# Nashville to Atlanta on the Dixie Highway A 3-day, ~340-mile Southern road trip from Nashville. - **Days:** 3 - **Distance:** ~340 mi - **Starts in:** Nashville - **Themes:** History, Food - **Routes chained:** [US 41: Dixie Highway, Nashville to Chattanooga](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/dixie-hwy-nashville), [US 41: Dixie Highway & the Atlanta Campaign](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/dixie-hwy-41) The old Dixie Highway's whole Tennessee-to-Georgia act: whiskey country and the plateau to Chattanooga, then the General's road down the Atlanta Campaign to the city. ## Why this itinerary works Starting in Nashville, this 3-day itinerary connects US 41: Dixie Highway, Nashville to Chattanooga and US 41: Dixie Highway & the Atlanta Campaign. It suits travellers interested in barbecue, boudin, oysters & tamales; battlefields, the movement & the past. The day-by-day bases let you split roughly 340 miles into a sequence of visits rather than trying to cover every linked route end to end. Use the daily highlights to decide which places deserve your longest stops. ## Day by day ### Day 1: Nashville → Lynchburg US 41 out through Stones River, where the Hazen monument has stood since 1863, then the back roads to Bell Buckle's one block and Shelbyville's Walking Horse barns, and down to Lynchburg for the distillery tour; book it, the summer weekends sell out. Overnight Lynchburg. Highlights to consider: - **Bell Buckle** (Bell Buckle) — A one-block railroad town of quilt shops and the Bell Buckle Cafe, live music Saturdays with WLIJ on the air; the Webb School's 1886 campus; the RC Cola–MoonPie Festival in June, for the record. [US 41: Dixie Highway, Nashville to Chattanooga](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/dixie-hwy-nashville) - **Stones River National Battlefield** (Murfreesboro) — New Year's 1862–63, the bloodiest battle in Tennessee for its size, and the oldest intact Civil War monument in the country, the Hazen Brigade's of 1863. The Slaughter Pen and Hell's Half Acre make a short loop. [US 41: Dixie Highway, Nashville to Chattanooga](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/dixie-hwy-nashville) - **Tennessee Walking Horse Celebration** (Shelbyville) — The 'Walking Horse Capital of the World' stages the breed's world championship over eleven days ending Labor Day weekend; the rest of the year the barns and the Blue Ribbon Circle are the show. [US 41: Dixie Highway, Nashville to Chattanooga](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/dixie-hwy-nashville) - **Jack Daniel's Distillery** (Lynchburg) — Est. 1866, in a county that has been dry since Prohibition; tours walk from the cave spring to the charcoal mellowing vats, and Miss Mary Bobo's on the square serves a reservations-only midday dinner the way the boarding house did. [US 41: Dixie Highway, Nashville to Chattanooga](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/dixie-hwy-nashville) - **Tullahoma Campaign** (Tullahoma) — Rosecrans's nine-day maneuver in June 1863 pushed Bragg out of Middle Tennessee almost without a battle, finished the week of Gettysburg and Vicksburg and was forgotten for it; the Beechgrove and Hoover's Gap markers tell it. [US 41: Dixie Highway, Nashville to Chattanooga](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/dixie-hwy-nashville) ### Day 2: Lynchburg → Chattanooga TN 55 to Tullahoma with the Cascade Hollow dogleg for George Dickel, the Old Stone Fort's two-thousand-year-old walls at Manchester, then up the plateau to Monteagle's Chautauqua and Sewanee's bluffs. Down the grade in time for the Nickajack bat flight at dusk. Overnight Chattanooga, on the river. Highlights to consider: - **George Dickel** (Cascade Hollow) — The other Tennessee whisky, spelled the Scots way and chilled before charcoal filtering since 1870, in a hollow prettier than Lynchburg's and a tenth as crowded. [US 41: Dixie Highway, Nashville to Chattanooga](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/dixie-hwy-nashville) - **Old Stone Fort** (Manchester) — A 2,000-year-old Woodland-period enclosure on a peninsula between the Duck and Little Duck rivers, with waterfalls on three sides; the walls' purpose is still argued, the walk is not. [US 41: Dixie Highway, Nashville to Chattanooga](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/dixie-hwy-nashville) - **Tullahoma Campaign** (Tullahoma) — Rosecrans's nine-day maneuver in June 1863 pushed Bragg out of Middle Tennessee almost without a battle, finished the week of Gettysburg and Vicksburg and was forgotten for it; the Beechgrove and