A Day at the Farm...

If you have younger siblings or even grandkids in tow, plan a visit to Cove Creek Farm, in Monteagle, just west of I-24, open weekends 10-6, where they have a huge pirate ship the aspiring young pirates in your family can conquer, plus an indoor play facility. The entire family can tour this working farm, and take home some great memories (and in the fall, great pumpkins, too)!

What Kid Doesn't Have a Sweet Tooth?

It's OK to indulge once in awhile (we all have a little kid in us!) Make the pilgrimage to the Dutch Maid Bakery in Tracy City for some sweet times.  This 125-year-old South Cumberland institution serves up the sweetest breakfast, Monday thru Saturday, 9 to 11 am.  If you sleep in (shame on you, when there’s so much to see and do!), Dutch Maid also serves a tasty lunch from 11 am to 2 pm, also Monday thru Saturday.  Be sure to check out their old-time confectionary store — great place to pick up delicious gift items take-home treats!

A Nice, Easy Kid-Sized Hike

 For a relatively flat, easy, 3-mile hike (round trip), check out the Sherwood Day Loop in the new Head of the Crow State Park, South of Sewanee on TN Route 56 ("Jumpoff Road"). There are two great overlooks, a real sandstone natural bridge (be sure to hang on to the kids near the bridge!), and lots of very cool rocks to check out along the way. It's a great place to take a picnic lunch, to enjoy at one of the overlooks, too!

Younger kids might also love the Meadow Trail at the South Cumberland State Park Visitor's Center between Monteagle and Tracy City. They can stop every so often along the easy 1-mile out and back trail to enjoy panels featuring pages from a children's book and then burn off some more energy playing on a natural playground made of ropes and logs.

Rent Some Bikes and Zoom Down The "Goat"

At Woody's Bicycles in Sewanee, right behind the Shenanigans Restaurant on Highway 41A, you can rent bikes of all kinds and sizes, if you didn't bring your own. Right across the street from Woody's is the Mountain Goat Trail, a "rails-to-trails" community proiject to create a multimodal paved trail on the former right-of-way of the Mountain Goat Railroad, which was built in the 1850s to bring coal from the mines near Tracy City (and points north) to market. The trail is largely shaded, except for a couple of miles just west of Monteagle, and is an easy ride for the kids.

Time to Zip!

If the kids are old enough, take them over to the Zipline at Bigfoot Advenutre/Baggenstoss Farms on Clouse Hill Road in Tracy City. Zip through the treetops, and across the lake. Remind the kids that it's OK to scream and yell while they have what may be the "most funnest" day EVER at Bigfoot Adventure!

These, and many other cool activities, await your young'uns here in the Mountains of Adventure! There's so much more to see and do -- so start checking out our Do, Eat, Stay, Places and Events tabs and create your own awesome family exploration of the Mountains of Adventure!