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MOTO MOCO
Featured Road Trips
Morgan County offers many opportunities to drive, ride or even watch. Motorcyclists from all over the world come to challenge the 44 mile Devil’s Triangle Loop that winds its way up and over the mountains on the eastern edge of the county before winding it’s way through the edges of two of our neighboring counties and then returns you right back from where you started. The rest of the county’s 600+ miles of road don’t disappoint either as they wind across our 522 square miles tracing our mountainous terrain. If you prefer four wheels and four wheeling, head over to Windrock Off road Adventure Park in nearby Oliver Springs with over 73,000 acres of off road trails many of them within our county’s borders.
Or head over to Nemo access at Obed Wild and Scenic River and experience driving through the abandoned and often flooded railroad tunnel #24 for a unique off road experience that continues on the trail back to the road situated between high cliffs and overlooking the Emory River over 100 feet below.
From April through September, check out the dirt track action at the Wartburg Speedway on Friday or Saturday night (it varies). On special nights they sometimes feature Monster Trucks, UTVs and even kids on bikes racing on the track in addition to their usual car classes.
The Morgan County Fairgrounds also has special events throughout the year featuring mud slings where drivers try to cross a muddy ditch with their vehicle and also demolition derbies and UTV races.
Most all road trips in Morgan County include a visit to R. M. Brooks General Store in Rugby. This little place on the Cumberland Plateaus is known for it's famous fried bologna sandwiches and to die for cheeseburgers. Cooked on the grill just right, these can't be beat!
The store has been the center of social interaction and commercial exchange for community members and visitors since its inception in the early 1930s by my grandparents, R. M. and NETTIE BROOKS. Now owned by Tiffany and Gary Terry, great granddaughter of RM and Nettie, the store has taken on two new additions: Brooks Corner RV and Camper Park and A Little Closer to Heaven Tree House. Inside the store you can find hidden treasures and unexpected surprises! Rugby Rumble is held here and you will find old cars and trucks on display. You never know when a lot of motorcycles will show up on their way around Morgan County.
Historic Rugby
Historic Rugby, Tennessee is a 1880's Historic Village and was founded in 1880 by British author Thomas Hughes, with 17 original buildings, hiking trails, shops, lodging, print shop, tours, film, NPS park info. The village sponsors a Holiday Tea the Friday & Saturday after Thanksgiving along with a Market Day throughout the Village. All proceeds go in to supporting this. Recently the Harrow Road Cafe burned to the ground . If you are staying in one of the village's homes or airbnb rooms, you will love not only the beauty of Historic Rugby, but you will enjoy the peace and quiet of the village. Check out their website for local events.
Wartburg
Wartburg
Home of the Tennessee Mountain Laurel Festival
Wartburg was founded in the 1840s by George Gerding, a land speculator who bought up large tracts of land in what is now Morgan County with plans to establish a series of German colonies in the Cumberland region. German and Swiss immigrants arrived at the site by traveling from New Orleans up the Mississippi, Tennessee, and Emory rivers. They named the settlement after Wartburg Castle in Germany. Today, Morgan County is home to Frozen Head State Park, the headquarters of the Obed Wild and Scenic River, Lone Mountain State Forest, Catoosa Wildlife Management Area, Historic Rugby Tennessee, the Historic Brushy Mountain Penitentiary and also part of the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area.
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Brushy Mountain was the last place you wanted to find yourself – right in the middle of Tennessee’s first maximum-security prison holding the state’s most violent murderers, robbers and rapists for over a century. With some sentences of 200 years or more, most of the men who walked through its gates would never be walking out. Come see for yourself just what life was like for lost souls at the End of the Line. Check website for winter hours.