Tracy City

Location

Not to be confused with the much larger city in California, Tracy City is a town along US Route 41 near Interstate Route 24. The city is in Central Tennessee, a region of the South that is, for the most part, thickly forested. There are many hills, rock faces, and beautiful streams in the countryside surrounding Tracy City.

History

Incorporated in 1915, Tracy City's population was 1,481 at the 2010 census. Named after financier Samuel Franklin Tracy, the city developed out of railroad and mining interests after coal was found in 1840. In 2010 the people of Tracy City elected a dead man, Carl Robin Geary, as mayor.

U.S. 41 connects Tracy City with Jasper and Monteagle, and Tennessee Route 56 connects Tracy City with Coalmont and Altamont.

The town is built around a few streams that flow through its limits. Most of the restaurants and stores in the town are between Colyar Street and Railroad Avenue, although there is a shopping mall in the east.

There are many beautiful waterfalls near Tracy City because it is on the edge of the Appalachians, and many canyons dramatically cut their way through the side of the mountain range. However, the canyons themselves are hard to view because the region is thickly forested in most places.
Although you might expect to see a lot of historic houses in the South, Tracy City was recently founded compared to many Southern towns and cities, so there are not many historic buildings.

• Foster Falls

  address: 498 Foster Falls Road
  This beautiful waterfall is on a tributary of the Fiery Gizzard Creek and only exists at certain times of the year. It falls down a large rock overhang and into a pond below like many Tennessee waterfalls do. It is fairly easily accessible from the Foster Falls Campground.

• Shook HouseThis is a historic house near downtown. It is on a large property and is quite attractive, although not easy to view in detail from either Railroad Avenue or Montgomery Street.

The most well-known hike in the Tracy City area is the Fiery Gizzard Trail.

• Fiery Gizzard Trail

  phone: +1 931 924-2980
  address: 131 Fiery Gizzard Road
  The Tracy City end of the Fiery Gizzard Trail is accessed via the relatively flat Grundy Forest Day Loop. The loop begins at the Grundy Forest State Natural Area Picnic Shelter, and after just 500 feet (150 m) presents hikers with a 20 feet (6.1 m) waterfall. Vestiges of the Civilian Conservation Corps camp S-67 can be seen another half mile down the walk. Hikers can see the confluence of Little and Big Fiery Gizzard Creeks, can cool off in three swimming holes, two with waterfalls. The Fiery Gizzard trail begins roughly midway along the Day Loop, crossing a bridge across Little Fiery Gizzard Creek while the loop continues without crossing the bridge. Sights along the trail begin with a large rock shelter and a five-century-old Hemlock tree, the 7 feet (2.1 m) deep Blue Hole with 9 feet (2.7 m) waterfall, then Sycamore Falls, a swimming hole at the base of a 12 feet (3.7 m) fall. The trail then passes through the "Fruit Bowl," a pile of house-sized boulders with stairs through them that were built by the Civilian Conservation Corps. Other features in this portion of the hike include Chimney Rock, a 20 feet (6.1 m) rock column, Black Canyon - so named because of organic stain on the rocks, and Crumbling Bluff - an area honeycombed with pits and small caves. After 3.7 miles (6.0 km), the trail begins an arduous climb to Raven Point, possibly one of the most rugged and difficult trails in Tennessee. Raven Point offers a spectacular overlook on a spur .4 miles (0.64 km) off the main trail. Continuing from there, the path mostly follows the flatter top of the Cumberland Plateau, except for a precarious .3 miles (0.48 km) horizontal 200 feet (61 m) vertical (each way) dip into Laurel Branch Gorge across myriad rocks that all seem to move as you step on them.

• Grundy Forest State Natural Area

  phone: +1 931 924-2980
  address: Fiery Gizzard Road
  This small park area (which is part of the greater South Cumberland State Park) follows the path of the Big Fiery Gizzard Creek, and south of the park its trails merge to form the Fiery Gizzard Trail.

• Grundy Lakes

  phone: +1 931 924-2980
  address: Lakes Road
  A small collection of lakes and streams near Tracy. There are a few trails around the lakes. The Grundy Lakes region, like Grundy Forest, is part of South Cumberland State Park.

• South Cumberland State Park

  phone: +1 931 924-2980
  address: 11745 U.S. Route 41
  This state park has several trailheads near Tracy City (including Fiery Gizzard Trailhead), but the park headquarters and visitor center are along the U.S. Route 41 between Tracy City and Monteagle.

The main supermarket near the center of Tracy City is a Dollar General store.

• Grundy Market

  address: 142 Colyar Street
  This is a gas station with a shopping mall next to it.

• Henry Flury & Sons

  phone: +1 931 592-5661
  address: 223 Main Street

• Hank's Corner Grille

  phone: +1 931 592-4499
  address: 24 Main Street

• La Ranchera

  address: 106 Colyar Street
  Mexican cuisine.

• Annex Cafe

  phone: +1 931 592-9973
  address: 375 Railroad Avenue

• Dutch Maid Bakery

  phone: +1 931 592-3171
  address: 109 Main Street

Lodging

There are no hotels or motels in Tracy City, so if you want anything close to luxury as a place to sleep, go to Kimball, Monteagle, or Chattanooga. However, there are multiple lodging services in Tracy City.

• Cottages at Bear Hollow

  phone: +1 931 924-7275
  address: 11845 U.S. Route 41
  Small group of rent-able places to sleep west of Tracy City.

• Still Waters Mountain Retreat

  phone: +1 931 592-6686
  address: 1290 Pigeon Springs Road
  This is a Christian retreat near Tracy City. There are a couple of cabins that were built in the 2010s and a chapel on-site.

Camping

For those who want to camp in this area, go to the southern end of the Fiery Gizzard Trail, where there is at least one campground.

• Foster Falls Campground

  address: Foster Falls Road

• Chattanooga, a strategically located city during the Civil War due to its location near the Deep South between the Alabama-Mississippi region and the Carolinas, is to the southeast.
• Manchester is a small city northwest of Tracy City that is near the Old Stone Fort Archaeological Park.
• Monteagle is a few miles west of Tracy City. There are more hotels and motels in Monteagle than there are in Tracy City because Monteagle is close to Interstate Route 24.