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12618 TN-56 Sewanee, Tennessee 37375

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The Mountain Goat Trail is a rails-to-trails project, following the route of an historic railroad that, from 1856 to 1985, the carried coal and passengers over the Cumberland Plateau and down to the main Nashville-to-Chattanooga line in Cowan. It was called the Mountain Goat because its climb onto the Plateau was, at the time, one of the steepest railroad ascents in the world.


In 1853, Major A.E. Barney, a civil engineer, was commissioned to designed a spur rail line to carry coal from the mines of the Plateau to market, beginning in Sewanee and, over time, extending to Tracy City, Coalmont, Gruetli-Laager, and Palmer.


In its heyday, the Mountain Goat line ran 3 or 4 trains a day with both coal and passenger cars. It stopped running passenger cars in 1971 and freight trains in 1984. CSX officially abandoned the line in 1985 and removed the tracks in 1986.


In the early 2000s, the Mountain Goat Trail Alliance was formed to transform nearly 40 miles of the former rail bed into a paved, multi-modal trail.  

How to spend an epic week in the mountains of adventure
How to spend an epic week in the mountains of adventure
Christ Church Episcopal
Christ Church Episcopal
Frank White House
Frank White House
Grundy County Historical Society Museum
Grundy County Historical Society Museum
Highlander Folk School
Highlander Folk School
Historic Dutch Maid Bakery
Historic Dutch Maid Bakery
Historic Henry Flury & Sons Grocery
Historic Henry Flury & Sons Grocery
Historic Mountain Goat Railroad
Historic Mountain Goat Railroad
May Justus Memorial Library
May Justus Memorial Library
Monteagle Sunday School Assembly
Monteagle Sunday School Assembly
The Hotel, The Eagle & College Hijinks
The Hotel, The Eagle & College Hijinks
The Mabee Homeplace
The Mabee Homeplace
The Marugg Company
The Marugg Company

In and around SewaneeMonteagleTracy City

Mountain Goat Trail

Mountain Goat Trail

A real-life version of “The Little Engine that Could”, and now a great paved trail

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