Editors' picks across 8categories — the dock with the deepest channel, the winery with the view, the restaurant with the right wine list, the trail nobody's on at sunrise.
The restaurant at Blue Springs Marina — a full-service bar with indoor and outdoor seating and sunset views over the water, open Thursday through Sunday with weekend brunch.
Visit ↗A small gourmet dining room at Kingston City Park on the banks of the Clinch River, chef Andras Bartha's own kitchen — reservations essential, the space fills up weeks in advance. Also offers cooking classes.
Visit ↗A Mexican restaurant and bar on Front Street in Spring City — a full menu of Mexican-American dishes, a salsa bar, and margarita specials.
A full-service marina in Blue Springs Cove with over 260 wet slips, dry storage, pontoon rentals, a fully stocked ship's store, and a fuel dock — home to Crow's Nest Restaurant.
Visit ↗A marina and restaurant on Euchee Chapel Road in Spring City, on the lake's Rhea County side.
A marina inside the gated Tennessee National community just off Interstate 75 — an upscale-resort option among Watts Bar's eight marinas.
Visit ↗A marina and RV resort near Harriman and Kingston on the lake's Roane County side, with boat slips and camping alongside the water access.
Built by the TVA between 1939 and January 1942, completed three weeks after Pearl Harbor to power the war effort — including the Manhattan Project at nearby Oak Ridge. A 112-foot-high, 2,960-foot dam with five generating units; its construction relocated 832 families and 17 cemeteries across 54,600 acres.
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