Small Towns in Tennessee Worth Every Mile of the Drive

Tennessee's best places aren't always the ones with the most billboards. Some of the most worth-the-detour spots in the state sit on two-lane roads between interstates, waiting for the people who actually go looking.

Jonesborough

The oldest town in Tennessee, founded in 1779, and it looks like it — intact brick buildings, covered sidewalks, an old-fashioned feel that isn't manufactured. Every October it hosts the National Storytelling Festival, a genuine event that draws tellers and listeners from around the world. Worth planning a trip around.

Leiper's Fork

Thirty minutes southwest of Nashville and a different world entirely. Artists, musicians, people who want Middle Tennessee without the traffic. The grocery store has live music on weekends. The surrounding hills are exactly what people picture when they picture this part of the state.

Monterey

In the Upper Cumberland, easy to drive past on I-40 without stopping. Don't. Monterey sits at the western edge of the Cumberland Plateau with a reviving downtown square and Standing Stone State Park nearby. The waterfalls are free.

Coker Creek

A community in the Cherokee National Forest where you can legally pan for gold in the creek itself. The gold is fine, not nuggets, but it's there. Old-growth forest surrounds it. Crowds do not.

Savannah

On the Tennessee River in Hardin County — the gateway to Shiloh National Military Park, one of the most significant Civil War battlefields in the country and one of the best-preserved. The town is quiet. The battlefield is worth a full afternoon.

Tennessee rewards the people who get off the main road. It always has.

Built for people who know where to look. Shop Tennessee Pride Apparel and wear the state the way it deserves to be worn.