Tennessee

It would be easy for Vince Gill, to quote from his chart-topping 1995 ballad, to “rest high on the mountain” of his forty years of success. Instead, he takes pleasure in the everyday trappings of the life he shares with fellow singer-songwriter Amy Grant.

You don't think inside the box. Why sleep in one? The South is full of unexpected accommodations, from a nineteenth-century castle to a Hobbit hut to the tree house of your dreams. Let us introduce you to sixteen offerings that are anything but ordinary.

Johnny Baker’s hillbilly accent is as authentic as the moonshine his family has been making for generations, and he uses it to marked effect as he entertains tourists at their Gatlinburg distillery. “We are making coooorn liquor—moonshine,” Baker says, stretching out the vowel to emphasize the appeal of a distillate with a shady, complicated past.

Leiper’s Fork is barely a wide spot in the road, but this village of wood-framed country cottages lures Nashville royalty with its authentic musical offerings.

The Peabody Hotel truly keeps its ducks in a row. Each morning at 11, its five resident North American mallards depart their “Royal Duck Palace” on the hotel’s rooftop and waddle to the elevator, riding it down a dozen floors until the doors open to reveal a red carpet lined with guests.

For almost five decades, Loretta Lynn has called her eponymous ranch in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee, home. She returns here wrung out and road weary after countless concert dates across the country and USO tours around the world.

Eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina are home to some of the highest elevations in the eastern United States, rising more than 6,000 feet above sea level in some parts. It’s a favorite destination for outdoor enthusiasts who hike and bike its steep trails and brave its rushing rivers.

Formerly a bustling turn-of-the-century train terminal, the Chattanooga Choo Choo has delighted visitors with its Beaux Arts–style grand entrance and unique railroad-themed accommodations since opening as a hotel in 1973. But after 50 years, it was time for a $19 million makeover: Enter the reimagined Hotel Chalet at the Choo Choo.

A champion pitmaster offers a taste of Memphis’s smokin’ hot barbecue scene

In Nashville, country music is religion, and while famed concert halls like the Ryman Auditorium and the Grand Ole Opry may draw more disciples than this historic house of worship, the city’s Downtown Presbyterian Church—just a two-minute walk from the Ryman—is an icon in its own right.