Three Centuries of Sullivan County

Day 1 opens at the beginning — where Tennessee government began. Rocky Mount's living history interpreters bring you face to face with 1791, when Governor William Blount administered the Southwest Territory from this Piney Flats hillside. The museum gallery traces the arc from frontier settlement through statehood in 1796.

• • Full living history tour and museum gallery
• • Southwest Territory capitol experience
• • Century Farm heritage

Drive 10 minutes to Bluff City for heritage and barbecue.

After lunch at Ridgewood, walk off the barbecue at the Holston Heritage Museum. This intimate museum fills in the human dimension — the families, trades, and communities that the governmental story at Rocky Mount was built upon.

• • Holston River valley settlement stories
• • Connecting the human story to the governmental story

The afternoon takes you to Blountville and the Old Deery Inn — the stagecoach stop where Jackson, Polk, and Johnson rested. Walk the historic district, see the courthouse, and feel the atmosphere of Tennessee's frontier county seat.

• • Three presidents' stagecoach stop
• • Great Stage Road history
• • Blountville historic walking district

Day 1 complete. Evening free for dinner and rest. Tomorrow: Bristol.

Day 2 shifts from the 18th century to the 20th. The Birthplace of Country Music Museum tells the story of how Ralph Peer's 1927 Bristol Sessions launched the commercial country music industry. The Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers walked into that makeshift studio as unknowns and walked out as the founding artists of an American art form.

• • The 1927 Bristol Sessions story — Carter Family, Jimmie Rodgers, Ralph Peer
• • Smithsonian-affiliate museum exhibits
• • Interactive recording studio experience

Walk State Street for lunch, then drive to the Speedway.

Nothing prepares you for Bristol Motor Speedway. When you walk through the tunnel and see 160,000 seats rising above a half-mile concrete bowl, you understand why they call it The Last Great Colosseum. The track tour takes you behind the scenes of one of NASCAR's most legendary venues, where the banking is steep enough to make you dizzy and the history is written in tire marks and victory laps.

• • Track tour of The Last Great Colosseum
• • Behind-the-scenes access on non-race days
• • 160,000-seat stadium — the scale is jaw-dropping
• • NASCAR history and Bristol's racing legacy

Evening free in Bristol. Check the Paramount Center schedule for a show, or enjoy State Street dining.

Day 3 belongs to the mountains. Bays Mountain Park is 3,550 acres of wild Appalachia in Kingsport — wolves, bobcats, a planetarium, a lake, and over 40 miles of trails. This is the land that drew settlers, sustained Cherokee communities, and still takes your breath away. Watch the wolves at feeding time, ride the barge across the lake, hike to the fire tower for 360-degree views, and understand why Sullivan County's people have never wanted to leave.

• • Wolf and bobcat habitats at feeding time
• • Lake barge ride across the 44-acre lake
• • Planetarium show
• • Hiking trails with fire tower panoramic views
• • 3,550 acres of Appalachian wilderness

Afternoon option: Warriors' Path State Park (15 minutes) for lakeside relaxation, or head home with three centuries of Sullivan County in your memory.

The Three Centuries tour closes at Warriors' Path State Park, named for the Cherokee trail that crossed this land centuries before the state park existed. Spend a relaxing afternoon on Fort Patrick Henry Lake — rent a boat, walk the lakeside trail, or simply sit on the shore and reflect on three extraordinary days. You've traveled through Cherokee treaties, territorial government, presidential pathways, the birth of country music, NASCAR thunder, and Appalachian wilderness. You've seen Sullivan County as very few visitors ever do.

• • Fort Patrick Henry Lake shoreline
• • Named for the ancient Cherokee war trail
• • Relaxing end to a three-day adventure