• Enjoy the bald eagles at Reelfoot Lake (website: www.reelfootlake.com), the recreational opportunities of Kentucky Lake (website: www.kentuckylake.org), or the quiet, sombre atmosphere of the battlefields at Shiloh National Military Park (website: www.nps.gov/shil).

• Visit the West Tennessee Delta Heritage Center in Brownsville. It showcases the region’s heritage and provides a good introduction to the area. Its five major exhibitions include the Tennessee Room, which highlights West Tennessee towns and attractions, the West Tennessee Music Museum, the Scenic Hatchie River Museum, the Cotton Museum, and Sleepy John Estes’ House, a tribute to this big man of the blues.

• Pay respect to the King – Elvis Presley. His beloved Memphis home, Graceland (website: www.elvis.com/graceland), is a Mecca to the pilgrims of rock ’n’ roll. The impressive Trophy Room effectively documents his impact on the music industry as a singer and entertainer.

• Encounter Memphis’ legendary past as a Delta city and a civil rights centre. It was at the Lorraine Motel at 450 Mulberry Street that Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated. The National Civil Rights Museum housed at the site is an effective reminder of the courage of thousands of African-Americans.

• Tour the Carter House (website: www.state.tn.us/environment/hist/stateown/carterho.php) in Franklin. The bullet-pocked walls bear witness to one of the deadliest battles of the American Civil War.

• Experience the military history as well as the macabre on the Tennessee Antebellum Trail (website: www.state.tn.us/environment/hist/PathDivided/heritagemap.php). Daily tours to seven historic sites are offered, including the blood-stained floors of Carnton Mansion (website: www.carnton.org), where, after the battle at Franklin, the bodies of five Confederate generals once lay. Starting in Nashville, this 145km- (90-mile-) loop drive also takes in the Rippavilla Plantation (website: www.rippavilla.org), dating from 1852, where the five generals ate their last breakfast.

• View the magnificent arched ceiling of stained glass in the Union Station Hotel (website: www.wyndham.com/hotels/BNAUS/main.wnt) at 1001 Broadway, Nashville.

• Explore the many galleries and museums which reflect Tennessee’s Antebellum and plantation history, including the Carl Van Vechten Gallery in Nashville, which exhibits collections by Cézanne, Picasso and Renoir as well as displays of work by Georgia O’Keeffe and Alfred Steiglitz.

• Tour the Hermitage (website: www.thehermitage.com), President Andrew Jackson’s manor house, 19km (12 miles) from downtown Nashville. Admission includes a visit to nearby Tulip Grove Mansion.

• Visit the Bicentennial Mall State Park (website: www.state.tn.us/environment/parks/parks/Bicentennial) which was built in Nashville to honour the state’s founding in 1776.

• Explore the Rock City Gardens (website: www.seerockcity.com) in Chattanooga. The subterranean black-lit gnome dioramas and Mother Goose theme areas are constructed around several interesting rock formations.

• Experience Chattanooga's Ruby Falls (website: www.rubyfalls.com), a spectacular 44m- (145ft-) high underground waterfall which flows 341m (1120ft) below the surface of Lookout Mountain.

• Visit the Blount Mansion (website: www.blountmansion.org) in Knoxville, the 1792 frame house of Governor William Blount. The mansion is a National Historic Landmark.

• Walk through James White's Fort (website: www.discoveret.org/jwf). The fort still exhibits portions of the original stockade built in 1786 by Knoxville’s founder.

• Visit the ancient Cumberland Plateau, which forms a natural boundary between Middle and East Tennessee. Waterfalls, deep river canyons, parks and resorts characterise this historic region.

See Contact Addresses for further tourist information.