Gateway to the Smokies — Market Square, the Sunsphere and the best food-and-music scene between Nashville and Asheville
Knoxville sits at the gateway to the Great Smoky Mountains — the most visited national park in the United States (13 million annual visitors) is 50 km southeast, giving the city its most potent identity as an outdoor recreation hub. Downtown's Market Square, revitalised since the 1990s, is a genuine daily gathering place: farmers' market on Wednesdays and Saturdays, live music most evenings, and some of the best independent food and drink in East Tennessee. The University of Tennessee's 31,000-student campus and the World's Fair legacy Sunsphere anchor a mid-size river city that regularly sur…
Knoxville was the capital of the Territory South of the River Ohio (1792–96) and Tennessee's first state capital before Nashville assumed that role in 1811 — a frontier settlement that grew around a Tennessee River crossing and became a contested Civil War city, falling to Union forces after a 1863 siege. The Sunsphere — the 266-foot golden globe from the 1982 World's Fair — remains the most visible symbol of Knoxville's persistent effort to be noticed on a national stage despite sitting in Nashville's long shadow.