Tennessee Group Tour Planner Tennessee Trivia Fun Facts About Tennessee
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Group Tour Planner Group Tour Planner Contents Tennessee Trivia 2 Beechcraft Heritage Museum New & Noteworthy 3 Hidden Gems 5 On the Cover The Beechcraft Heritage Museum in Tullahoma is a distinctly Uncover the Past 7 original one-of-a-kind aviation museum that traces the lineage of the Beechcraft legacy. This 60,000 square foot facility currently houses Feel the Music 11 more than 35 aircraft, in addition to many original historical artifacts Student Performance Venues 13 and treasures. Strictly Southern Cuisine 15 We Are the World, Cultural 18 Live from Tennessee, Show Experiences 19 Still a Distilled Tradition 20 STEM 21 Outdoor Fun 24 Clouds to Caves 25 Garden & Art 26 On the Farm 27 There’s More Online Animal Encounters 28 For sample group itineraries, visit industry.tnvacation.com/ travel-trade. To learn more about Tennessee attractions and Holiday Events 29 destinations, visit TNVacation.com. 1 Tennessee Group Tour Planner TeNnEsSeE TrIvIa Fun Facts About Tennessee On Aug. 18, 1920 the Tennessee General Assembly passed the ratification for the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, giving the amendment the 36th – and final – state necessary for ratification. On the day of the historic vote, Rep. Harry T. Burn surprised everyone when he voted “yes” for suffrage. He placed the tie-breaking vote after receiving a letter from his mother encouraging him to “Hurray and vote for suffrage… Be a good boy and help Mrs. Catt put the ‘rat’ in ratification.” By doing so, Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify the amendment and women gained the right to vote nationwide. Courtesy of the Tennessee State Library & Archives Author Alex Haley, who spent his youth in Henning, won a The Goo Goo Cluster, the world's first combination candy Pulitzer Prize for his 1976 novel “Roots.” Visit his boyhood bar, was invented in Nashville in 1912 by Howell Campbell and home, the Alex Haley Museum and Interpretive Center, Porter Moore. Check out the Goo Goo Shop and Dessert the first state-owned historic site devoted to an African- Bar on 3rd Avenue in Downtown Nashville. American in Tennessee. The original MGM lion, named Slat but referred to as Volney Greeneville tailor Andrew Johnson held elective office at the by zoo staff, lived at theMemphis Zoo. Check out animal local, state and federal levels that included alderman, mayor, exhibits at the Memphis, Nashville, Chattanooga and state representative, state senator, governor, U.S. congressman, Knoxville zoos. U.S. senator, vice president and president. He never attended school or had a formal education. Famous explorer Meriwether Lewis died under mysterious circumstances at Grinder’s Tavern along the Natchez Trace Casey Jones was a famous railroad conductor who gave his life in Tennessee. Visit the National Monument honoring Lewis to stop his train and saved the lives of his passengers. He was that symbolizes a young life cut short along the Natchez immortalized in the popular “Ballad of Casey Jones” sung by his friend Wallace Saunders, an African-American engine wiper, Trace near Hohenwald. and has a museum dedicated to him in Jackson, Tennessee. Miniature golf was invented in the late 1920s atop Lookout Clarksville's Wilma Rudolph was the first American woman to Mountain in Chattanooga by Garnet Carter, who built the win three gold medals at one Olympics (1960). As a child, she Tom Thumb course at the Fairyland Inn. Among those who suffered from polio and wore leg braces. You can see Rudolph’s came to putter around were Babe Ruth and Bobby Jones. relay baton at the Customs House Museum & Cultural Carter’s wife, Frieda, developed what is now known as Rock Center in Clarksville. City Gardens. Tennessee Group Tour Planner 2 LoOkLoOk wHwHaaT’T’SS NeNeW!W! GET TO KNOW TENNESSEE’S exciting NEW ATTRACTIONS Gatlinburg SkyLift Park Skybridge Gatlinburg SkyLift Park, an area staple since 1954, has added SkyBridge, the longest pedestrian suspension bridge in North America, measuring nearly 700 feet in length and spanning the valley between ridges on Crockett Mountain. Ahoy Matey! Watch pirates battle on deck, in the air and on their full-sized pirate ships in an indoor lagoon at Dolly Parton’s Pirates Voyage in Pigeon Forge. Spectacular acrobatic competitions and original music entertain while guests enjoy a four- course pirate feast. Dolly Parton’s Pirates Voyage 3 Tennessee Group Tour Planner It’s New, Too Coming soon, just opened or recently renovated: I-40 Solar Farm Information and Welcome Center The welcome center and solar farm in Stanton greets visitors traveling on I-40. An interactive exhibit, designed by the University of Tennessee, highlights the state’s advancements in renewable energy. Nashville Zoo The Nashville Zoo has welcomed four Juliana pigs to Critter Encounters. These pigs will stay in Critter Encounters so