Pontoon in Tennessee

Tennessee has no coastline and doesn't need one. The Tennessee and Cumberland River systems feed a chain of big reservoirs that keeps boaters busy border to border. East Tennessee belongs to the TVA lakes (Norris, Watts Bar, Chickamauga), spread out below the Appalachian foothills, with quiet coves for a lazy anchor and long open runs for skiing and tubing. A deep bench of marinas holds it all together.

Head west and Middle Tennessee takes over: Percy Priest Lake sits right at Nashville's edge, and Dale Hollow Lake (clear water, entrenched houseboat culture), draws boaters who plan whole vacations around it. The Cumberland River threads through the region too, its navigable stretches linking city waterfronts to slow, green country miles. Marinas here cover the spread (fuel, slips, repairs), for everyone from tournament anglers to Sunday cruisers.