After forming the boundary between Alabama andMississippi for a stretch of 10 miles (16 km), the river reenters Tennessee, where it creates the dividing line betweenMiddle Tennessee andWest Tennessee. It empties into theOhio River in westernKentucky, where it divides the region known as theJackson Purchase from the rest of Kentucky.
Geologically, the eastern portion of the Tennessee Valley consists of many small valleys and ridges within a great valley. The larger region is termed theRidge and Valley Province and the great valley is termed theGreat Appalachian Valley.
Chattanooga, Tennessee, about 120 miles (190 km) from both Huntsville and Knoxville, in opposite directions, is nicknamed "The Scenic City" for its beautiful views of the Tennessee Valley from atop the many mountaintops that surround the city. Chattanooga and its suburbs form the second most populous metropolitan area in the valley. TheBattle of Chattanooga was fought on nearbyLookout Mountain. Chattanooga is also well known for theChattanooga Choo-Choo, its transformation from a declining early industrial city to a thriving modern city, the famousDelta Queen, and the first publicly available onegigabit per second Internet access from a municipally owned utility company, i.e. theElectric Power Board (EPB), in the United States. Chattanooga is the 3rd largest city in the Tennessee Valley, with just over 180,000 people, and itsMetropolitan Area Is home to about 560,000 people.
Decatur, Alabama, known as "The River City", dominated the economic landscape of north Alabama until the late 1950s, when thespace race catapulted its neighbor Huntsville into that position. For most of the 20th century up to that point, Decatur held the top position in terms of economic impact and population. Its mixture of river transport and rail access has made it a busy hub of business, commerce, and manufacturing (chemicals and textiles especially) flowing down the river on the barges and boats of numerous companies and docking at thePort of Decatur. Decatur also claims the nickname "The Heart of the Valley" because of its location near the exact center of the length of the Tennessee River. Also because most north–south shipping traffic is funneled through the town utilizing three river crossings that are main routes for rail and road traffic betweenBirmingham andNashville. The city is also an important river port that uses intermodal facilities to switch shipping methods between trains, trucks, and barges. It is the 10th largest city in Alabama home to 58,000 people, slightly less than nearby Madison City. Its metro area is home to 160,000 and combines with Huntsville to form theHuntsville-Decatur CSA.
Elizabethton, Tennessee, is a small city formerly known by the moniker "The City of Power" prior to the postWorld War II era ofnuclear power production. It is located at the confluence of theDoe River andWatauga River downstream from the Watauga Reservoir and the Wilbur Reservoir. Both are maintained by theTennessee Valley Authority (TVA). It is home to about 15,000 people and is located near Knoxville
Guntersville, Alabama, is a major city of northeast Alabama and has a major lake and river port,Lake Guntersville and the Port of Guntersville, respectively. The city is famous for being the place whereRicky Nelson played his last concert before dying in a plane crash on New Year's Eve 1986 (December 31, 1985). It is home to just under 9,000 people, however itssister city ofAlbertville to the south is home to 23,000 people.
Huntsville, Alabama, nicknamed "the Rocket City", has risen to be the center of north Alabama economic activity since the dawn of thespace age in the 1950s. It is now the largest city in Alabama.[1] Its aerospace and military technology centers ofRedstone Arsenal,Cummings Research Park, andNASA'sMarshall Space Flight Center define the high-tech landscape for Alabama. Huntsville had in 2022 a population of over 220,000 people and is the largest city within the Tennessee Valley, and the 95thmost populous city nationally. Despite being the largest city proper, itsMetropolitan Area is the 3rd largest in The Tennessee Valley by population with 510,000 people. Huntsville was also ranked as the best major city to live in the entire country in 2022.[2]
Madison, Alabama, The largest suburb of nearby Huntsville, and one of the best suburbs to live in both Alabama, and the country. Madison has manyFortune 500 companies that have operations in the city, includingIntergraph (nowHexagon AB) that was headquartered here and was on the Fortune 500 for much of the early 2000s. Madison is the 9thlargest city in Alabama and is also one of the fastest growing cities in the state, with a population of just under 60,000 in 2022[3]Madison City Schools, the school board that provides education for Madison and the nearby city ofTriana is the best school board in Alabama and its two high schools,James Clemens, andBob jones ranked 6th and 8th in the state respectively.[4]
Muscle Shoals, Alabama, considered part of theShoals along with Florence, Sheffield, and Tuscumbia, is a major city of northwest Alabama, alongU.S. Route 72 and Alabama 157. The city is located immediately across the Tennessee River from Florence. (The river divides Colbert County from Lauderdale County.) Muscle Shoals is famous for its 1960sMuscle Shoals Sound, produced at such studios asFAME Studios andMuscle Shoals Sound Studio, where many famous musicians and bands, such asAretha Franklin,Bob Dylan, andThe Rolling Stones, also have recorded and produced numerous songs. Tuscumbia is the birthplace of Helen Keller. The original Congressional Act creating the government-owned Tennessee Valley Authority, May, 1933, designated the government reservation at Wilson Dam as the location for the headquarters of the TVA. In 1980, a court order reassigned the headquarters to Knoxville. The second largest city in theShoals Metropolitan Area after Florence. It is home to 17,000 people.
Scottsboro, Alabama, located about halfway between Huntsville and Chattanooga, about 63 miles (101 km) from Chattanooga and 40 miles (64 km) east of Huntsville, It is located on Highway 72. nicknamed "the Friendly City", It was founded in the mid-1850s and is most famous for theScottsboro Boys and theUnclaimed Baggage Center, as well as "First Monday," an open-air marketplace held in and around downtown on Mondays following the first weekend of the month. It is the county seat ofJackson County, Alabama. Scottsboro is home to just under 16,000 people.
I-24 connectsPaducah, Kentucky, at the mouth of the Tennessee River, with Chattanooga viaClarksville andNashville. Much of this road's route in Kentucky and Tennessee actually lies outside the Tennessee Valley.
I-24 connectsPaducah, Kentucky, at the mouth of the Tennessee River, with Chattanooga viaClarksville andNashville. Much of this road's route in Kentucky and Tennessee actually lies outside the Tennessee Valley.
I-26 is an east–west main route of the Interstate Highway System in theNortheast Tennessee. It runs from the junction ofU.S. Route 11W andU.S. Route 23 inKingsport, Tennessee, generally south and southeast toU.S. Route 17 inCharleston, South Carolina.
I-40 runs west–east across the Tennessee portion of the Tennessee Valley, connecting Nashville with Knoxville andAsheville, North Carolina.
I-59 runs along the border of the Tennessee Valley, connecting Chattanooga withNew Orleans, Louisiana.
I-65 is the main north–south road in the central part of the valley, connecting Birmingham, Huntsville, Decatur, and Nashville.
I-565 /SR 20 /US 72 Alt. is the main corridor of theHuntsville-Decatur Combined Statistical Area that links theHuntsville Metropolitan Area and theDecatur Metropolitan Area, along with all of the scientific research and space exploration institutions inNorth Alabama. The road also provides a vital link to I-65 for both urban and suburban areas.
I-75 runs down the middle of the valley of East Tennessee. It connects Chattanooga and Knoxville withAtlanta, Georgia andCincinnati, Ohio.
I-81 is a north–south highway that connects areas east of Knoxville to the Tri-State area of Tennessee andVirginia.
