Soul of the South

In this Tennessee college town, the arts take center stage.

- Lydia Mansel

EVEN DURING SUMMER break, there's a palpable energy in Sewanee, Tennessee, home to the University of the South. Creative types have long been drawn to this small town on the Cumberland Plateau. It's the birthplace of the Sewanee Review, the country's oldest continuously published literary quarterly, and the monthlong Sewanee Summer Music Festival, which begins in mid-June, is a marquee event. Each July, the Sewanee Writers' Conference, a program supported by the Tennessee Williams Center, is held there. (The playwright left his estate to the university.) Here's how to spend a culture-filled weekend.

SOUTHERN STAYS

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