Southeast travel: Tennessee

“Something old, something new” is part of a time-honored good luck tradition and an appealing way to experience travel destinations. After all, travelers should experience not only the newest hot attractions but also the enduring elements that make a place worth visiting. And you might even come across “something borrowed” and “something blue” in the process.

Memphis

The Mighty Mississippi is the result of eons-old glacial activity and subsequent meltwater. It is surely one of our nation’s most important and enticing natural features. Mud Island formed about a century ago from the ebb and flow of the Mighty Mississippi as it created a sandbar that rose higher and higher to achieve “island” status just a bit due north of downtown Memphis. Today you can hop on a monorail to take you across the Wolf River Harbor to Mud Island River Park (125 N. Front St., Memphis. 1-800-507-6507, www.mudisland.com), where the Mississippi River Museum’s 18 galleries showcase 10,000 years of Lower Mississippi River Valley history. With over 5,000 artifacts, it’s a fun and informative way to learn about the history of America’s most important north/south river channel.

Outside the museum, Mud Island’s Riverwalk is an exact scale model, one might even say a “borrowed” rendition, of the Lower Mississippi River flowing southward from its confluence with the Ohio River. Following the Riverwalk southward, visitors come to Mud Island’s version of the “Gulf of Mexico,” a 1-acre water feature that has pedal boats for rent.

Graceland itself may not be new, but the growing complex has several new elements. An expanded and revamped entertainment complex opened in March as “Elvis Presley’s Memphis.” The complex contains the Elvis Presley Automobile Museum, Elvis Discovery Exhibits, Elvis’ Custom Jets and the new 200,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art Elvis: The Entertainer Career Museum, with hundreds of “The King’s” artifacts.

Another new Graceland facility that opened earlier this year is The Guest House at Graceland (3600 Elvis Presley Blvd., Memphis. 1-800-238-2000, 901-443-3000, guesthousegraceland.com, @GHGraceland). The AAA Four Diamond 450-room resort has style aplenty and a full-service restaurant, bar and grill, lounge bar and 464-seat live entertainment theater.

Chattanooga

Built in 1891, the Walnut Street Bridge (1 Walnut St., Chattanooga. 423-425-6311, www.chattanoogafun.com) has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was transformed into a pedestrian bridge in 1993.

These days, the truss bridge provides a pleasant way to bike or walk over the Tennessee River from the heart of Nooga’s riverfront district to the North Shore with its eclectic dining and shopping options and its two parks — particularly Coolidge Park with its play fountains and century-old carousel. If your timing is right (Oct. 7 this year), you can enjoy the annual Wine over Water event on the Walnut Street Pedestrian Bridge.

Before you cross over to the North Shore, check out the Lemur Forest exhibit at the Tennessee Aquarium (1 Broad St., Chattanooga. 1-800-262-0695, www.tnaqua.org, @TNAquarium), the riverfront facility’s newest. Red-ruffed and ring-tailed lemurs scamper around and climb in a rainforest setting. The cute, wide-eyed primates put on quite a show.

About a mile and a half off the riverfront, another new attraction in Chattanooga is in one of the city’s historic icons. The Songbirds Guitar Museum (35 Station St., Chattanooga. 423-531-2473, songbirdsguitars.com, @SongbirdsGuitar), at the Chattanooga Choo Choo, has exhibits of rare, vintage guitars and regularly scheduled live performances. If names like Fender and Stratocaster play your heart like “ringin’ a bell,” then Songbirds is nirvana for you. Hollow-bodied, solid-bodied, acoustic, electric, dreadnoughts, parlors — and every one a veritable work of art. More than 300 classic American acoustic and electric instruments are on display at any one time.

Great Smoky Mountains region

If merely old won’t quite do; if you seek the solace of the truly ancient, then the primordial Great Smoky Mountains beckon. Hundreds of millions of years old — among the oldest on the planet — and covering a section of present-day southeast Tennessee, the Smokies (865-436-1200, www.nps.gov, @GreatSmokyNPS) provide a magnificent landscape of high peaks, rock outcroppings, streams, rivers and waterfalls, deep ravines and deeper forests. It’s a place of exceptional natural beauty, thriving wildlife, great outdoor recreation and perhaps most importantly, it’s capable of generating true awe and quiet wonder.

