Beginning on Highway 1 at Fort Southwest Point in Roane County; west to the intersection with Highway 61; south on Highway 61 to its intersection with Highway 24; west on Highway 24 (70N) to its intersection with Highway 56;  north on Highway 56 to its intersection with Highway 53; west on Highway 53 to its intersection with Highway 262; west on Highway 262 to its intersection with Highway 85; west on Highway 85 to its intersection with Highway 80; south on Highway 80 to its intersection with Highway 25; west on Highway 25 to its intersection with Highway 6; southwest on Highway 6 to Fort Nashborough in Nashville.

The Tennessee Humanities Council, Avery Trace Association, historic sites, arts councils, historical societies and others along the Trace are working together in a joint effort to establish The Avery Trace Heritage Tourism Corridor.

What is Heritage Tourism?  Heritage tourism is a strategy that balances preservation and protection with promotion of the heritage assets of an area.  It addresses growth management and capacity of historic, natural, and cultural resources of communities and regions.  Heritage tourism ensures authenticity rather than compromising with incompatible construction so ofen associated with tourism development.  Heritage Tourism communicates culturally sensitive issues without exploitation of the culture of local people.  Heritage tourism understands what residents want to share from the local community and which "special places" to keep private.  Heritage tourism is a way of attracting visitors who are interested in experiencing the unique place, traditions, art forms, cuisine, natural environments, industries, celebrations, history, and people in an area.

This project will bring together the tourism industry, the arts community, the environmental community, historical interests, agricultural proponents, traditional industry, and the preservation community to raise the importance of history, environment, and culture for the residents and visitors of the region.  When a community's heritage is the substance of what it offers visitors, protecting that heritage is essential.  So, a major challenge of heritage tourism developments ensuring that increased tourism does not destroy the very qualities that attract tourists in the first place.  An area that develops its potential for heritage tourism creates new opportunities for tourists to gain an understanding of an unfamiliar place, people, or time.  When an area has historic, cultural, and natural sites to promote, it provides a marketing hook.  It creates reasons for people to visit and for investment to flow into, and through, all the communities in the region.