BEST COLLEGE TOWN

Sewanee, Tennessee
It’s unclear who rules the roost in Sewanee: the dogs, the students, or the deer. Local pooches are welcome just about everywhere, attending outdoor classes, guarding their masters’ bicycles, begging for ice cream cones outside the dining hall, even slipping into church services (until politely escorted outside by the ushers). And white-tailed deer are seen grazing

in the morning mist in the center of town. Not what you might expect in a place with a distinguished 150-year-old university whose honor students wear black robes to class. But that’s the beauty of it: this blend of higher learning in a laid-back, natural setting. Sewanee is a small college town perched two thousand feet above sea level on the Cumberland Plateau, in southeastern Tennessee. The town revolves around its university, the University of the South, which owns more than ten thousand acres of surrounding wilderness known affectionately as the Domain. There are no Wal-Marts, no chain stores, and just one traffic light, which is often ignored.

If you’re yearning to write the great American novel, or simply read one, you’ll be surrounded by some of the finest writers in the country, past and present. Among the many writers who have been lured to live and work in Sewanee are Walker Percy, Allen Tate, and James Agee. But if you get a serious case of writer’s block, there’s plenty to do. The plateau is a natural playground of lakes, rivers, cliffs, caves, waterfalls, campsites, and trails. As you leave the University Gates, be sure to summon your guardian “Sewanee Angel” by touching your finger to the roof of your car (a Sewanee tradition).

A Typical Day: Start your morning with gourmet coffee and homemade pastries at the Blue Chair Bakery. Set out on foot through Shakerag Hollow or to Bridal Veil Falls, or stroll through the woodland paths of Abbo’s Alley. Grab a light lunch at Stirling’s Coffee House and picnic by Lake Cheston. Visit nearby Fall Creek Falls State Park, a 20,000-acre preserve, and swim in the lagoon of its 256-foot waterfall, the highest in the eastern United States. For dinner, try the roast pork stuffed with pesto, goat cheese, and chutney at Pearl’s Café. Wind down with a Sweetwater beer on the porch of Shenanigans, watching lightning bugs from your rocking chair.

Plant Your Roots: It is rare to come by available leases within the University Gates, but just outside those gates are opportunities to buy larger tracts of land on which to build your dream home or rustic mountain retreat. The Cumberland at Sewanee offers five- to ten-acre tracts starting at $40,000 with your choice of forest, lake, or bluff-side properties (southernrealestate.com; tennesseemountainland.com). Timberlake at Sewanee is a new gated 4,000-acre community with home sites from five to fifty acres starting at $48,000 (livesouth.com; timberlakeland.com).


RUNNER-UP

Berea, KY
This lovely redbrick campus is home to Berea College, a top-ranked comprehensive liberal arts school. Both the college and the community are exemplary for sustainable living and conservation.