guests can interact with them and will also Betsy the Giant Anteater be trained to take leashed-walks throughout the Zoo. Juliana pigs' intelligence Betsy the and easy-going temperament allows the public to interact with a pig. Giant Anteater Beyond the Lens Explore the best of pop culture with interactive games, photo ops and intriguing The Chattanooga Zoo has opened a exhibits at Beyond the Lens in Pigeon Forge. Giant Anteater exhibit, bringing a new species to town. Three Komodo dragons Tennessee Aquarium hatched at the Chattanooga Zoo in Aug. The “Island Life” exhibit in Chattanooga takes guests on an island hopping tour 2019. Once the hatchlings have reached around the world to meet incredible creatures like Flashlight Fish, which use the appropriate age and size, they will be their bacteria-infused, light-up cheeks to attract prey. placed in the Forest of the World exhibit Hiwassee River Heritage Center building. The Zoo has also begun Phase I Through interpretive panels and displays, the heritage center introduces the of the African Expansion, which includes stories of early settlers of Charleston, the Cherokee and their forced removal a guest-friendly giraffe barn with an on the Trail of Tears, the Civil War and the eventual destruction of the area. indoor day yard and a 4,000-square-foot Discover these important stories and more at the interpretive center, designated outdoor giraffe lawn. by the National Park Service as a certified site on the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail. Soaky Mountain Waterpark Motor Museum The nearly $90 million waterpark in Sevierville will span 50 acres when it opens Edge Motor Museum in Memphis in summer 2020. Soaky Mountain will feature a first-of-its-kind water coaster, a has opened American Speed, an exhibit 35,000-foot wave pool, a kids play-and-spray area and other attractions. featuring sports cars from "post war thru National Museum of African American Music 1974". Tours highlight significant cultural, Opening in Nashville in summer 2020, the National Museum of African American political, technological and economic Music will offer a variety of musical programs that illuminate the rich legacy events from the same era. All cars on African Americans have in creating the American Soundtrack. It will be the only display are in their original state. museum dedicated to educating, preserving and celebrating more than 50 music genres and styles, from B.B. King to Beyoncé, that were created or inspired by African Americans. Ratified! Tennessee Women and the Right to Vote In a temporary exhibition that will span 8,000 square feet, the Tennessee State Museum in Nashville will explore why women wanted the right to vote, how they obtained it, and the key roles Tennesseans played in the national movement. Opening in March 2020, it will run past the 100th anniversary of the vote in August 2020 until March 2021. The exhibition will be made up of artifacts, interactive and immersive displays, graphic imagery and multi-media, Edge Motor Museum complemented by ample programming at the Museum. Tennessee Group Tour Planner 4 hIdDeN gEmS Uncover Tennessee’s rural surprises Photo Credit: Dave Jones/Tennessee Tourism Photo Credit: Kimberly Leonard/Tennessee Tourism Put It in Writing Visitors to the Sequoyah Birthplace Museum in Vonore learn about the Utopia in Tennessee life of Sequoyah, who was a soldier, silversmith, statesman and creator of the Named after Thomas Hughes’ alma mater Cherokee writing system. At the center of the story is Sequoyah’s single-minded in England, Rugby was originally conceived concentration on solving the mystery of the “talking leaves.” He spent years in as a class-free, agricultural community for near-isolation, facing down social derision and tribal suspicion and enduring family younger sons of English gentry and others rebellion, yet believing that he could create a written language for the Cherokee. wishing to start a new life in America. At its peak in the mid-1880s, some 300 people lived in the colony. Today, Rugby is both a living community and a public historic site offering visitors a museum, historic building tours, lodging, shopping and a full-service restaurant. Open March through mid-December. Down on the Farm Visit Storytellers Museum & Hideaway Farm, the place that Johnny Cash owned for over 30 years, in Bon Aqua. Watch rare video footage of the property and learn about its rich history and importance to Johnny Cash, followed by a live music performance. Browse memorabilia from Johnny Cash, Minnie Pearl and others, as well as a car collection including the one-of-a-kind “One Piece at a Time” car. Photo Credit: Sara Beth Urban/Tennessee Tourism 5 Tennessee Group Tour Planner A Riverboat Town Be taken back to an earlier time as you stroll through the T. B. Sutton General Store in Historic Granville. Listen to the Sutton Ole Time Music Hour, a bluegrass concert held every Saturday night, while enjoying a full southern meal.