A Premier Spot for Outdoor Fun
Published Feb 23, 2009
More than 25 miles of trails – some offering lake views – draw hiking and biking enthusiasts to Kingsport’s Bays Mountain Park. The 3,500-acre nature preserve also features exhibits with deer, wolves, bobcats, raccoons, otters, snakes, turtles and hawks.
Living it up is easy in the Northeast Tennessee Valley, and the region continues to show up often on national livability lists.
For example, Walk! Magazine named Kingsport, Tenn., the 2008 Best City for Walkers, thanks to the city’s nine-mile Greenbelt as well as more than 25 miles of walking trails in Bays Mountain Park. Meanwhile, Golf Digest magazine ranked the Tri-Cities area of Kingsport, Johnson City and Bristol as the second-best place in the United States to live and golf.
“Golfing around the entire Northeast Tennessee Valley is pretty incredible,” says Tommy Olterman, who works for the Tennessee Valley Authority and has been an avid golfer since 1980. “In southwest Virginia, I especially enjoy Deerfield Golf Course in Damascus. Some of my favorite courses in northeast Tennessee are Dandridge Golf & Country Club, Cattails at Meadowview in Kingsport and Clinchview Golf & Country Club in Bean Station. There are more than 40 beautiful public and private courses in this part of the country.”
FROM SKIING TO NASCAR WATCHING
The region that encompasses northeast Tennessee, southwest Virginia and northwest North Carolina also draws rave reviews for its temperate, four-season climate. Typical scenery here includes green landscapes, hilly terrain and shimmering waterways.
“There is hiking, with mountains all around us, and the whitewater rafting and snow skiing opportunities are excellent,” says Alicia Summers, executive director of the Northeast Tennessee Valley Regional Industrial Development Association. “Meanwhile, Bristol Motor Speedway is the world’s fastest half-mile racetrack and is packed with 160,000 of our closest friends whenever NASCAR arrives here every March and August.”
The area also boasts several lakes for boating and numerous freshwater streams that are ideal for trout fishing.
“This region has been rated one of the premier spots for fishing in the United States by Fly Fisherman magazine,” Summers says. “And, of course, having the Great Smoky Mountains gracing our area makes the Northeast Tennessee Valley an incredible place to visit.”
PROMOTING MUSICAL HERITAGE
The performing arts also are well represented in the region, with ballet companies, symphonies, unusual museums and theater groups. Examples of premier arts venues include the Paramount Center for the Arts on the Tennessee side of State Street in Bristol, the castle-like Rose Center in Morristown, Tenn., and the nationally recognized Barter Theatre in Abingdon, Va.
And now, a 24,000-square-foot Birthplace of Country Music Cultural Heritage Center is being developed in Bristol, Va., with a scheduled opening in 2011.
“We are an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution and will ultimately become a destination for visitors to learn about mountain music that originated in the local hills of Appalachia,” says Bill Hartley, executive director of the Birthplace of Country Music Alliance and board member for the Crooked Road Heritage Trail.
The trail is a roadway that stretches from the Virginia-Kentucky state line and goes 230 miles into Virginia. “Motorists can visit eight major music-related venues through 10 counties, and this can truly become an economic development tool that ties together the region’s musical heritage,” Hartley says. “Stops include Carter Family Country, the Ralph Stanley Museum, Blue Ridge Music Center, the Galax Fiddlers Convention, Floyd Country Store and the Tennessee Blue Ridge Institute.
“And once the Birthplace of Country Music Cultural Heritage Center opens, it will be added as a Crooked Road Heritage Trail destination,” he says.
Back at the Northeast Tennessee Valley Regional Industrial Development Association, Summers says the entire region can boast numerous big-city amenities, but on a smaller scale.
“Many people from the northern U.S. who retired to Florida are now moving halfway back to live in the valley,” she says. “A lot of developers are interested in this region, and plenty of nice homes are being built. It is really exciting and interesting around here these days.”
Story by Kevin Litwin
Photo by Ian Curcio
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