Civil War Trail
A divided county, a divided nation — Sullivan County's Civil War story
Child: $10 · Senior: $20
Why This Tour
Most Civil War tourism focuses on major battlefields. Sullivan County's Civil War story is different and arguably more powerful — it's the story of a divided community, of guerrilla warfare, of families choosing opposite sides, and of the moral complexity that big-battle narratives often miss. For visitors interested in the human dimension of the Civil War, this tour offers something unique.
Coming Summer 2026 · Preview availability now
Your Itinerary
Begin at Rocky Mount to understand the antebellum context. The museum's Civil War exhibits explain how Sullivan County — settled by fiercely independent frontier families — became one of the most divided counties in a divided state. East Tennessee's Unionist leanings put Sullivan County at odds with the Confederate state government in Nashville, setting the stage for four years of internal conflict.
- • Pre-war context: how the frontier became a divided community
- • Sullivan County's Unionist sympathies
- • Museum exhibits on the Civil War period
The Sullivan County Courthouse was the center of wartime governance — where conscription was enforced, loyalty oaths were demanded, and the machinery of war ground through a community. The Blountville cemetery tells the human cost in stone: Union and Confederate dead, sometimes from the same family, buried in the same ground.
- • The seat of county government during the war
- • Conscription disputes and loyalty oaths
- • Cemetery with Union and Confederate graves side by side
Follow the trail markers south and east through Sullivan County's rural landscape.
The Old Deery Inn, which had hosted presidents in peacetime, became a wartime landmark occupied by forces from both sides. The Great Stage Road that once carried stagecoaches now carried soldiers, supplies, and refugees. The inn's wartime stories capture the civilian experience of occupation and uncertainty.
- • The inn during wartime — occupied by both sides at different times
- • The Great Stage Road as a military corridor
- • Stories of civilians caught in the crossfire
Sites in This Tour
Logistics
Rocky Mount State Historic Site, Piney Flats → Blountville historic district
Total driving: Approximately 40 miles on the full self-guided driving loop
Comfortable casual clothing with walking shoes. Some cemetery and marker sites involve walking on grass.
What to bring:
- • Downloaded audio guide on your phone
- • Printed trail map (available at Rocky Mount)
- • Water and snacks
- • Camera
East Tennessee was Union country in a Confederate state, and Sullivan County sat right on the fault line. The Civil War Trail takes you through the sites where neighbor fought neighbor, where bridges were burned in acts of sabotage, where families were torn apart by competing loyalties. This self-guided driving tour connects battlefield markers, historic buildings, cemeteries, and the stories of ordinary people caught in America's greatest crisis. It's not the Civil War you learned in school — it's the Civil War as it was actually lived.