Cleveland is a small city in southeastern Tennessee, about 40 km north of Chattanooga and 130 km south of Knoxville. It is the county seat of Bradley County and home to Lee University and Cleveland State Community College. Downtown has a compact, well-preserved historic core around the courthouse and Ocoee Street, with the elegant 1878 Craigmiles Hall as its centrepiece.
The main reason to stop in Cleveland is its proximity to the Cherokee National Forest, headquartered here. The surrounding mountains offer trout streams, whitewater rivers, and good hiking, with black bear and wild boar in the backcountry. The Ocoee River, site of the 1996 Olympic whitewater events, is a short drive east, and the quieter Hiwassee flows out of the mountains a little further north. South of town, Red Clay State Historic Park marks the last seat of the Cherokee Nation before the Trail of Tears.