My Tennessee Story

White Lightning Trail to be Launched Friday

Things To Do, My Tennessee Week

If you’re a diehard country music fan, you’ll love traveling through Tennessee towns such as Luttrell, Knoxville and Maynardville, the hometowns of country stars Kenny Chesney, Chet Atkins and Carl Smith, to learn more about these Tennessee native sons.

If folklore strikes your fancy, you’ll truly appreciate traveling along some of the same routes (now a National Scenic Byway) rebel bootleggers used to transport moonshine, a distilled corn whiskey also known as “white lightning,” all under the cloak of darkness.

It’s fast-paced. It’s thrilling. It’s captivating. It’s the White Lightning Trail.

The Tennessee Departments of Tourist Development and Transportation, in partnership with the Knoxville Tourism and Sports Corporation and tourism organizations in nine counties are pleased to announce the opening of the White Lightning Trail on June 25.

The fourth of 16 self-guided driving trails in the Discover Tennessee Trails & Byways program, White Lightning features 160 tourism sites in Knoxville, Knox County and eight counties and features the East Tennessee Crossing Byway, one of Tennessee’s five National Scenic Byways.

The White Lightning Trail is a mapped driving route that gives point-by-point directions to local gems such as arts and crafts shops, quaint restaurants, five state parks, 15 marinas and much more. The trail travels through Anderson, Campbell, Claiborne, Cocke, Grainger, Jefferson, Knox, Hamblen and Union counties.

In addition to popular attractions such as the Knoxville Zoo and Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame, other unique stops include Clinton’s Green McAdoo Cultural Center, where exhibits honor the famed “Clinton 12,” the 12 African-American students who first desegregated a state-supported high school, and Daniel Boone Visitor Information Center at Cumberland Gap National Historical Park, whose namesake helped clear the way for as many as 300,000 settlers seeking “new” lands. The trail also highlights several agritourism locations ranging from a pick-your-own-berries farm to corn mazes.

Let the journey begin! Tell us what you think of the trails. E-mail us at (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). For the latest tourism happenings in Tennessee, visit us at http://www.tnvacation.com, http://www.facebook.com/tnvacation or http://twitter.com/tnvacation/.