Some sections are so darkened by the tree canopy that shadows are rare on cloudless days others offer breathtaking skyline views. When it's not shimmying along cliff edges or rappelling into a tight ravine, 209 is shotgunning through narrow valleys dotted with churches and plots of corn.
Its two-lane pavement ripples north-south in the mountains near the Tennessee border, traversing just over 36 miles of forest in the process.
Naming a road gives it something like a personality, or at least a sense of drama. From the December 2023 issue of Car and Driver.
