Six of us—three middle-agers, two teens, one golden-ager (80, with some mobility issues related mainly to stairs and endurance)—will be staying in the Pigeon Forge area during the first week in November. Most of that time we will be visiting various parts of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (on both the Tennessee and North Carolina sides) and adjacent areas (Gatlinburg, Cherokee, etc.).

On one day, however, we would like to venture out beyond the vicinity of the national park. Any comment on what we are considering so far, or suggestions for alternatives?

We want wherever we go to be less than 2 hours each direction. We are mainly interested in Tennessee but are willing to consider places in North Carolina as well.

What we like:

Historic sites that have guided tours, well-versed docents, good films, and/or historic reenactors

Museums (culture, history, arts & crafts) that have good collections of local objects and well-done commentary on them (which can include film or video presentations)

Performances of mountain music (e.g. bluegrass, country, Southern gospel) and/or dance (e.g. clogging)

Small towns that have an old-timey feel, including shopping such as general stores and junk shops, and eateries such as soda fountains and diners

Beautiful scenery, including waterfalls

What we aren't looking for:

Art museums or galleries

High-end boutiques (including pricey arts & crafts and expensive antiques)

Museums and historic sites that just have static displays or not much information on what is displayed

What we are considering so far:

Greeneville (including sites related to Andrew Johnson and Davy Crockett)

Cumberland Gap NHS

Knoxville (including Sunsphere, WDVX Blue Plate Special, University of Tennessee; Blount Mansion? Farragut Museum?)

What we have already ruled out (for various reasons, including already visitng some of them):

Asheville

Chattanooga

Oak Ridge


Thanks! Looking forward to your feedback!

There's a performance at the Smoky Mountain Center in Franklin NC on Nov 8th -
http://www.greatmountainmusic.com/
I don't know Tim Hawkins but you could watch youtube videos they reference to see if it's anything you'd be interested in.

The drive is nice and Franklin has a nice little downtown.

Waterfalls with mobility issues would be difficult. The drive from Franklin to Highlands is a beautiful (although curvy) drive but passes by two nice waterfalls. Dry Falls has new access that all but the 80yo would enjoy but there's a flat access bridge to a vantage point of the falls.

Highlands has a lovely downtown. It does have some high end stores, but a fair mix of other stores. It's about 2-3 blocks long and virtually flat.

I can't think of another performance venue. Unto These Hills won't have performances during your time frame. Cherokee may have some of what you are looking for, but I'm not that familiar with the town.

If you were interested in a railroad adventure, the Great Smoky Railroad would be a nice way to spend part of the day -
http://www.gsmr.com/ride-us/about-tu...n#.VDYXps_D9jo

If you happen to be in town on Nov. 1st, they combine it with the pottery festival -
http://www.gsmr.com/events/pottery-t...n#.VDYX6M_D9jo

If you wanted to be gone at night, you could ride the Polar Express -
http://www.gsmr.com/events/about-pol...n#.VDYYPc_D9jo

Clogging is over at the Stomping Grounds in Maggie Valley in October -
http://video.unctv.org/video/2254751670/

You may want to go see the elk in Maggie Valley. You can take the self-guided auto tour to see the historic buildings -
http://www.nps.gov/grsm/planyourvisit/cataloochee.htm

If you haven't been to Cades Cove before, you really should go there but check to make sure the road is still open (weather permitting). It's the prettiest spot in the mountains -
http://www.nps.gov/grsm/planyourvisit/cadescove.htm

If you want to go a few miles further south than Franklin, you could go into Georgia and see a Cirque production by the students of the Rabun Gap-Nachoochee school -
http://www.rabungap.org/page.cfm?p=1034
Nov 6-8
The Performing Arts center is state of the art. The international boarding school has major endowments, including the Woodruff family and lots of Coca-Cola money. Their latest bequest was over 4M$.

If you are there, you could eat at the famous Dillard House = all you can eat southern style cooking that is really good (breakfast lunch or dinner)
http://www.dillardhouse.com/restaurant/
You could take back jam, jellies and smoked hams if you wanted.

A few miles away is an excellent interpretive museum of mountain life at the Foxfire Museum -
https://www.foxfire.org/museum.html
You will have just missed a lot of the music you're looking for during the Foxfire Festival -
https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-F...r/155883521517
But there will probably be artists demonstrating mountain skills, including weaving and broom-making.

That corner of Georgia has lots of things to see and do. Gorgeous views of the mountains from Black Rock Mountain State Park and a wonderful virtually flat .8 mile walking path around Black Rock Lake which is one of the prettiest places you could take a walk. The first week in November will probably be peak. A few more miles down the road is Tallulah Gorge State park with an easy rim trail with views of the gorge and waterfalls. The younger in your crew may want to hike down the 999 steps to the suspension bridge to see more of the gorge. The first two weekends in November are water release weekends when they release more water into the gorge and kayakers run the rapids. Hikers aren't allowed on the gorge floor during those weekends.
http://www.gastateparks.org/TallulahGorge

The little town of Clayton is exactly what you are describing with a nice mountain town downtown, good restaurants and even an old fashioned soda shop in the drugstore. The town of Dillard has lots of antique shops.

It's 2 hours and 24 minutes from Tallulah Gorge (the southernmost point on the above list) to Pigeon Forge and it's a nice 4 lane road all the way. It's a beautiful drive too.

THE dancing place in the area used to be in Mountain City and dancers would come from all over the SE to dance. That's long gone and folks come to the auction house -
http://www.goldenmemoriesauctions.com/about-us.html
I checked the calendar and the only thing going on is an on-site estate auction across the state line in SC and I don't think that's anything you'd be interested in.

Anyway, those are some ideas.

Check out Abingdon, VA. It is home to the historic Barter theater, the Martha Washington Inn, Creeper trail, etc. Historic small town.

http://visitabingdonvirginia.com/

We love it there.

Thanks for the suggestions, starrs and gmoney! Georgia and Virginia had not even been on my radar.

starrs, your detailed listing is especially appreciated. We won't arrive until the afternoon or evening of November 3, so will miss the Pottery Festival. My sister and brother-in-law have been to GSMNP at least six or seven times and really love it. We will be hitting as many of the hot spots as we can (Cades Cove, Cataloochee, Sugarlands, Oconaluftee, Treemont, Clingmans Dome, and maybe others I'm not aware of).

That might be enough to last us the whole week we are there, but we did figure a day trip to somewhere new might be a nice addition.

Anyone have any comments or suggestions on day trips in Tennessee?

Well, the day trip ended up being to visit old friends who have a place in North Carolina. I had not seen them in more than 20 years and only found out a few days before the trip (via Facebook!) that they would be at their NC place at the same time I would be in the Smokies.

Sounds great! What part of NC? I think the leaves were good at lower elevations last weekend.

starrs, my friends were in Franklin. I visited with them while the rest of my family explored the town.

For the most part we saw prettier leaves in TN than in NC, but there was still some very nice color along I-40 from the TN line to Cove Creek (where we exited to go to Cataloochee).

You missed a GTG by a few miles and a couple of days. Pharlap and I met up that Saturday and had a nice visit in Clayton, GA. The colors were good and they are great this week in the Atlanta area. Glad you had a good visit.