Day trips from Nashville · Town
Historic Rugby
140 miles from downtown Nashville · about 2 hours 30 minutes
Morgan County, TN, on the Cumberland Plateau
Rugby was founded in 1880 by the English author Thomas Hughes as a cooperative colony for the younger sons of British gentry, and roughly twenty of the original buildings survive. It is a genuinely strange and beautiful piece of Victorian England on the Cumberland Plateau.
- Founded
- 1880, by Thomas Hughes
- Address
- 1331 Rugby Parkway, Rugby, TN
- Visitor Center
- Thursday to Saturday 9am to 5pm ET, Sunday noon to 5pm
- Phone
- 423-628-2441
Permits, fees and access
Note the hours and note the time zone: Rugby runs on Eastern time and Nashville does not, so you lose an hour on the way over. Admission prices are not published online, so call ahead.
One thing to know first
Rugby pairs naturally with Big South Fork and Pickett, and honestly needs to. On its own it is a long drive for a small village.
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I keep this list because it is genuinely how people spend weekends here, and because almost every guide to it is out of date.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.