermitage.com]
Detailed Jackson-Crockett Pages

The Big Picture

Tennessee is a big state. In Memphis, you are closer to the Great Lakes or to the Gulf of Mexico than you are to the eastern tip of Tennessee.

The state is commonly divided into three Grand Divisions -- East, Middle and West. While state law defines the Grand Divisions in terms of geography, they are most distinctive in terms of culture and history. An experienced listener can detect subtle differences in the accents and dialects of each Grand Division.

Geography, geology and topography made these three regions distinct long before settlers first crossed the mountains from North Carolina. As pioneers pushed west -- and later south down the Mississippi River -- they adapted to the agricultural possibilities of each region. Later, those farming trends affected the state's outlook on the Civil War, its industrial development and its political leanings into the 21st century.

East Tennessee

While the Tennessee Valley is its dominant feature, East Tennessee is known as "the mountains" to many people. Beginning east of Knoxville, the foothills and then the peaks of the Appalachia Mountains rise along the border with North Carolina. The song "Rocky Top" was written about this region.

Early agriculture in East Tennessee was primarily family farms, which reflects the rock-ribbed self reliance that still typifies the area and which meant few slaves in the 19th Century.

When Tennessee seceded to join the Confederacy, East Tennessee unsuccessfully attempted to leave the state and stick with the Union, a la West Virginia. Loyalty to Lincoln is still reflected in the region's Republican tendencies at the ballot box. The Industrial Revolution put factories into East Tennessee -- particularly shoe, textile and steel mills -- while the demand for coal stimulated the mining industry.

Major East Tennessee cities:

• Knoxville (including Oak Ridge)
• Chattanooga
• Tri-Cities (Bristol, Johnson City and Kingsport)

Middle Tennessee

One might say that Middle Tennessee has long been about transportation. Before the Civil War, Maury County (Columbia) was the horse capital of the United States. Columbia still celebrates Mule Day in the spring to commemorate mule trading. Southeast of Columbia is Shelbyville, which is home of today's Tennessee Walking Horse Celebration.

Today, automobile manufacturing is big business with the Nissan plant at Smyrna (near Murfreesboro) and the Saturn plant at Spring Hill (near Columbia).

While the terrain is more friendly to farming than in East Tennessee, the soil in Middle Tennessee is typically lousy with more rocks than the moon. Consequently, agriculture tended toward pasture-focused activities such as cattle and horses. Politically, the area has been staunchly Democratic since presidents Andrew Jackson and James K. Polk.

Nashville, the state capital, dominates Middle Tennessee.

From there, it's a big jump down in size to a cluster of smaller cities:

Clarksville Columbia

Cookeville Murfreesboro

Shelbyville Tullahoma

West Tennessee

First, there's Memphis.

Outside of that, everything else is commonly known as rural West Tennessee, arguably with Jackson as rural West Tennessee's unofficial capital. With broad expanses of Mississippi River bottom land for farming and a huge river for transportation, this is the planters' region of Tennessee.

Cotton, soybeans, corn and other row crops thrive in the powdery topsoil of West Tennessee, and Memphis -- still home of the Memphis Cotton Exchange and the Cotton Carnival -- was a major market for buying and selling crops.

Memphis is a river city riven by racial mistrust, and all of West Tennessee still bears the scars and legacies of slavery, which was a big business here. More than any other part of the state, West Tennessee is akin to the Cotton South of Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina.

Politics & Government

In more than two centuries as a state, Tennessee has compiled a fascinating political history that includes three U.S. presidents and the current vice president, political machines and tectonic realignments.

Andrew Jackson is the patron saint of Tennessee politics. He's a namesake of this company, and our domain name is taken from The Hermitage, his plantation on the east side of Nashville (good museum there; worth a visit). We don't condone all of Jackson's policies, but his historic significance and symbolic value for Tennessee's Democratic Party can't be understated.

The Crump machine was on par with Tammany Hall in New York City or the Daley machine of Chicago in its ability to deliver patronage and votes. Allied with other political bosses, Boss Crump could control most statewide offices.

Estes Kefauver broke the back of the Crump machine in 1948, taking advantage of post-war political forces plus confusion and division in the Crump ranks to win the three-way Democratic primary for U.S. Senate by a plurality. Gordon Browning, also an anti-Crump candidate, was elected governor at the same time, and the Crump machine declined until the boss' death in 1954.

Congressman Albert Gore Sr. -- father of the former vice president -- ran for the Senate in 1952 against Kenneth McKellar, dean of the Senate and a formidable political lion. Gore's victory was the beginning of the end for the old political order.

