Nashville

Fall Creek Falls — Tennessee's Tallest Plunge

At 256 feet, Fall Creek Falls is the highest waterfall east of the Rocky Mountains in the United States — a thundering free-fall plunge into a sandstone gorge on the Cumberland Plateau that anchors one of Tennessee's most dramatic and beloved state parks. This full-day hike explores the gorge from every angle: the perilous Cable Trail descent to the pool below the main falls, the sweeping Cane Creek Cascades and Cane Creek Falls nearby, and the swinging suspension bridge across the gorge. The park's 34,000 acres and 34 miles of trails reward those who go beyond the main overlook, where the full scale of the limestone-and-sandstone plateau and its plunging waterfalls comes into view.

Leiper's Fork, the Old Trace & Arrington Vineyards

This gentle day trip southwest of Nashville combines three of Middle Tennessee's most beloved pastoral pleasures: the unhurried artists' village of Leiper's Fork with its antique shops and legendary country-store restaurant, a slow walk on a preserved section of the ancient Natchez Trace where centuries of foot traffic have worn the trail six feet below the surrounding forest floor, and an afternoon of Tennessee wine-tasting at Arrington Vineyards as afternoon light falls golden across the rolling hills. The entire loop can be driven at a leisurely pace on roads lined with horse farms and old stone walls, returning to Nashville along the Natchez Trace Parkway's serene two-lane route.

Carter House & the Battle of Franklin

On November 30, 1864, the fields and yards of Franklin, Tennessee became the site of one of the Civil War's bloodiest battles — more than 9,500 casualties in five hours of fighting, making it the deadliest engagement per square yard of the entire war. This day trip takes you to the Carter House, where bullet holes still scar the original outbuildings, then to Carnton Plantation where the McGavock family turned their home into a field hospital and buried 1,481 Confederate soldiers in what became the largest privately maintained Confederate cemetery in the South. The journey ends with a stroll down Franklin's beautifully preserved Main Street, a National Historic District of antebellum storefronts and independent shops.