Hoover's Gap markers tell it. [US 41: Dixie Highway, Nashville to Chattanooga](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/dixie-hwy-nashville) - **University of the South** (Sewanee) — All Saints' Chapel, the Memorial Cross overlook, the Perimeter Trail's twenty miles along the bluffs; the Writers' Conference in July; Morgan's Steep at sunset. [US 41: Dixie Highway, Nashville to Chattanooga](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/dixie-hwy-nashville) - **Monteagle Sunday School Assembly** (Monteagle) — A Chautauqua that never stopped: 160 Victorian cottages on a gated 100 acres, an eight-week summer platform season since 1882, and the Mountain Goat Market across the road for lunch. [US 41: Dixie Highway, Nashville to Chattanooga](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/dixie-hwy-nashville) ### Day 3: Chattanooga → Atlanta US 41 south on the Dixie Highway & the Atlanta Campaign route, the 1864 campaign in order: Chickamauga, Tunnel Hill and Dalton, the fields at Resaca, and the actual General at Kennesaw before the city. Highlights to consider: - **Tunnel Hill** (Tunnel Hill) — The 1850 Western & Atlantic tunnel, first through the southern Appalachians; the General steamed through it in the 1862 chase and you can walk the bore. [US 41: Dixie Highway & the Atlanta Campaign](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/dixie-hwy-41) - **Resaca Battlefield** (Resaca) — The Atlanta Campaign's first pitched battle, May 1864; a new state historic site finally protects the trench lines. [US 41: Dixie Highway & the Atlanta Campaign](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/dixie-hwy-41) - **Adairsville** (Adairsville) — The 1847 depot town where the Texas joined the Great Locomotive Chase, famously running backward at full steam. [US 41: Dixie Highway & the Atlanta Campaign](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/dixie-hwy-41) - **Southern Museum & the General** (Kennesaw) — The actual General locomotive of the 1862 raid, star of Buster Keaton's and Disney's versions both, enshrined blocks from where it was stolen. [US 41: Dixie Highway & the Atlanta Campaign](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/dixie-hwy-41) - **Kennesaw Mountain NBP** (Kennesaw) — Johnston's mountain line and Sherman's costly June assault; earthworks on top, Atlanta's skyline on the horizon. [US 41: Dixie Highway & the Atlanta Campaign](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/dixie-hwy-41) ## Practical planning Budget an average of about 113 miles per day across the whole trip, or roughly 2.5–3.8 hours behind the wheel at an assumed 30–45 mph back-roads pace. This is a planning estimate, not a measured time for each leg: transfer days can be longer and rest days shorter. Add meal stops, tours, ferries, traffic and hikes separately; use each day's navigation link for current driving estimates. ### Overnight bases - Day 1: Lynchburg - Day 2: Chattanooga - Day 3: near Atlanta, GA ### Best season & route notes - [US 41: Dixie Highway, Nashville to Chattanooga](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/dixie-hwy-nashville): Jack Daniel's tours sell out on summer weekends; book online, and know that Moore County is dry, so the tour's sample is the legal loophole. - [US 41: Dixie Highway, Nashville to Chattanooga](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/dixie-hwy-nashville): Monteagle's grade is the one truckers fear; in snow or fog take it slow and let the interstate have the trucks. - [US 41: Dixie Highway & the Atlanta Campaign](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/dixie-hwy-41): New Echota is 15 minutes from Resaca; chain this with the Trail of Tears route. ## Frequently asked questions ### How many days and miles is Nashville to Atlanta on the Dixie Highway? Nashville to Atlanta on the Dixie Highway is a 3-day trip of about 340 miles. ### Where does Nashville to Atlanta on the Dixie Highway start? It starts in Nashville. ### Which routes does Nashville to Atlanta on the Dixie Highway chain together? It chains US 41: Dixie Highway, Nashville to Chattanooga and US 41: Dixie Highway & the Atlanta Campaign. ### Where are the overnight bases on Nashville to Atlanta on the Dixie Highway? Day 1: Lynchburg; Day 2: Chattanooga; Day 3: near Atlanta, GA. ## Related itineraries - [Nashville Day Trips: the Dixie Highway Sampler](https://dixieroadtrip.com/trips/nashville-day-trips) — 3 days, ~300 mi --- Canonical URL: https://dixieroadtrip.com/trips/nashville-to-atlanta Publisher: Dixie Media (Dixie Road Trip, https://dixieroadtrip.com/) Last updated: 2026-10-05