Just down the road from the Townsend entrance into the Great Smoky Mountains National Park on the E. Lamar Alexander Parkway is a spot offering up nostalgic appeal. The Great Smoky Mountains Heritage Center(123 Cromwell Drive, Townsend. 865-448-0044, www.gsmheritagecenter.org, @GSMHeritage) has 13 historic buildings on its grounds reflecting the region’s culture, along with an indoor museum highlighting the same. The newest addition, the Transportation Station, showcases 19th- and 20th-century vehicles.

For something new amid the rustic history, Gatlinburg offers a couple of new attractions. Anakeesta Mountain & Aerial Adventure Park (576 Parkway, Gatlinburg. 865-325-2400, www.anakeesta.com, @AnakeestaTN) is a family-friendly outdoor adventure park with gondola and ski lift-type rides that take visitors up to Magical Firefly Village and access to a Treetop Canopy Walk, Children’s Treehouse Village Playground, Anakeesta Ziplines, Anakeesta Gem Mine and, coming late fall, a single-rail mountain coaster that allows you to control the speed of descent from slow slide to wild ride!

Another new Smoky Mountains Region attraction is the Glass Bottom Boat Adventure at Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies (88 River Road, Gatlinburg. 865-430-8808, www.ripleyaquariums.com/gatlinburg,@RipleysAquaGAT). This special indoor “lake” ride takes guests into Shark Lagoon, where over 8,500 sea creatures of more than 75 species live. There are 12-foot sharks, fish of numerous kinds, and a green sea turtle swimming about in the clear water. A guide will point them out to you and tell you about their habits.

The brand-new Anakeesta Mountain & Aerial Adventure Park in Gatlinburg is a family-friendly place. CONTRIBUTED BY GATLINBURG CVB

Knoxville

Knoxville is the home of the University of Tennessee’s flagship campus, where Vol orange is everywhere to be seen. But there’s something else on the campus that draws many people’s interest, something filled with marvelously old prehistoric stuff — the McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture (1327 Circle Park Drive, University of Tennessee, Knoxville. 865-974-2144, mcclungmuseum.utk.edu, @McClungMuseum).

The McClung Museum has a life-size replica of the skeleton of a Cretaceous mosasaur, a large extinct marine reptile, and fossils hundreds of millions of years old; reconstructions of bones showing millions of years worth of the evolution of hominids, our genetic ancestors; artifacts of ancient Egypt and lots of other exhibits.

Something else that’s surprisingly old here — and well worth experiencing — is the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra (100 S. Gay St., Suite 302, Knoxville. 865-291-3310, www.knoxvillesymphony.com, @knoxsymphony). KSO is the oldest continuing orchestra in the southeastern United States, having been established in 1935. The fact that most of KSO’s performances take place in the gorgeous Tennessee Theatre makes them all the more breathtaking.

But Knoxville has some new appeals, too. The Tennessean (531 Henley St., Knoxville. 865-232-1800, www.thetennesseanhotel.com, @TennesseanHotel) is a luxury hotel that opened in downtown Knoxville in April. It offers 82 guest rooms, including a top-line luxe suite, a dozen condos and the Drawing Room, the hotel’s lounge and bar which features regional meats, cheeses and produce, along with locally brewed craft beers and Knoxville’s largest selection of Tennessee small batch whiskey. Rest, eat and imbibe in style.

PostModern Spirits (205 W. Jackson Ave., Suite 205, Knoxville. 865-437-3190, postmodernspirits.com, @postmodspirits) opened in Knoxville’s trendy Old City section in August. Already being poured are a couple of gins and an 80-proof vodka, along with an elderberry gin liqueur and a chamomile gin liqueur. PostModern is also offering hourlong distillery tours, and the owners have indicated the likelihood for occasional pop-up dinners.

