Exploring “the First Frontier”
Northeast Tennessee, Southwest Virginia, Eastern Kentucky, and Western North Carolina
- geology, geography, and early fossils
- settler / Indian struggles for land
- Great Pioneers: Walker, Boone, Martin, and Crockett
- Revolutionary War: the Overmountain Victory Trail
- the self-made Presidents: Jackson and Johnson (and Lincoln)
- frontier society: lifestyle and culture
- transportation in America: connecting people and markets on the frontier
(The long valleys between Appalachian ridges were natural conduits for early settlers moving into the region from the northeast.)
- prehistoric fossil treasure-trove: Gray Fossil Site
- the Cumberland Gap – gateway for Indian hunters and pioneer land seekers crossing into Kentucky
- Martin’s Station – reconstructed stockade on Daniel Boone’s Wilderness Road
- the Lincoln Museum at Lincoln Memorial University
- environmental studies in the Clinch River valley or further west in coal country
- TVA, energy, and the story of Oak Ridge - the "Secret City"
- mountain music – with its cultural links to Scots-Irish heritage, religion, and the rigors of life in the mountains; attend a live bluegrass performance at the Carter Family Fold, in Hiltons, Virginia
geographic region:
Can we pick their legacies out of the cultural landscape now?
stories:
highlights:
great add-on features:
custom-created itineraries for student explorers in the Appalachian South, focusing on earth science and energy, or history and culture
