Cleveland is 30 minutes northeast of Chattanooga and most weekends most Chattanoogans drive past it on the way to Knoxville. That's a mistake. A Cleveland day trip puts you in front of one of the most important Cherokee history sites in the South, on a stretch of whitewater that hosted the 1996 Olympics, and at a dinner table where locals plan their week around the Friday sirloin special. Here's the loop.
The Plan
- Leave Chattanooga: 9:00 AM
- Red Clay State Park: 9:30 AM – 11:30 AM
- Lunch in Cleveland: 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM
- Ocoee scenic drive (or whitewater): 1:30 PM – 5:00 PM
- Beer + dinner in Cleveland: 5:30 PM – 8:30 PM
- Home: 9:30 PM
It's a full day. You can compress to a half-day by skipping the Ocoee and replacing it with the Hiwassee River Heritage Center.
Quick day-of-week tip: Most of the best lunch and dinner spots are full-week operations on the bigger road (Aubrey's, Rafael's) — but several local favorites are Mon-Fri or closed Saturday. If you're going Tuesday-Friday, you'll have more options. If you're going on a Saturday, the picks below are filtered for what's actually open.
Morning: Red Clay State Park
Red Clay State Park — 1140 Red Clay Park Road SW — is one of the most consequential Cherokee history sites in the country. It was the seat of the Cherokee Nation's last council before the federal government forced the Trail of Tears in 1838. The park preserves the council ground, a reconstructed council house, the Blue Hole spring (sacred to the Cherokee), and the Eternal Flame of the Cherokee Nation.
What to do: walk the council grounds, sit at the Blue Hole, and read the interpretive signage carefully. There's a small museum at the visitor center that fills in the historical detail. The grounds have walking trails (1-2 miles) if you want to stretch.
- Park grounds: open daily
- Visitor center: Tue–Sat 10 AM – 4:30 PM; Sun–Mon 1 – 4:30 PM
- Admission: Free
- Plan: ~2 hours, longer if you take the trails
The park is quiet — locals know it but it's never crowded. Treat it accordingly. This is a place to listen, not a tourist stop.
Lunch in Cleveland
Aubrey's Cleveland TN at 275 Ocoee Crossing NW is the easy pick — open daily, regional Tennessee chain but the Cleveland location is solidly executed. Big menu (burgers, salads, pasta, fish, sirloin), comfortable, easy. This is your Saturday lunch lead.
If you're traveling Mon-Fri, two more options:
- Cafe Roma at 220 N Ocoee St — old-school Italian, family-run, no surprises in the best way. Lunch only, Mon-Fri 11 AM-2 PM. Sandwiches around $14-16; pasta plates $16-22, with a Roma Combo lunch deal that pairs a sandwich with salad or soup for $19-25.
- Stacey's Home Cooking in Charleston (15 min north on US-11) for true meat-and-three Southern food. Tue-Fri 11:30 AM-2 PM only. Cheaper and faster than the Cleveland sit-down options, and the kind of place where you build the plate yourself.
Afternoon Option A: The Ocoee River
The Ocoee River was the whitewater venue for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics — the only Olympic whitewater course built on a natural river. Today it's the most popular commercial rafting destination in the Southeast, with multiple class III-IV rapids on the Middle and Upper Ocoee sections.
To raft: book ahead (a week or more on summer weekends) with one of the outfitters off US-64 east of Cleveland. Companies like Ocoee Adventure Center, Wildwater Rafting, and Quest Expeditions all run trips. Half-day Middle Ocoee trips run around $50–60 per person; full-day Upper-and-Middle combos run around $100–110 (rates from major outfitters as of May 2026).
Season: TVA controls the dam releases — they happen weekends + select weekdays from late March through October. Always check the release schedule before driving up.
Not rafting? The drive on US-64 from Ocoee to the dam is one of the prettier scenic drives in Tennessee. Pull off at the Ocoee River Gorge overlooks and the Whitewater Center for views without the wetsuit.
Afternoon Option B: Hiwassee River Heritage Center
If whitewater isn't your thing, drive 15 minutes north to Charleston for the Hiwassee River Heritage Center — 8746 Hiwassee St. The center sits on the site of the 1838 Cherokee Removal staging camp at Fort Cass and tells the Trail of Tears story from the Cherokee perspective. It's small, deeply researched, and free.
Pair it with a walk at Hoyt Berry Municipal Park on the Hiwassee River bank or a stop at the Henegar House Historic Site, an 1849 Federal-style brick home — Bradley County's oldest remaining brick structure — built on the site of Fort Cass, the Cherokee Removal headquarters.
Late Afternoon: Lee University and Downtown Cleveland
If you have an hour to spare on the way to dinner, swing through downtown Cleveland and the Lee University campus on N Ocoee St. Lee's campus is one of the prettiest small-college campuses in Tennessee — gardens, the central oak grove, and a pedestrian-friendly main quad.
Downtown Cleveland (along N Ocoee Street and around the Old Cleveland courthouse) has small shops, a couple of coffee places, and a relaxed-historic-South vibe.
Drink: Beer Thirty
Beer Thirty At Jake's Place at 2330 Georgetown Rd NW is the Cleveland local craft beer move — friendly bar, decent rotating tap list, the right kind of casual. Stop here if you want a beer before dinner. Hours can vary by day; call ahead at (423) 473-3030 if you're making a special trip.
Dinner in Cleveland
Two paths, depending on the day:
- Saturday: Rafael's Italian Restaurant at 2324 Treasury Dr SE is the lead — genuine Italian, family-owned, full bar, open Fri-Sat 11 AM to 11 PM. Reliable Saturday dinner option.
- Mon-Fri or Sun: Farmhouse Cleveland at 2260 Harrison Pike is country home-cooking the way it should be done — hamburger steak, fried shrimp, chicken strips, BBQ. The casual, comfortable kind of place where your day-trip dinner doesn't blow the budget. Closed Saturdays. Hours: Mon-Wed 11-7:30, Thu-Fri 11-8, Sun 11-2:30.
- Friday in particular: Farmhouse runs the sirloin-with-two-sides special at $15.99 that locals plan their week around. If you can make this trip a Friday, that's the move.
Driving Notes
- Chattanooga to Red Clay: 35 minutes via I-75 N + Red Clay Rd
- Red Clay to Cleveland (lunch): 15 minutes
- Cleveland to Ocoee (rafting put-in): 45 minutes via US-64 E
- Ocoee back to Cleveland: 45 minutes
- Cleveland to Chattanooga: 30 minutes via I-75 S
Total drive: ~3 hours of driving for the full loop.
What to Bring
- Cash for the Ocoee shuttles + park donations
- Sturdy shoes for Red Clay (some trails are dirt)
- Bug spray and sunscreen May through September
- Water bottle (Red Clay has refill stations; the Ocoee corridor has fewer options)
When to Go
| Season | Best for |
|---|---|
| Spring | Wildflowers at Red Clay; Ocoee starts releases late March |
| Summer | Peak whitewater season, but hot — start by 8 AM |
| Fall (peak: late Oct) | Ocoee gorge in fall is the best scenic drive of the year |
| Winter | Red Clay is open and quiet; Ocoee is closed (no releases) |
Got a Cleveland-area favorite we missed? Email [email protected].
