GREATER TRI CITIES
Tennessee/Virginia: Making beautiful music.
Resplendent with scenery, rich in history, copious in local culture, right in the center of the Mountain South. The Tri-Cities Tenn./Va. region encompasses far more than Bristol, Johnson City and Kingsport, to include a wealth of towns such as Greeneville and Elizabethton in Tennessee, plus towns such as Abingdon, Norton, Wise, Tazewell and Wytheville in Virginia.
The cool thing about the region is that, collectively, these towns have the resources of a large city—but without all the clutter. Scenery dominates. And within this lush mountain landscape, each component city has a different foundation, a unique character. One thing they all have in common: they are medium- to small-sized towns wrapped in intimate charm.
The youngest of the three central cities, Kingsport, was chartered in 1917 using the latest ideas in urban design, and with the sprawling Eastman Chemical Company, is Tri-Cities’ industrial center. Johnson City is the college town, with the campus and resources of East Tennessee State University. To much of the rest of the country, Bristol is synonymous with NASCAR, the Bristol Motor Speedway being the biggest draw in the region. But Bristol is also the “Birthplace of Country Music,” a title derived from a balmy day in July 1927 when Ralph Peer, a record producer for the Victor Talking Machine Company, came to Bristol seeking to capture the sweet sound of Southern Appalachia. The subsequent sessions produced numerous commercial hits, laying the groundwork for the country music industry.
To the east is Elizabethton, known for its weekly downtown cruise-ins. To the west is Jonesborough, the oldest town in Tennessee, and a great place for shopping and storytelling.
Further to the southeast is Greeneville and Greene County, where Davy Crockett and Andrew Johnson were born. Greeneville itself is home to Tusculum College, a beautiful campus established in 1794 by the Doak family. A Presbyterian-associated liberal arts college, it is the repository for the President Andrew Johnson Collection.
The hills of Southwest Virginia are literally alive with the sound of mandolins, banjos and guitars throughout the summer with music festivals and various jam sessions. The Carter Family Fold in Hiltons is part of The Crooked Road: Virginia’s Heritage Music Trail. The trail includes, among other venues, Ralph Stanley’s Museum in Clintwood, The Birthplace of Country Music Alliance in Bristol and the Blue Ridge Music Center near Galax.
The people of Southwestern Virginia and Northeast Tennessee are proud of their heritage, and there are museums dedicated to hard working farmers, those who toiled in the coalmines and the pioneers who settled this rough country over 200 years ago. These heritage museums can be found throughout Greeneville, Elizabethton, Johnson City and Kingsport in Tennessee, as well as Big Stone Gap, Marion, Norton, Pocahontas, Saltville, Tazewell and Wytheville in Virginia.
One feature deserving special mention: Most towns—on either side of the state line—offer access to the Appalachian Trail, the legendary 2,160-mile footpath which runs through the entire Appalachian Mountain chain from Georgia to Maine.
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