Visitor directory
Blount County directory
The quiet side of the Smokies: Townsend and Cades Cove, Look Rock on the Foothills Parkway, and the college town of Maryville next to Alcoa.
Cities: Maryville (county seat) · Alcoa · Townsend · Friendsville · Louisville · Rockford · Vonore (also Monroe)
Communities: Walland · Seymour (also Sevier) · Eagleton Village · Wildwood · Tallassee · Montvale · Middlesettlements · Carpenters · Lanier · Union Grove · Porter
Official tourism, parks & attractions
Tourism
- Smoky Mountain Tourism (Blount County) ↗Official Blount County / Townsend visitor bureau, “the Peaceful Side of the Smokies.” Welcome centers in Maryville and Townsend.
- Blount Partnership ↗Chamber, tourism and industry partnership, 201 S. Washington St., Maryville. Hosts the Grains & Grits Festival.
Parks & outdoors
- Great Smoky Mountains NP (NPS) ↗Cades Cove, Tremont and Abrams Creek on the Blount side. The park also reaches Sevier (see East Tennessee general).
- NPS — Cades Cove ↗11-mile one-way loop, open sunrise to sunset. Car-free Wednesdays run May through September.
- NPS — Foothills Parkway ↗Ridge-top drive from Chilhowee to Walland and on toward Wears Valley.
- NPS — Look Rock Tower trail ↗Short paved walk to the observation tower off the Foothills Parkway West.
- NPS — Abrams Creek & Look Rock area ↗The park’s quiet western corner. Both campgrounds close for winter.
- NPS current conditions ↗Road and trail closures, alerts.
- Maryville-Alcoa-Blount Parks & Recreation ↗Greenway, parks and the Hometown Christmas tree lightings.
Attractions
- Great Smoky Mountains Heritage Center ↗Townsend museum and historic village. Christmas in the Village on select December evenings.
- Little River Railroad & Lumber Co. Museum ↗Townsend’s logging-railroad story. Free. The grounds are always open; the museum closes November through March.
- Sam Houston Historic Schoolhouse ↗The 1794 log schoolhouse near Maryville where Sam Houston taught in 1812.
Government
- Blount County government ↗Official county site: offices, commission, library and the election commission.
- City of Maryville ↗County seat: city services, police, fire, road and utility notices.
- City of Alcoa ↗City services, electric utility, police and the city calendar.
- City of Townsend ↗Gateway town at the park’s Townsend entrance: city hall, police, volunteer fire.
Shared with neighboring counties
- Great Smoky Mountains National Park (NPS) — shared with other counties; listed under East Tennessee (general)
Local resources
- Emergency (police · fire · EMS)911Call 911 for any emergency.
- Blount County Sheriff’s Office(865) 273-5000Justice Center, 940 E. Lamar Alexander Pkwy, Maryville · Sheriff James Lee Berrong ⓘ source
- Blount County 911 (non-emergency)(865) 983-3620Blount County Emergency Communications District · emergency-alert sign-up ⓘ source
- Maryville Police Department(865) 273-3700400 W. Broadway Ave, Maryville ⓘ source
- Alcoa Police Department865-981-4111Public Safety Building, 2020 N. Wright Rd, Alcoa ⓘ source
- Townsend Police Department(865) 448-6886City of Townsend main line · 123 Tiger Dr ⓘ source
- Blount County Emergency Management (EMA)865-273-5835341 Court St, Maryville · storm and disaster info ⓘ source
- Blount County Fire Protection District(865) 983-2133Main office · 808 W. Lamar Alexander Pkwy, Maryville ⓘ source
- Prisma Health Blount Memorial Hospital865-983-7211907 E. Lamar Alexander Pkwy, Maryville — emergency room ⓘ source
- Blount County Schools865-984-1212District site — calendars, closings ⓘ source
- Maryville City Schools865-982-7121520 S. Washington St, Maryville ⓘ source
- Alcoa City Schools(865) 984-0531524 Faraday St, Alcoa ⓘ source
- Blount County Public Library865-982-0981508 N. Cusick St, Maryville ⓘ source
- Highway emergency (cell)*THP (*847)Tennessee Highway Patrol ⓘ source
Checked Oct 28, 2026 · official sites only · phone numbers copied from each agency’s own page — tap ⓘ to confirm. In an emergency, call 911.
