Are you looking to find some amazing things to do on a Tennessee road trip with your kids? Does your family love science, nature and/or history? If yes, then this is the perfect post for you.
Over the years our family has visited many sites across Tennessee and to us, we feel that there are a couple of places that really stood out above the rest. These are sites that seriously impressed our own family, on our road trips through Tennessee, and then left us with incredible memories to reminisce about later.
Each site listed in this post, we feel, would be a great addition to any family road trip through the beautiful state of Tennessee. So, in hopes of making your vacation planning a little easier, let me share with you what we’ve discovered!
Outstanding Tennessee Sites for Families:
Museum of Science and Energy
in Oak Ridge, TN (1.5 hours from Smoky Mountain National Park)
Website: https://amse.org/
Experience the Hair-Raising Van der Graaff Generator!
Why You Should Go:
The Museum of Science and Energy is a fantastic museum that uniquely focuses on the science of energy itself and on the role that this “secret city” of Oak Ridge played in the Manhattan Project. Honestly, a lot of this museum’s incredible information is far too advanced for most children, but it’s actually not the science displays that caused this museum to make our list of Best Things to Do with Kids in Tennessee. (Although we did thoroughly love their educational displays and their entire room of hands on science activities for kids too!)
For me, the main reason that I love this museum so, so much for families is for their fantastic 45 minute hair-raising Van der Graaf Generator presentation! This was a fantastic experience that I myself remember having as a child and I couldn’t wait to share it with my own children! And there’s not many places where you can actually touch a Van der Graaf Generator and experience its effects where your hair stands straight up by itself! Read on to find out more about this incredible experience.
What Our Family Loved the Most:
Without a doubt, our family absolutely loved seeing and participating in the hair-raising Van der Graaf generator presentation! In this presentation you will learn all about what a Van der Graaf generator is and what it does. Then they put on a small show to show you how it works. And lastly, they will invite people in the audience to come down and touch the Van der Graaf generator themselves so they too can experience its amazing hair-raising effects! This is definitely an experience you’ll remember forever! (see picture above)
Family Tip: If your child is nervous about touching the Van der Graaf generator, they will let your child link with another individual who is touching it, and both of you will be able to feel it’s awesome hair-raising effects! This is what we did since our youngest wanted no part of touching the Van der Graaf generator. But after holding hands with his brothers, he loved it’s fun effects!
At the Museum of Science and Energy we also really enjoyed touching their cool plasma ball, picking up items with the museum’s robotic arm, solving their brain teaser puzzles and playing with all of their other hands on science displays.
Suggested Duration:
We recommend allowing for approximately 2 hours to visit (maybe longer if your kids are older and especially if you’re also going to the 45min Van der Graaf presentation.)
Kids That Love This May Also Like:
Tennessee Aquarium
in Chattanooga, Tennessee
Website: www.tnaqua.org
Touching Sturgeons!
Why You Should Go:
Our Family was seriously impressed with the Tennessee Aquarium. Here, this aquarium tells the incredible story of how a single drop of water that starts on the mountain tops of Tennessee, will flow into the nearby rivers and then finally end up in the ocean! I love this! And I love how it provided a great opportunity to explain this incredible, natural flow of water to our children.
Throughout your journey through the Tennessee Aquarium, excellent information and wonderful displays will let you know what specific creatures live in each area along this water drop’s journey. This storyline of a water drop’s journey turned a regular aquarium visit into an amazing adventure!
The Tennessee Aquarium also takes you on a journey to discover the animals that live in the different types of rivers throughout the world. With each river type they immerse you into that river’s environment and show you what animals live there. They also show you all of the ways that the aquarium is striving to protect these waters. I thought this was done really well and we learned so much!
The primary rivers that the Tennessee Aquarium focuses on are the Tennessee River, the Amazon River, a couple of African Rivers and a few found in Eurasian water. It also displays exhibits on the different ocean environments near the rivers like tropical coves, reefs and the arctic rocks.
What Our Family Loved the Most:
Our family favorites were seeing the enormous River Giants! And I personally was ecstatic to see the powerful Arapaima (I had seen this species on the show River Monsters and was completely fascinated to see one in real life!) We also loved seeing the feared anaconda and the razor-toothed, carnivorous piranhas!
Aside from the enormous River Giants I also personally loved watching the incredible looking cuttlefish. In fact it’s my new favorite ocean animal! They are incredible! Other highlights included coming eye to eye with the gigantic Japanese spider crabs and actually touching real prehistoric looking sturgeons!
There were so many things that our family loved about the Tennessee Aquarium and we hope your family loves it too!
Suggested Duration:
We recommend allowing at least 2 hours to visit.
If You Like This Aquarium, You May Also Like
Museum of the Appalachia
in Clinton, TN (This is 30 minutes from the Museum of Science and Energy)
Website: http://www.museumofappalachia.org/
Why You Should Go:
The Museum of Appalachia is set up as an authentic mountain farm village from the 1800’s. Here, there are more than 30 log structures in the village that you can visit, including a family cabin from Mark Twain!
