Townsend, TN

Calling itself the “Peaceful Side of the Smokies,” Townsend, TN is on the western side of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and serves as one of the park’s main gateways. The city is a small bedroom community for workers commuting to other areas in Blount County or Knoxville.

Townsend has established a museum devoted to the human and natural history of the Smoky Mountains. The community is a popular destination for people visiting the Smokies or wanting to fish at the Little River. One of the city’s main thoroughfares is U.S. Highway 321, also known as Lamar Alexander Parkway, for the former U.S. senator and governor of Tennessee.