Townsend, Tennessee

Everything Townsend is known for

1 song mention this city

RoadyGoat plays music like this when you drive through Townsend. It's free on iPhone, and full songs play through Apple Music.

Music in Townsend

Songs About Townsend

Rocky Top - Live

Dolly Parton

90%

"Well I wish that I was on old Rocky Top"

Artists From Townsend

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Rivers & Roads in Song near Townsend

Songs written about the waterways and highways that run near Townsend.

U.S. Route 441 3 songs Tennessee River 15 songs Highway I 40 21 songs

History of Townsend

Maryville, Tennessee: Where Dave Ramsey Was Born RoadyGoat

Financial author and radio host Dave Ramsey was born in Maryville, Tennessee, on September 3, 1960 (he was raised in the Antioch area of Nashville). After building a leveraged real-estate portfolio in his twenties, he went bankrupt in 1988 when his loans were called. He rebuilt his finances and turned the lesson into a debt-free system: the '7 Baby Steps' and the 'debt snowball' — paying debts smallest balance first for psychological momentum — which he now teaches through his books, classes, and nationally syndicated show.

13.4 mi away

Your Can Could Be Back in 60 Days RoadyGoat

Making aluminum from raw ore is brutally power-hungry, the whole reason this town sits beside dammed rivers. But there's a shortcut, and it borders on magic. Melting down an old aluminum can to make a new one uses only about five percent of the energy it took to make that metal in the first place. Five percent. That's a ninety-five percent saving, just by remelting what already exists. And aluminum doesn't wear out in the process. The same atoms can cycle through forever, can to can to can. Industry figures the trip is fast too. The can you drop in a recycling bin can be melted, rolled, refilled, and back on a store shelf in as little as sixty days. That's roughly the loop the company that named this town helped set spinning.

14.5 mi away

When Aluminum Cost More Than Gold RoadyGoat

1855

The metal this town was built on was once a treasure more precious than gold. In the mid-eighteen hundreds aluminum was so hard to refine that it traded like a jewel. The story goes that Emperor Napoleon the Third of France served his most honored guests with aluminum forks and spoons, while lesser visitors had to make do with mere gold. Across the ocean in eighteen eighty-four, builders capped the brand-new Washington Monument with a small pyramid of solid aluminum, chosen partly as a showpiece of a metal then valued like silver. It was the largest single piece of aluminum anyone had ever cast. A few decades later that same once-priceless metal would be smelted by the ton, in an entire Tennessee town named for the company that made it.

14.6 mi away

Cades Cove

1818

A broad, fertile valley in the Great Smoky Mountains that was home to a thriving Appalachian community from the 1820s until the creation of the national park in the 1930s.

6.0 mi away

Great Smoky Mountains - Newfound Gap

1934

The most visited national park in the United States, with over 12 million annual visitors, straddling the Tennessee-North Carolina border along the crest of the Appalachians.

18.9 mi away

Things to Do in Townsend

nature 15.5 mi away

Great Smoky Mountains

America's most visited national park. Misty blue peaks and synchronous fireflies.

historical 15.0 mi away

Dollywood

Dolly Parton's theme park in the Smoky Mountains. Southern food roller coasters and pure Dolly.

quirky 21.8 mi away

Mountain Dew Birthplace

The neon-green soda was invented in Knoxville TN in 1940 as a whiskey mixer.

Everything Near Townsend

28 stories, landmarks & places within ~20 miles — the same local lore RoadyGoat plays as you drive through.

Cades Cove · 6.0 mi · Historical Marker
A broad, fertile valley in the Great Smoky Mountains that was home to a thriving Appalachian community from the 1820s until the creation of the national park in the 1930s.
Cades Cove · 7.6 mi · Scraped Hmdb
Imagine life in this isolated valley before the Great Smoky Mountains National Park existed, home to numerous early settlers. Cades Cove was a thriving community for many years. By the 1850s, the population had grown…
Elkmont, Tennessee · 9.6 mi · Scraped Hmdb
Imagine a bustling logging town transforming into a playground for the wealthy, now frozen in time within the Great Smoky Mountains. Elkmont's story is one of rapid change and eventual abandonment. The Little River…
Hall Cabin · 11.6 mi · Scraped Hmdb
Imagine life in the Great Smoky Mountains as you explore this historic log cabin nestled within the national park. This isn't just another old building; it's a window into a way of life now mostly vanished from these…
Sam Houston Schoolhouse · 12.1 mi · Scraped Hmdb
Pull over here for a second – you're looking at a place where legends begin. This unassuming little schoolhouse is where Sam Houston, yes, *that* Sam Houston, got his start as a teacher. Before he was a general, a…
Maryville, Tennessee: Where Dave Ramsey Was Born · 13.4 mi
Financial author and radio host Dave Ramsey was born in Maryville, Tennessee, on September 3, 1960 (he was raised in the Antioch area of Nashville). After building a leveraged real-estate portfolio in his twenties, he…
Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts · 13.8 mi · Scraped Hmdb
Imagine a place where Appalachian tradition meets modern artistry – that's Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts. It all started in 1912 when the Pi Beta Phi women's fraternity established a settlement school here in…
Millennium Manor · 13.9 mi · Scraped Hmdb
This house took nearly a decade to build, starting in 1937! It's called Millennium Manor, and it's right here in Alcoa. William Andrew Nicholson and his wife, Fair, moved here from Georgia, and William got a job at the…
Your Can Could Be Back in 60 Days · 14.5 mi
Making aluminum from raw ore is brutally power-hungry, the whole reason this town sits beside dammed rivers. But there's a shortcut, and it borders on magic. Melting down an old aluminum can to make a new one uses only…
When Aluminum Cost More Than Gold · 14.6 mi
The metal this town was built on was once a treasure more precious than gold. In the mid-eighteen hundreds aluminum was so hard to refine that it traded like a jewel. The story goes that Emperor Napoleon the Third of…
The Town That's Literally an Acronym · 14.6 mi
Most towns are named for a person, a river, or a hometown left behind. Alcoa, Tennessee is named for a spelling trick. ALCOA stands for the ALuminum COmpany of America, and starting around 1919 that company built this…
Two 22-Year-Olds, Same Year, Same Idea · 14.7 mi
Aluminum went from priceless to pocket change because of two young men who never met. In eighteen eighty-six, an American named Charles Hall and a Frenchman named Paul Heroult independently cracked the same problem in…

