Maria
New York City
We definitely want to spend the majority of our time in Nashville, but what are a few MUST STOP places along the way?
The shortest way is to take I-76 from New York City to I-81 down through the mountains of Virginia to Knoxville and then take I-40 over to Nashville I would stop off in the Hershey for the chocolate factory (Chocolate World is free) and amusement park and Lancaster (Pennsylvania) to visit Pennsylvania Dutch country.
Instead of taking I-81, I would take I-68 through Morgantown and then I-64 over to Lexington and spend some time in Louisville before I dropped down I-65 to Nashville.
Mentioned in this answer:
Mammoth Cave National Park 90 miles north of Nashville just off I-65. It is half way between Louisville and Nashville. In Louisville there is a fine Louisville Science Center, tours of Churchill Downs; Lexington offers the Kentucky Horse Park Bardstownoffers distillery tours and is the location of My Old Kentucky Home. In Ohio the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden and baseball, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Daytonis home to the Air Force Museum. If you are traveling across Pennsylvania and down to TN through Ohio, these places are all conveniently located.
Mammoth Cave National Park is home to the longest known cave system in the world -400+ miles have been mapped. Tours run daily all year round, and the park features a hotel, cafe, hiking trails and camping.For the adventurous, the park offers an escorted wild cave tour which must be reserved ahead of time. There are many hotels, eateries etc along I-65 near the 3 exits which lead to the park.
If you are driving the Virginia/North Carolina route, the Blue Ridge ParkwayShenandoah National Park TrustGreat Smoky Mountain National Park, Gatlinburg or further down in North Carolina Asheville is the location of Biltmore Estatethe summer home of the Vanderbilts. There are lots of Civil War monuments and battlefields along the way.
Mentioned in this answer:
Tara