When we told folks we were going to Rocky Top, many Tennesseans grinned and indicated we were headed for a gorgeous part of the world. We are currently set up in a facility called Rocky Top RV Park. As it turns out, we were unable to find any town called Rocky Top near where we are staying. Further investigation revealed that there really isn’t a town called Rocky Top except for a municipality formerly named something obscure, then Lake City and pretty recently changed to Rocky Top to take advantage of a song by the same name. When changing the name to Rocky Top, the municipality was forbidden from benefiting commercially from the name so they immediately went into the shot glass, bumper sticker and T-shirt business. Now the town has drawn the wrath of some legal authorities. In any event, the former Lake City and current temporary Rocky Top is over by Knoxville and nowhere around here. We found we are actually in Blountville.
Our trip today was from Blountville over to the Cumberland Gap National Historic Park. It is about 80 miles, as the crow flies, from our current RV location but the scenery here in this part of Tennessee is gorgeous so the drives each way didn’t seem too bad. The park itself encompasses the actual Gap and a lot of mountainous terrain, huge limestone rock formations jutting from the tops of big mesas and verdant foliage. Apparently, lots of folks knew about this gap through the steep mountains because they have found artifacts from prehistoric folks along with settler types from the late 1600’s. This was the smart man’s path if leaving east coast states headed for the frontier, which at that time was in Kentucky. The Gap itself sits almost directly on the intersection of the borders of Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee.
After making an obligatory stop at the visitor center, we took a spin up to the Pinnacle Overlook on a road that was designed to be driven by the brave because the corners are tight and the road is steep. However, those getting to the Pinnacle Overlook are treated to a stunning view over the corners of three states and the towns of Middlesboro, Shawanee and Harrowgate a thousand or more feet below. The Pinnacle Overlook is a bad place to step over the hand rail unless you are a BASE jumper.
There are lots of trails and caves also within the park but we didn’t see them because we ran out of time. As it worked out, we made it back to the trailer in time for me to see the NASCAR race on our park’s cable feed. Rocky Top RV Park, despite being nowhere near the alleged town of Rocky Top, is still a gorgeous park, probably the most beautiful we have stayed in during our 4 years of full-time RVing. The owners, Gary and Debbie, have planted an amazing variety of exotic plants in the tiny park and it is very pretty. Their facilities are also very good. I can heartily recommend this place.
We got a few pix. Click here