Experience the best of Hartford

Hartford is a small rural community in the Tennessee foothills of the Appalachians. The Pigeon River runs through it after leaving a steep gorge in the mountains, and it is a river known for its rapids. Farms and wooded ridges fill the valleys, with a few roads and churches.

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park, one of the most visited parks in the country, lies a short drive to the south, with waterfalls, trails and wooded ridges, and the Cherokee National Forest covers high ground to the east. Asheville, North Carolina, a city known for its art deco buildings and craft scene, lies about an hour to the south-east.

Appalachian cooking is the local style: biscuits and gravy, cornbread, country ham and barbecue, with sorghum syrup and apple desserts. Summers are warm and humid, and autumn is the best season for the hills, when the trees turn colour in October. Winters are mild, with occasional snow on the higher ground.