Farm to Table Sullivan County
Taste the terroir of northeast Tennessee — from soil to plate
Child: $35 · Senior: $65
Why This Tour
Food tourism is the fastest-growing segment of the travel industry, and Sullivan County has an underappreciated food story. The same Appalachian soil that grew Cherokee corn and frontier wheat now feeds farm-to-table restaurants producing some of East Tennessee's best cuisine. This tour connects the food to the land to the history — every bite tells a story.
Coming Summer 2026 · Preview availability now
Your Itinerary
Your culinary journey begins at Exchange Place, where the heirloom gardens grow the same varieties that 1850s farm families cultivated. The heritage breed animals — the chickens, goats, and draft horses — connect you to the agricultural traditions that fed Sullivan County for centuries. This isn't agritourism theater; it's the real thing, tended by people who know these plants and animals as neighbors.
- • Heritage heirloom gardens with crops grown since the 1850s
- • Heritage breed animals and their role in Appalachian farming
- • Understanding the agricultural rhythms that sustained frontier communities
Drive to Bristol (30 minutes) for your first tasting.
Black-Eyed Susan transforms Sullivan County's agricultural heritage into modern Southern cuisine. The seasonal menu sources from local farms, and the flavors connect directly to the heirloom gardens you walked through at Exchange Place. Your tasting meal showcases the best of what the Appalachian soil produces, prepared with creativity and respect for tradition.
- • Farm-to-table lunch featuring locally sourced ingredients
- • Seasonal menu showcasing Sullivan County's agricultural bounty
- • Chef conversation about local sourcing and Appalachian culinary traditions
The tour's finale takes you to Ridgewood Barbecue in Bluff City — where the Proffitt family has been smoking pork over hickory coals since 1948. This is the other side of Sullivan County's food story: not farm-to-table refinement, but pit-smoked mastery passed down through three generations. The tangy tomato-based sauce, the smoky meat falling apart on the plate, the sides that taste like somebody's grandmother made them — Ridgewood is Sullivan County's culinary soul.
- • Legendary pit-smoked barbecue since 1948
- • The art and science of hickory-smoked pork
- • Three generations of Sullivan County barbecue tradition
Sites in This Tour
Logistics
Exchange Place, 4812 Orebank Road, Kingsport → Ridgewood Barbecue, 900 Elizabethton Highway, Bluff City
Total driving: Approximately 40 miles over the half-day tour
Casual and comfortable. You'll be walking through a farm and eating — dress accordingly.
What to bring:
- • Appetite — you will eat well
- • Notebook for recording restaurant names and favorites
- • Camera for food photography
- • Cash for Ridgewood Barbecue (preferred)
Sullivan County's food story runs as deep as its history — from the Cherokee crops that fed the first inhabitants, through the frontier farms that sustained settlers, to today's farm-to-table restaurants sourcing from the same Appalachian soil. This half-day culinary tour connects you to the land through its flavors: visit a working farm, taste heritage-inspired dishes at local restaurants, and understand why the food in Sullivan County tastes like nowhere else. This is not a cooking class — it's a flavor-driven journey through place and time.