East Region

East Region covers the mountain country of Tennessee, the Cumberland Plateau and Great Smoky Mountains running from the Kentucky line south to Georgia and Alabama and from the Tennessee River east to the North Carolina border. The terrain is dramatic — the Cumberland Plateau rising west of the Tennessee Valley, the Tennessee River cutting through Knoxville and Chattanooga, the Great Smoky Mountains rising above 6,000 feet along the eastern crest, and the Tri-Cities sitting in the upper Tennessee Valley. Thirty-two counties cover the region. Knox holds Knoxville (the largest city, with the University of Tennessee); Hamilton holds Chattanooga; Sevier holds Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, and Sevierville (the gateway to Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the home of Dollywood); Sullivan holds Bristol (with Bristol Motor Speedway) and Kingsport; Washington holds Johnson City; Anderson holds Oak Ridge (the Manhattan Project’s Y-12 site). Great Smoky Mountains National Park (the most-visited national park in the country), the Tennessee Aquarium and Lookout Mountain at Chattanooga, Dollywood, and the Cherokee National Forest anchor the major attractions. Most trips here run park-and-attraction focused. The Smokies handle the largest single-stream visitor traffic — Cades Cove, Newfound Gap, the Roaring Fork Motor Trail; Pigeon Forge runs Dollywood and the parkway entertainment strip; Chattanooga handles the Aquarium, the Hunter Museum, and the Lookout Mountain attractions; Bristol Motor Speedway draws NASCAR weekends in spring and fall.