Show all 28 nearby places

Dollywood — Dolly Parton's Smoky Mountain Empire · 14.7 mi · Local history
Welcome to Dollywood country. You're at twenty-seven hundred Dollywood Parks Boulevard in Pigeon Forge, the theme park Dolly Parton bought into back in nineteen eighty-six. She didn't start from scratch — she partnered…
Noah Ogle Place · 14.8 mi · Scraped Hmdb
Imagine carving a life out of the rugged mountains. That's exactly what Noah "Bud" Ogle did right here. In the late 1800s, Bud built this homestead, a testament to the self-sufficiency of mountain families. He…
Everywhere in the Ground, Never Just Lying Around · 14.9 mi
Here's the paradox at the heart of this town. Aluminum is the most abundant metal in the entire Earth's crust. It makes up about eight percent of the ground under your tires, more than any other metal there is. And yet…
Dollywood · 15.0 mi · Things to Do
Dolly Parton's theme park in the Smoky Mountains. Southern food roller coasters and pure Dolly.
Great Smoky Mountains · 15.5 mi · Things to Do
America's most visited national park. Misty blue peaks and synchronous fireflies.
Fontana Dam · 15.8 mi · Scraped Hmdb
Stand in awe of Fontana Dam, the tallest concrete dam east of the Mississippi, built by the TVA. In the early 1940s, the Tennessee Valley Authority built Fontana Dam to power aluminum plants critical to the war effort…
Kuwohi · 16.3 mi · Scraped Hmdb
This isn't just a mountain, it's Kuwohi, a place sacred to the Cherokee and the highest point in the Great Smoky Mountains. Elisha Mitchell, a professor at the University of North Carolina, measured the height of…
Clover Hill Mill · 16.8 mi · Scraped Hmdb
Step back in time at this gristmill, a rare survivor from the hundreds that once dotted East Tennessee. By 1849, a gristmill had been established here, around which the community of Clover Hill developed. The community…
Wheatlands (Sevierville, Tennessee) · 17.4 mi · Scraped Hmdb
Imagine a time when wheat fields stretched as far as the eye could see right here, giving this place its name: Wheatlands. This was once a bustling plantation, a testament to early Tennessee agriculture. Wheatlands…
Calderwood, Tennessee · 18.0 mi · Scraped Hmdb
Look out over the water, because beneath that lake lies the ghost town of Calderwood. This wasn't just any town; it was built by Alcoa in 1912 to support the construction of the Calderwood Dam and others nearby. It…
Brabson's Ferry Plantation · 18.4 mi · Scraped Hmdb
This unassuming spot was once the heart of a plantation that rivaled those of the Deep South. John Brabson II bought the ferry here in 1798, and for decades, he steadily grew his land holdings around it. By 1860,…
Cheoah Dam · 18.7 mi · Scraped Hmdb
Feast your eyes on Cheoah Dam, a giant concrete wall that tamed the Little Tennessee River! This impressive structure isn't just a pretty face; it played a vital role in powering America's industrial might. In 1916,…
Great Smoky Mountains - Newfound Gap · 18.9 mi · Historical Marker
The most visited national park in the United States, with over 12 million annual visitors, straddling the Tennessee-North Carolina border along the crest of the Appalachians.
Rose Glen (Sevierville, Tennessee) · 19.0 mi · Scraped Hmdb
Imagine life on one of East Tennessee's largest antebellum plantations. Rose Glen was the vision of Dr. Robert Hatton Hodsden, a physician and politician who saw the potential in this Sevier County land. In the late…
Tapoco Lodge Historic District · 19.3 mi · Scraped Hmdb
Pull over and take a look – this isn't just another mountain lodge; it's a piece of hydropower history! In the 1930s, the Tallassee Power Company, later known as Tapoco, built this lodge as a retreat for its employees…
Snowbird Mountain Lodge · 19.3 mi · Scraped Hmdb
Perched high on the Cherohala Skyway, Snowbird Mountain Lodge offers more than just breathtaking views; it's a portal to a bygone era of rustic elegance. In 1940 and 1941, Arthur and Edwin Wolfe commissioned Asheville…

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