Kefauver and Gore Sr. were a fairly enlightened pair of senators. In 1956, they were the only Southern senators who refused to sign the racist Southern Manifesto. The Republican Party began to emerge as a force in the 1960s. This trend had several origins:

• As blacks gained enfranchisement from the Voting Rights Act of 1965, many white Democrats, especially in Memphis, sought refuge in other political circles.
• A key to the power of the Crump machine was an unholy alliance with East Tennessee Republicans led by 1st District Congressman B. Carroll Reece. The essence of the deal was that the Republicans would cede statewide power to Crump and the Memphis boss wouldn't mess in East Tennessee politics and patronage. With Crump gone, Republicans were unrestrained in state contests.
• Seats in the Tennessee Legislature had not been reapportioned to reflect Census trends since the early part of the 20th century. This gave Democrats, who have controlled the Legislature from Reconstruction until today, an unfair advantage in everything partisan. The landmark Baker vs. Carr decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that set the stage for the subsequent "one person, one vote" standard of political apportionment originated in Memphis.
• "Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely," said Lord Acton. Given its hegemony in things political, the Democratic Party became somewhat corrupt and arrogant, producing a backlash.

Democratic control began to crumble in 1966 when East Tennessean Howard Baker Jr., whose father and stepmother both served in Congress, won an open Senate seat (Kefauver died in 1963). After the 1968 elections, Republicans barely -- and briefly -- took control of the state House.

In 1970, the Democrats imploded as Congressman Bill Brock defeated Gore Sr.'s Senate re-election bid, and Memphian Winfield Dunn became the first Republican governor in 50 years. The GOP also took control of the state's delegation to the U.S. House of Representatives.

Since that time, the two parties have been highly competitive, and Tennessee citizens have been the beneficiaries. By offering viable candidates, the Republicans compelled the Democrats to pursue higher standards. The pendulum has swung to and fro in the last three decades -- currently toward the Republicans -- but the result has been a progressive and well-managed state government and federal officials of whom the state can generally be proud.

The state retains a Democratic tendency but can easily swing Republican under the right circumstances. It swung especially hard to the GOP in 1994 and in 2000 when it supported Bush over favorite son Al Gore Jr. for president.

Our 50 Years of Tennessee Politics chronicles post-World War II elections.

We have local political overviews of Nashville and Memphis.

Learn where Tennessee politicians are buried at The Political Graveyard web site.

---

The Big Picture Politics & Government 50 Years of Tennessee Politics Touring Tennessee Cool Links		Click here to send us e-mail [webmaster@hermitage.com]
Detailed Jackson-Crockett Pages

Touring Tennessee

• An Eight-Day Tour of Tennessee
• Other Options

Each of Tennessee's Grand Divisions has scenic highlights that draw people from thousands of miles -- and even continents -- away.

In East Tennessee, it's the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Most Tennesseans regard Gatlinburg as the epicenter of the Smoky Mountains. Gatlinburg was once a rustic mountain town, but today it's a bustling tourist center and popular honeymoon spot that's lost most of its authenticity.

Tourists typically reach Gatlinburg from Knoxville -- and pass through Pigeon Forge on the way. Gatlinburg might have lost its original charm, but Pigeon Forge is the unabashed tourist trap with outlet malls, water slides and Dollywood.

For a more laid-back experience, consider one of the many inns tucked away in the mountains and look around places such as Townsend and Cosby.

Those with an interest in science and history are often fascinated by Oak Ridge, birthplace of the atomic bomb and a pivotal city in World War II. We have a detailed report.

Chattanooga is probably the most exciting city in East Tennessee these days. Its new aquarium -- the world's only freshwater aquarium -- and a revitalized downtown are attracting huge crowds and rave reviews. (To our regret, we haven't been there yet.)

In Middle Tennessee, Nashville is the most popular tourist destination.

Our detailed report on the state capital and the capital of country music is a good place to start. Despite its country music image, Nashville is a cosmopolitan city with a vast range of dining, entertainment from ballet to bluegrass, cultural sites such as art galleries and botanical gardens and an impressive zoo.

Also worth a visit in Middle Tennessee is the Jack Daniel's Distillery at Lynchburg, about 90 minutes south of Nashville. No, they don't have free samples.

The most popular tourist destination in West Tennessee is Elvis Presley's Graceland in Memphis. We have a detailed report about the Bluff City, and Memphis has plenty to see even if you don't care about the King of Rock 'n' Roll, thank you very much.

Tennessee has much more to offer, particularly if you have special interests such as Tennessee Walking Horses or the teapots of Trenton.

A Hypothetical Tour

Here's an eight-day tour of Tennessee (or longer if you spend extra days in Nashville or Memphis) that is reasonably paced but will give you a comprehensive overview of the state. We find that when we're touring, it is much more relaxing to spend two or more nights each time we check into a hotel or motel, and this plan achieves that. Actual driving time on the travel days is typically three to four hours.

