Culture, History, Historic House, Historical Society, Military, Natural History, Park, Specialized

TVRM’s passenger trains run on the historic route which includes Missionary Ridge Tunnel, completed in 1858 and on the National Register of Historic Places. The tunnel is the primary reason TVRM runs on the three-mile section of the former Southern Railway. As railroad equipment grew too large to pass through and the single-track tunnel became a traffic jam for an other wise double-track railroad, Southern Railway abandoned the three mile portion of the line and built a new section around the end of Missionary Ridge, avoiding the tunnel altogether.

Historic House

Historic House

The Tipton-Haynes Historic Site in Johnson City represents several eras of early Tennessee history. Woodland Period Indians and later the Cherokees frequented the area, hunting the buffalo that traveled to its natural spring. In later years, that buffalo trail became a stage road from Jonesborough, Tennessee, to Morganton, North Carolina. The site's cave and spring attracted James Needham and Gabriel Arthur, the first white men to explore the area, as well as the long hunter Daniel Boone. The Tipton-Haynes site was purchased to preserve the Tipton-Haynes House, a residence occupied by three prominent Tennessee statesmen: John Tipton (1730-1813); John Tipton Jr. (1769-1831); and Landon Carter Haynes (1816-1875).