Put Tennessee under your Christmas tree without leaving home
By Tom Adkinson

(Editor’s note: This is one in a series of travel stories spotlighting destinations and activities to consider in a time of coronavirus and to inspire safe outings elsewhere.)

In regular times, square dancers are a feature of the world’s longest-running radio show, Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry. Image by Tom Adkinson.

Superstar Amy Grant croons about “a tender Tennessee Christmas,” but traveling to or through Tennessee for Christmas 2020 is problematic.

However, it is easy to enjoy some of Tennessee’s most famous destinations and flavors without putting any miles on the family chariot. Here are some ideas for putting bits of Tennessee under your Christmas tree and to spark plans for travel when the coronavirus threat dissipates.

Standard Candy Co. believes in Goo Goo Clusters enough to operate a shop dedicated to the confection in downtown Nashville. Image by Tom Adkinson.

From Nashville

Forget Nashville’s music for a moment to concentrate on candy, specifically Goo Goo Clusters, a Nashville original. When Standard Candy Co. created this clump of chocolate, peanuts, caramel and marshmallow nougat in 1912, it was the world’s first combination candy bar. An early Goo Goo poster proclaimed them “A Nutritious Lunch.”

Sometime in the future, visit the Goo Goo Shop, just a few steps away from Nashville’s honky-tonk district. You’ll find all manner of logo merchandise, and you even can concoct your own Goo Goo in a chocolate class. You’ll likely find boxes of the real thing at your local grocery store, ready to giftwrap.

For fancier chocolates, order something special from Olive and Sinclair Chocolate Co., purveyor of artisan delights since 2007. When better times return, there are factory tours in trendy East Nashville.

While you can’t put Nashville’s most famous export, the Grand Ole Opry, under your tree, you can enjoy to a broadcast of the world’s longest-running radio show. Methods include WSM-AM, Opry.com and “Willie’s Roadhouse” (Channel 56 on SiriusXM), along with Circle TV.

Feeling extravagant? Bypass the shirts and caps in Opry.com’s merchandise section and focus on the highly detailed Opry custom guitar from Martin Guitars (recently priced at $2,450 instead of the $3,500 list price).

From Chattanooga

Everyone loves emptying a Christmas stocking, especially when a couple of Moon Pies tumble out. If you know your culinary history, you know that it was about 1917 when a traveling salesman for Chattanooga Bakery Inc. chatted up some hungry coal miners. He asked what they would like for their lunch pails, and they said they wanted something that tasted good, was filling and would fit in their lunch pails.

Back in Chattanooga, the salesman saw bakery workers dipping graham cookies into marshmallow. Inspired, he topped one marshmallow-coated cookie with another – and then covered it all in chocolate. A Southern tradition was born.

You can buy Moon Pies in supermarkets and convenience stores all over the place, plus there are Moon Pie General Store locations in Mobile, Alabama, and in Lynchburg and Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. A special southern cultural experience occurs in June in Bell Buckle, Tennessee – the RC Cola and Moon Pie Festival.

The Old Dominick Distillery in Memphis is the farthest west of more than two dozen stops on the Tennessee Whiskey Trail. Image by Tom Adkinson.

From Lynchburg and beyond

Say Lynchburg, and people around the world immediately mention the whiskey that flows from the Jack Daniel Distillery and the distillery’s tours. You can up your Christmas gift game by checking out the Tennessee Whiskey Trail and printing a map that pinpoints the Jack Daniel Distillery and more than two dozen more from Memphis to Bristol. (In whiskey trail terms, that’s from the Old Dominick Distillery to the Lost State Distillery.) You’ll not have any trouble finding various products from whiskey trail members at your favorite spirits store or plotting a future itinerary.

You can’t recreate the hustle and bustle of Central BBQ at home, but the tastes transport well. Image by Tom Adkinson.

From Memphis

The smoky aromas of Memphis set the wheels in motion for a visit to the Bluff City in May for the World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest. Even if you never make it to the contest, you can enjoy some of the best ribs Memphis has to offer if you really want that special taste of Tennessee at Christmas – and are willing to pay the shipping costs.

Charlie Vergos’ Rendezvous has introduced dry ribs to legions of people since 1948, and Central BBQ has been cultivating rabid fans since 2002. Central’s original location is just a few steps from one of the nation’s most important visitor attractions, the National Civil Rights Museum.

Both the Rendezvous and Central BBQ package ribs, seasonings and more for shipment, and if you want more seasoning choices, the Blues City Cafe on Beale Street is another source.

A box set of the Bristol Sessions, known as the “Big Bang of Country Music,” fits easily under a Christmas tree. Image by Tom Adkinson.

From Bristol

Sneak over the state line into Bristol, Virginia, when you have your full mobility back and immerse yourself in the many stories told at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum. In the meantime, you can order Christmas items from the museum that will set the stage for future travel.

Among the gift ideas are a box set of the Bristol Sessions, the 1927 recording event called “the Big Bang of Country Music”; “Orthophonic Joy,” an album dedicated to the Bristol Sessions; and various incarnations of the Ken Burns “Country Music” documentary for PBS.