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The Group Travel Leader Going on Faith Select Traveler

Blount County bursts forth


Dancing Bear Lodge in Townsend, courtesy Blount Partnership

Tell me about some other meeting or event venues.
• Maryville College campus offers a number of meeting rooms, classrooms, dining rooms and auditoriums. Its Clayton Center for the Arts also  has meeting and event space.

• The Barn Event Center in Townsend is just that, a post-and-beam structure  that claims to be one of the largest cantilevered barns around. This is no place for horses and cows; with its open floor plan, built-in stage and dance floor, full kitchen and catering options, this barn is all about events.


For a true taste of Blount County …
The menu at the Dancing Bear Restaurant in Townsend changes every night, and it is stacked with such tasty surprises as sheep’s milk cheese gnocchi and lightly blackened mahi mahi. For fried green tomatoes, shrimp and grits and other Southern fare, the family-owned Foothills Milling Company in Maryville is favored. Also in Maryville, Aubrey’s is a good bet for buttermilk fried chicken, barbecued ribs and a variety of beers on tap. Townsend’s Back Porch Restaurant is just that: a screened porch that overlooks a creek. Fun and casual, Smoky Mountain Brewery in Maryville makes its own beers to accompany its burgers, wings, pizzas, steaks and sandwiches.

Did you know?
• With a population of more than 120,000, Blount County is one of the fastest-growing counties in Tennessee.

• Tuckeleechee Caverns is called the greatest site under the Smokies. The caves are said to be between 20 million and 30 million years old.

• Nearby Cades Cove has been voted “Best Place To Take Visitors” by the Knoxville News Sentinel.

• Blount County is a scenic gateway to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and its 850 miles of hiking trails, 270 miles of roads and 2,115 miles of fishing streams.

888-923-3149
www.meetingsandmountains.org
www.smokymountains.org