Upper South

US 11E: The Great Valley Road

Knoxville to Bristol, statesman country

Open the interactive map →

Drive

Knoxville → Bristol

Distance

~110 miles

Time

1–2 days

Highways

US 11E

Avoids

I-81 / I-26

Region

Upper South

The Great Valley of East Tennessee funneled the frontier through a string of towns that kept their receipts: Morristown built sidewalks in the sky over its 1960s Main Street, Greeneville keeps Andrew Johnson's tailor shop and impeachment saga, Davy Crockett's birthplace sits on the Nolichucky, and Jonesborough, the state's oldest town, reinvented itself as the storytelling capital of the world. A Miocene sinkhole full of fossil red pandas at Gray closes the argument that this valley has always collected travelers.

📍 Great Stage Road markers pace 11E; Jonesborough's district plaques repay a slow walk.

The drive, segment by segment

Holston Country

Knoxville → Bulls Gap · ~45 mi

Up the valley past Morristown's overhead sidewalks to Archie Campbell's railroad gap.

• 🛸Morristown SkyMart — Morristown

  A full downtown of elevated sidewalks built over Main Street in the 1960s, unique in America; urban renewal's strangest survivor, now beloved.

• 🎬Archie Campbell Hometown — Bulls Gap

  Hee Haw's cornerstone gets his due in the little rail town that raised him; museum, home and a healthy sense of humor about itself.

Presidents & Storytellers

Bulls Gap → Jonesborough · ~40 mi

Johnson's Greeneville, Crockett's riverbank, and the oldest town's brick Main Street.

• 🏛️Andrew Johnson NHS — Greeneville

  The tailor shop, homestead and grave of the president who inherited Lincoln's peace and an impeachment; the site tells it without flinching.

• 🌲Davy Crockett Birthplace — Limestone

  The Nolichucky riverbank where the king of the wild frontier was born in 1786; cabin, museum and campground on the water.

• 🏘️Jonesborough — Jonesborough

  Tennessee's oldest town and the International Storytelling Center's home; the October festival fills tents with the world's best liars, professionally speaking.

The Tri-Cities

Jonesborough → Bristol · ~25 mi

Johnson City, the Gray fossils, and the handoff to Bristol's state-line music.

• 🌿Gray Fossil Site — Gray

  A Miocene sinkhole discovered during roadwork: fossil tapirs, mastodons and the celebrated red panda, still being excavated beside the museum.

Worth a detour

• Rocky Mount — The 1770s log capital of the Southwest Territory at Piney Flats, run as first-person living history with total commitment.
• Bush's Beans Visitor Center — The actual Bush's museum, café and general store at Chestnut Hill; Duke the dog's secret remains secure.