East Tennessee Crossing

From high atop Clinch Mountain, one can see south across the forested, winding shorelines of Cherokee Lake to the misty Great Smoky Mountains in the distance, a long, serene view of a broad valley with extensive lakes stretching in all directions. This was the route and landscape through which passed the East Tennessee Crossing — the Warriors Path, the Wilderness Road, and the Dixie Highway.

A striking summer scene at the headwaters of Douglas Lake shows mixed wetland and lake waters edged with cattails, water grasses, and a dead tree. The clear water reflects a mirror-image of the river bank, giving a slight optical illusion as viewers attempt to separate real plants from reflected plants.

Green, forested mountain folds of the Great Tennessee Valley extend into the distance toward the Great Smoky Mountains. Green hills roll like waves into the background, growing more blue with each ridge fading into the distance.

The artistic symmetry and pattern to this block of several Victorian brick commercial buildings express beauty, order, and detail. Victorian ornamentation (for example, brick dental moulding) runs along the top of the façades. Second story windows are all tall and narrow and echo each other as the line of the buildings rises to the right. The colors are all muted roses and rusty browns.

The one-story modern brick visitors center for Cumberland Gap National Historical Park is surrounded by small trees, shrubs, and a lawn, and extends a welcome to visitors who sit on a bench outside the facility.

From high atop Clinch Mountain and the winding shorelines of Cherokee Lake, travelers can find a long, serene view of the broad valley with extensive lakes stretching in all directions. This was the route and landscape through which passed the East Tennessee Crossing Byway — the Warriors Path, the Wilderness Road and the Dixie Highway.

A Civil War confederate soldier shoots his rifle while kneeling in a field, backed up by a line of soldiers with smoke billowing from their guns. The confederate flag flies high over fallen and firing soldiers alike in this re-enactment.

In a little Tennessee town on the East Tennessee Crossing, one-story brick buildings with square facades extend from right to left with the street in foreground. Pinnacle Rock in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park rises behind the buildings in full sunlight on this bright summer day.

The historic marker sign for the intriguing Crockett’s Tavern Museum rises from a bed of irises. The Tavern sits serenely at the back of a green lawn that stretches beyond the flowerbed and is surrounded by trees.

A white wood frame house with red trim is set against a starkly contrasting dense, lush forested background of Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

The East Tennessee Crossing descends down Clinch Mountain, following close to the path of the original Wilderness Road and the Warriors Path. The byway is surrounded by the reds, golds, yellows and greens of full fall foliage, accented by the folding hollows of War Ridge and Powell Mountain in the background.

Officials from the counties along the East Tennessee Crossing attend the official ribbon cutting ceremony on April 30, 2010.

The Norris C. Blackburn Jr. Wildlife Observatory lies nestled in surrounding forest.

Sandhill Cranes soar amidst a cloudless blue sky in Tennessee.

A small stream runs through a woodland scene at Blue Hole Falls in the Cherokee National Forest.

Rafters decorated with glass bottles, license plates, and tin signs add character to interior rooms at the Clinch Mountain Winery.

The Cocke County Veterans Memorial stands in front of the Newport, TN County Courthouse.

Built in 1845, the Jefferson County Courthouse sits underneath a cloudy sky in Dandridge, TN.

The Claiborne County Courthouse sits on a hill overlooking Tazewell, Tennessee.

Two white tail deer walk quietly through the forest of Panther State Park.

Twenty-foot-high white marble portrays young Lincoln standing with a dog at his feet. He appears to be in his 20s and he stands but also lightly rests back against a tree limb. His left hand rests on the top of the hound dog’s head. Lincoln wears a workman’s shirt, pants and boots and gazes straight ahead with the emotion is of an untroubled young man, who pauses during work or hunting to rest and look out at a pleasing scene.