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Gatlinburg is known as one of the nation's greatest family
vacation areas. The area hosts activities for family and friends of
all ages, young and older. Dollywood is a fun filled theme park that holds to the Smoky Mountain
heritage as well as clean family fun! Enjoy music, shows, rides for all ages, restaurants, craft shops,
and many other unique and amazing wonders that will transport you back to nature and the simpler days. Dolly's Waterpark
offers relief from the heat and humidity this summer with a variety of ways to cool off in the rivers, streams, and rapids of the Smokies. Enjoy rides from mild to wild!
The Dixie Stampede is a dinner theater with a Civil War theme that is just plain civil and extremely fun.
The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is a forested mountainous area covering more than a half million acres in North Carolina and Tennessee. These ancient mountains are home to a wide variety of plant and animal life unsurpassed in the National Park Service. The Park also offers a glimpse into the lives of early Southern Appalachian farming families and community lifestyles. Seventy-seven historic structures concentrated in five historic districts include a collection of log cabins, barns, churches, grist mills and various outbuildings.
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Nestled among quiet mountains lie the thriving Twin Cities of Bristol. One community in two states,
this beautiful city is Bristol, Virginia on the north side of State Street and Bristol, Tennessee on the south side.
But the brass markers that stream down the main thoroughfare place no boundaries on the community pride and quality of life found here in this city of 45,000.
Bristol is a city with proud people who have a tradition of excellence and a vision for the future. Bristol's two-state location offers the unique history of
Daniel Boone, a rail center for the south, and the birthplace of country music.
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Bristol is home to Bristol Motor Speedway and Bristol Dragway,
two of the nation's top motor sports venues. Bristol Motor Speedway, commonly referred to as "The World's Fastest Half-Mile," yearly
plays host to more than 150,000 fans for each of its two NASCAR Winston Cup and Busch Series race weekends. In addition to NASCAR racing at BMS,
the venue also stages concerts and a wide variety of community events. During the holiday season, Bristol Motor Speedway hosts Fantasy in
Lights. The annual holiday light show boasts more than 1 million lights along a 4.5-mile drive with proceeds from the event going to the Bristol Chapter of Speedway Children's Charities.
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Bristol Dragway, or "Thunder Valley" as many call it, is home to the
NHRA's Mac Tools Thunder Valley Nationals. The annual NHRA drag racing event draws thousands of fans each spring. Racers from the
region also compete in weekly bracket racing competition at the venue. The all new Bristol Dragway
presents the Mac Tools Thunder Valley Nationals, NHRA weekly bracket racing and special events at the track now viewed as
the new standard for NHRA venues. More than 20 miles of cable for power, communication and scoring are buried to preserve the
beauty of the setting. A $500,000 Musco sports lighting system provides enough light to see, but not so much as to spoil the dramatic fire show that night-time NHRA drag racing made famous.
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The Birthplace of Country Music Alliance (BCMA) was formed to bring national and international recognition to the people of the Southern Appalachian
region, the musical and cultural heritage of the region, the region's role in the development of country music, and the region's influence on music around
the world. To recognize and promote this tradition, the Birthplace of Country Music Alliance is dedicated to calling attention to the crucial role played by
artists from East Tennessee, Southwest Virginia and the Southern Appalachian region in traditional old-time, country and bluegrass music, as well as other musical
avenues which have been nurtured by this region. Attending not only to the past, the BCMA has developed programs which attend to this musical heritage in the present,
and promote its continuation into the future. The BCMA is based in Bristol, Tennessee/Virginia, site of the historic 1927 "Bristol Sessions" and recognized as the official "Birthplace of Country Music."
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