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National park system offers everything desired within an hour's drive

staff — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 09:30:19 -0500

Let's cut to the chase: Chattanooga and Asheville, N.C., might have been recognized more as outdoor towns, but Knoxville is just as cool.

Just look at a map. Knoxville lies in the Tennessee Valley, a physiographic region sandwiched between the Cumberland Plateau to the west and the Appalachian Mountains to the east.

Organizers hope visitors will be driven to see quilt blocks along rural routes

staff — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 15:50:50 -0500

Super-sized, multicolored quilt blocks with names like “Jubilee Star” and “Cherokee Sunburst” decorate East Tennessee barns, country stores, even a winery and railroad depot.

The 200 designs painted on plywood by area artists or schoolchildren depict heritage quilt patterns. They make up the Appalachian Quilt Trail, a set of 14 rural driving routes over 17 counties and 300 Tennessee miles from the Virginia border to McMinn County.

See state sights without dropping a dime

staff — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 15:42:15 -0500

Don’t look for the wildest roller-coaster ride in a new book about Tennessee tourist attractions.

“Free Tennessee” won’t have that. This book is more for thrifty people who enjoy vacation more when their money goes for gasoline, food and souvenirs rather than ticket prices. Those folks can turn “Free Tennessee” into a travel guide.

The book by Kentucky resident James Bilodeau lists Tennessee attractions from automobile factories to county historical museums to outdoor nature centers.

Number of visitors at record high

cooper — Fri, 25 May 2007 14:02:40 -0500

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park marked a record 9.4 million visitors in 2006, up 2 percent from 2005.

The increase was the largest recorded in the past five years.

A total of 9,416,734 visitors entered the park through its three main entrances and outlying areas.

Straddling the Tennessee-North Carolina state line and encompassing 800 square miles of almost entirely forested land, the Smokies is the most-visited national park in the country - attracting more visitors per year than the Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona and Yosemite National Park in California combined.