Area news
Headlines from local outlets · Blount County
Blount County's early vote is on pace to top 2022 and approach 2018 totals, with early voting ending Thursday, Oct. 29.
Read at The Daily Times →McGhee Tyson Airport's parking garage is switching to scan-your-ticket exit lanes this week, with old and new systems running side by side during the changeover.
Read at The Daily Times →Alcoa kicks off its new comprehensive plan with a drop-in open house Thursday, Oct. 29, 5:30–8 p.m. at the Alcoa Service Center on Universal Street.
Read at The Daily Times →A $3 million Mike Curb Foundation gift will create the Mike Curb Center for Appalachian Music at Maryville College, set to open for the 2027–28 school year.
Read at The Daily Times →Baker's Creek Presbyterian Church in the Brick Mill community marks 230 years — founded in 1796, the year Tennessee became a state.
Read at The Daily Times →East Bessemer and East Edison streets in Alcoa drop from 40 to 30 mph, with new crosswalks and school-zone signs.
Read at City of Alcoa →County commissioners sent a proposed 12-month pause on big subdivisions and apartment projects to the Blount County Planning Commission, citing growth that has outrun roads and infrastructure.
Read at WATE 6 On Your Side →Foothills Land Conservancy closed on the 600-plus-acre Oliver Tract near Townsend and Cades Cove and plans to hand it to the National Park Service once federal review is done.
Read at WBIR 10News →
Short summaries in our words — tap through to read the full story at the outlet. All area news → · Outlet requests: [email protected]
A short history
Created in 1795, before statehood, Blount County is named for William Blount, governor of the Southwest Territory. Its seat, Maryville, was laid out in the act creating the county and named for the governor’s wife, Mary Grainger Blount. Before white settlement this was Cherokee country, with a village at Chilhowee; settlers built Houston’s Station in 1786. Maryville College began in 1819 as the Southern and Western Theological Seminary and was among the first southern schools to open its doors to Native Americans, African Americans and women.
Quakers from North Carolina founded Friendsville in 1796; during the Civil War, Friendsville Quakers helped more than two thousand Tennessee men escape Confederate conscription. Cades Cove was settled in the 1820s. In 1927 its residents went to court, unsuccessfully, to keep their homes out of the planned national park; many of the cove’s homes, barns and mills are preserved today. Sam Houston taught in a one-room schoolhouse near Maryville in 1812, now a state historic site.
Company towns shaped the county. The Little River Lumber Company, chartered in 1901, built a mill town in Tuckaleechee Cove and named it Townsend for company president W. B. Townsend. Walland was home to the Schlosser Leather Company. Aluminum Company of America arrived around 1913–14 and built Calderwood on the Little Tennessee; the City of Alcoa was incorporated November 1, 1919. Much of eastern Blount County lies inside Great Smoky Mountains National Park, formally established in 1935 and dedicated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on September 2, 1940.
Towns & communities
- Maryville — county seat; Maryville College (1819)
- Alcoa — aluminum company town; incorporated 1919
- Townsend — the 1901 lumber town in Tuckaleechee Cove — the “peaceful side of the Smokies”
- Walland — halfway to Townsend; the Foothills Parkway’s north end
- Friendsville — Quaker settlement of 1796
- Cades Cove — the preserved 1800s valley inside the park
Our place stories in and near Blount County
- Look Rock — Mission 66 tower on the Foothills Parkway
- Townsend — base camp for the quiet side
- Cades Cove — the Smokies’ favorite valley
Go deeper
- The Lost State of Franklin (1784–1789)
- Tanasi: the town that named Tennessee — and the TVA waters
- How the World Was Made — a Cherokee account
Neighboring counties: Sevier County · Knox County · Loudon County · Monroe County · All counties →
Official visitor links
Checked Oct 27, 2026 · hours, fees and events live on these pages.
Videos
Sources
Checked Oct 27, 2026 · We summarize; follow these for the full history. No hours or fees on this page — check official sites before you go.