---

Links in areas for which we have detailed reports aren't repeated here. For instance, all of our Nashville links are on our Nashville page.

---

Day 1: Arrive in Gatlinburg.

Day 2: Tour the Great Smoky Mountains National Park; drive to Clingman's Dome and Cade's Cove; second night in Gatlinburg

Day 3: Drive to Oak Ridge; enter past the X-10 and Y-12 nuclear plants; tour the American Museum of Science and Energy; drive to Chattanooga.

A good route from Oak Ridge to Chattanooga is via State Route 95 out the west end of Oak Ridge. This route is the quickest and will also take you by the K-25 nuclear plant (with a slight detour) and the Tennessee Valley Authority's Melton Hill Dam, if you've never seen a lock and dam. (Irreverent Oak Ridgers wanted to name the dam for God.)

In Chattanooga, we recommend the Choo Choo Holiday Inn, downtown, a restored train station converted into a hotel. Also cool is the Read House, a restored old hotel.

Day 4: Visit the Chattanooga Aquarium downtown and hope weather allows a picnic lunch nearby; second night in Chattanooga.

Day 5: Drive to the Jack Daniel's Distillery at Lynchburg. Tour Jack Daniel's and stroll downtown Lynchburg; proceed to Nashville.

You might take a slightly longer route from Chattanooga to Lynchburg and drive through the University of the South at Sewanee, which is probably the most beautiful college campus in Tennessee. For railroad fans, this route also takes you by the Cowan Railroad Museum.

Chattanooga is in the Eastern time zone; Sewanee and Lynchburg are Central.

Day 6 (or more): Nashville

Day 7: Drive to Memphis. Tennesseans agree that this is the most boring drive in Tennessee, especially from Jackson to Memphis. One state senator is fond of making the trip at 90+ mph, but we don't recommend that for tourists. If you see a blue Mercedes in your rearview mirror and the driver is waving a pistol, please let Senator Ford pass.

For a truly kitsch experience, stop at the Old Country Store in Jackson for lunch. Quickly tour the adjacent Casey Jones Home and Railroad Museum.

Day 8 (or more): Memphis

Other options

We don't specifically include these stops in our Tour of Tennessee, but they are of interest to many, so you might want to consider a special effort to visit:

East Tennessee

• Harrogate (at the Kentucky state line): The Abraham Lincoln Museum at Lincoln Memorial University has one of the largest Lincoln memorabilia collections in the country. It is about two miles from the historic Cumberland Gap, which is also worth a visit if you're in the area anyway.
• Norris (near Knoxville-Oak Ridge): The Museum of Appalachia is an impressive collection of 30-odd original buildings and tons of tools, furniture and other pieces of mountain history. It began as the personal collection of John Rice Irwin and is today a treasure of antiquities. We can't find an official web site, but these have good info:
  • The Smokies Magazine, a very good virtual magazine
  • The Weekly Wire from Metro Pulse, Knoxville's alternative newspaper.
• Dayton (near Chattanooga): Site of the Scopes Monkey Trial about evolution vs. creation in 1925. The original courtroom is still in use and can be toured. This trial was the basis for Inherit The Wind, which has been presented on Broadway and in at least three movie versions. Various web sites:
  • University of Virginia
  • George Mason University
  • First Things, a journal of religion and public life, offers an opinion of the play's fidelity to history.
• Cumberland County Playhouse at Crossville has outstanding theatre in an intimate setting.
• Ocoee River (near Chattanooga): Shoot the rapids at the white water rafting site used for the 1996 Olympics. Outfitters:
  • Ocoee Outdoors We have personal -- and positive -- experience with these guys.
  • Ocoee Rafting Inc.
  • Wildwater Ltd.
  • USA Raft
  • Ocoee Adventure Center
  • Big Frog Expeditions

---

Y'all come back, ya hear?

Cool Links

First, have you Bookmarked this page yet? Once you have, take a look at:

• The official State of Tennessee web site.
• The USS Tennessee is a submarine in the U.S. Navy and is the sixth ship to bear the state's name.
• Tennessee has about two dozen tourist railroads and railroad museums.
• Yahoo! Weather Forecasts for Tennessee
• The In And Around Tennessee web site has a great collection of material

We also have a slew of links on our pages about specific Tennessee cities and regions.

The Big Picture Politics & Government 50 Years of Tennessee Politics Touring Tennessee Cool Links		Click here to send us e-mail [webmaster@hermitage.com]
Detailed Jackson-Crockett Pages

© Copyright 1998-2001 The Jackson-Crockett Company. All Rights Reserved.