East Tennessee Border - The Most Scenic Drives in America: 120 Spectacular Road Trips - page 735

2. Tellico Lake
Rte.411followsthecontoursofthemountainsnorthandeasttoTellicoLake,whichfingers
its way into valleys flooded by the damming of the Little Tennessee River. Along the
lake—and beneath it—lie ancestral lands of the Cherokee Indians. Their capital, Tanasi
(the word that evolved into “Tennessee”), stood on a site just offshore from the Chota Pen-
insula, where a stark memorial of eight stone pillars commemorates the eight posts that
once supported the tribe's meeting house. A short drive away is the Sequoyah Birthplace
Museum, honoring the life of the man who, inspired by the white man's “talking leaves,”
created the Cherokee alphabet.
As a diversion, climb to the clouds on the Cherohala Skyway, which follows old
wagon-trail routes from its start at the Tellico Plains, Tennessee, on Rte. 165, reaching alti-
tudes of more than 5,000 feet as it travels 52 miles to Robbinsville, North Carolina. Oth-
er attractions of the route include Whigg Meadows near Haw Knob—the highest point in
Monroe County—and Indian Boundary Lake, a popular place for swimming, fishing, pic-
nicking, and camping.
3. Foothills Parkway
Just beyond Tellico Lake, head east on Rtes. 72 and 129 to reach the Foothills Parkway,
a developmentfree national park road that runs for 17 miles along the azalea-strewn Chil-
howeeridgeline.TheParkwayanditsnumerousscenicoverlooksprovidecatbirdseatsthat
previewtheGreatSmokyMountainstotheeast.FromtheobservationtoweratLookRock,
just half a mile off the road, you can spy the fabled, misty peaks and—in the other direc-
tion—see all the way to the city of Knoxville.
Or you can gaze up into the sky, where large numbers of raptors (including broad-
winged hawks and red-tailed hawks) are easily spotted as they soar and dive foraerial prey
during their spring and fall migrations.
4. Cades Cove
Heading east on Rte. 321, the drive swings past Townsend and veers deep into Great
Smoky Mountains National Park. Here, in this half-million-acre Eden, which harbors 90
percent ofthe old-growth forest in the eastern United States, a distinctive man-made envir-
onment survives as well—in a place called Cades Cove.