PostModern Spirits is the hot new spot in Knoxville for locally distilled gin, vodka and liqueurs. CONTRIBUTED BY ERIC MCNEW / POSTMODERN SPIRITS / VISIT KNOXVILLE

Middle Tennessee

Tiny Pall Mall was the hometown of World War I hero Sgt. Alvin C. York and is the location of the state park named in his honor.Sgt. Alvin C. York State Historic Park (2609 N. York Highway, Pall Mall. 931-879-6456, tnstateparks.com) is northeast of Nashville very near the Kentucky state line. It features the historic home of its late namesake, a visitor center modeled after York’s general store, a gristmill and the York Bible School, among other elements. The York farm located on the park is a National Historic Landmark.

One great way to experience Sgt. Alvin C. York State Park is to visit during one of the park’s periodic living history events. The biggest is on Veterans Day weekend. More than 50 re-enactors in period uniforms of various nations are involved in everything from biplanes flying overhead, mock trench raids, gas attacks, and other activities that bring the “War to End All Wars” to life.

The Storytellers Museum and Hideaway Farm (9676 Old Highway 46, Bon Aqua. 931-996-4336, storytellersmuseum.com, @storytellers_tn) is among the newest Tennessee attractions for country music lovers. Located southwest of Nashville, the farm belonged to Johnny Cash for over 30 years and is now open for touring. Cash memorabilia like guitars and handwritten lyrics and letters are on display. You can hear Cash’s music and view never-before-seen video footage of the Man in Black. Cash fans — and that’s pretty much everybody, right? — will enjoy this loving homage to one of America’s greatest singer-songwriters.

Nashville

Nashville has its share of historic sites, and Belle Meade Plantation (110 Leake Ave., Nashville. 615-356-0501, bellemeadeplantation.com, @BelleMeadePlant) is an impressive one. Starting out with just a single log cabin in 1806, the historical owners of Belle Meade, or “beautiful meadow,” prospered as successful thoroughbred horse breeders and in 1853 built a grand home in Greek Revival style. Today, Belle Meade Plantation sits on 34 acres about 9 miles southwest of downtown Nashville and retains the original homestead, the Greek Revival mansion, and several other historic outbuildings. Tours are offered and the property holds occasional special events.

An “old” treasure of Nashville’s is the original Monell’s Restaurant in the Germantown section of the city (1235 Sixth Ave. N., Nashville. 615-248-4747, monellstn.com/nashville), which, at 112 years old, has grown gracefully older through the decades. The restaurant is known for its delicious down-home Southern fare, particularly its skillet fried chicken, which is offered every day and served family-style on large tables along with big bowls of Southern vegetables and biscuits. Two to three of their meats like fried pork chops, roast beef and fried catfish will also be part of the spread.

Built originally as a home, Monell’s Germantown restaurant is a Victorian-style building located in a beautiful neighborhood full of Victorian buildings. Adding to the splendor of the Monell’s experience is the carefully tended Victorian garden sitting adjacent to the restaurant.

But Nashville, as always, has some new kids on the “block,” too. The upscale 21c Museum Hotel Nashville (221 Second Ave. N., Nashville. 615-610-6400, www.21cmuseumhotels.com/nashville, @21cNashville) opened in May, complete with 124 rooms and artistic elements throughout (check out the striking animal art in the Gray & Dudley bar). The Gray & Dudley restaurant serves a nicely varied menu with seasonal ingredients.

The newest major addition to Music City’s musical heritage inventory is the new Patsy Cline Museum (119 Third Ave. S., Second Level, Nashville. 615-454-4722, www.patsymuseum.com), which opened above the Johnny Cash Museum this past April. Fans of the “first lady of country music” will love the collection of personal belongings, artifacts, photos and recordings.

The Gray & Dudley restaurant in the new 21c Museum Hotel Nashville offers an eclectic menu with seasonal ingredients. CONTRIBUTED BY 21C MUSEUM, MAGNUS LINQVIST