What Our Family Loved the Most:
Our family really enjoyed the thousands of time-period artifacts displayed throughout this village and in the Display Barn. And our kids had a lot of fun trying to figure out what some of these items might have been used for! I personally loved how these artifacts and displays gave us a real glimpse into what life was like here in the mountains so long ago.
The Museum of Appalachia is not a living history museum, so do not expect time period costumed employees to be wandering around. Instead this museum is simply set up how a village in the mountains here would have looked like. I felt that this made the village feel very quiet and peaceful, like it would have been in the mountains so long ago.
An Unexpected Highlight:
At the Museum of Appalachia there was an unexpected highlight. Beautiful peacocks were everywhere just roaming around the village! We were ecstatic so be so close to so many of these beautiful and exotic birds!
The Museum of Appalachia is an incredible place for children to learn about what life was like in the mountains so long ago. And I know that they’ll never forget the many peacocks that walked along the paths with us! They were gorgeous!
Suggested Duration:
We recommend allowing for approximately 2 hours to visit.
Smoky Mountain National Park
North Carolina / Tennessee
Website: https://www.nps.gov/grsm/index.htm
Why You Should Go:
Did you know that Smoky Mountain National Park is the most visited National Park in America! It’s not hard to see why. This park is filled with beautiful sweeping mountain views, old historic buildings and over 800 miles of trails! And visiting this park is completely Free!
Lying on the east side of Tennessee (near Gatlinburg) and then crossing into North Carolina, The Smoky Mountains are a perfect addition to any Tennessee Family Road Trip.
Smoky Mountain Park Highlights:
Newfound Gap Road (US-441) is the 33 mile long road that is the main route through Smoky Mountain National Park. This road connects Cherokee, NC with Gatlinburg, TN. And this gorgeous drive easily provides visitors with stunning mountain views and gorgeous scenery as you traverse the park.
Clingmans Dome, found near the boarder of North Carolina and Tennessee along US-441, is a fantastic sight! Here you will drive up to the highest mountain peak in the park at 6,643 feet and discover a spectacular 360 degree view.
Cades Cove, on the Tennessee side, is an incredibly beautiful area in Smoky Mountain National Park filled with historic cabins, barns, mills and churches from the early 1800s. Cades Cove is also a great place to see wildlife like black bears, deer, wild turkeys and more!
What Our Family Loved that Lies Right Outside the Park:
Roaring Fork Road
Just outside Smoky Mountain National Park, on the Gatlinburg, TN side, is the incredibly picturesque Roaring Fork Road! This was my absolute favorite site near the park and it was beyond gorgeous! Roaring Fork Road is a 5.5 mile narrow one way loop that you won’t want to miss. I have heard that it can get pretty crowded (bumper to bumper) especially on the weekends so keep this in mind when planning your trip. We chose to drive this road early (~8am) on a summer weekday morning and we were fortunate enough to be practically the only ones on this slow, beautiful drive! And it was fantastic!
Roaring Fork Road
Mingo Falls
(Although this is on the North Carolina side, I thought I’d still mention it.)
Another family favorite site near Smoky Mountain National Park is Mingo Falls. Mingo Falls is considered the tallest (at 120 feet) and one of the prettiest waterfalls in the Southern Appalachians! And lucky for us, to reach this waterfall, it is only 0.4 miles, which makes it perfect for hiking with kids!
To find Mingo Falls go just outside the east part of Smoky Mountain National Park, near Cherokee, NC, to Mingo Falls Campground and Pigeon Creek Trail.
Mingo Falls, NC
Oconaluftee Indian Village
Another highlight that lies just outside Smoky Mountain National Park (on the North Carolina side) is the Oconaluftee Indian Village. Here we learned all about the Cherokee Native Americans that have called the Smoky Mountains their home for hundreds of years. Located in Cherokee, NC, this village is set up so that you are immediately transported in time into an authentic working Cherokee village from the 1760s.
Here my boys especially loved their blow gun demonstration and I was completely fascinated to learn how they made their canoes without an ax!
Helpful Hints:
Due to the popularity of Smoky Mountain National Park, it is best the start your day early to try to beat some of the crowds. Cades Cove and Roaring Fork Road are the most effected by the crowds so try, if possible, to visit them during off-peak hours.
Suggested Duration:
We recommend spending at least a full day here to explore this beautiful park. But if you are short on time you could easily just drive straight through and see the beautiful scenery along the road in a little over 1 hour. Or on the other hand, you could just as easily spend days here hiking the many trails and exploring the fun nearby sites.
Kids May Enjoy This While Visiting the Smoky Mountains:
I hope you enjoyed reading about our top road trip sites to visit in Tennessee with kids. This is a continuously growing list and as I come across new and exciting places that our family loves I will make sure I add them!
Have A Great Road Trip in Tennessee with Your “Traveling Feet!”
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Related Posts:
A Family Guide For One Day in the Smoky Mountains
Top Things to Do in Kentucky With Kids
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