Day trips from Nashville · Town
Monteagle and Sewanee
90 miles from downtown Nashville · about 1 hour 40 minutes
Grundy and Franklin Counties, TN, on the Cumberland Plateau
Monteagle and Sewanee sit at the top of the I-24 grade on the Cumberland Plateau: Monteagle is the highway town and the Assembly grounds, and Sewanee is the thirteen-thousand-acre Domain of the University of the South, a Gothic campus on the bluff. Between them they are the gateway to most of the plateau’s best hiking.
- All Saints’ Chapel
- University of the South, Sewanee
- Sewanee Perimeter Trail
- About 20 miles around the Domain, free
- South Cumberland visitor center
- 11745 US-41, Monteagle, TN
Permits, fees and access
The campus and the Perimeter Trail are free and open. The visitor center on US-41 is the hub for Stone Door, Foster Falls, Savage Gulf and Fiery Gizzard, although Tennessee has been splitting those into standalone parks, so confirm which unit covers your trailhead.
One thing to know first
The I-24 climb up Monteagle Mountain is one of the steepest interstate grades in the country and it collects fog and wrecks. Check conditions in winter before you commit to it.
Access rules, fees and closures verified August 15, 2026 against the agency that manages this place. They change, sometimes without notice. Check before you drive.
I keep this list because it is genuinely how people spend weekends here, and because almost every guide to it is out of date. If you are weighing a move to Middle Tennessee and want to know which part of it puts you closest to the things you actually like, ask me. No pitch.