This file photo taken May 20, 2009 shows Jeff Arnett, the master distiller at the Jack Daniel Distillery in Lynchburg, Tenn., filling a bottle with whiskey after drilling a hole in the barrel in one of the aging houses at the distillery. The maker of Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey has posted a 5 percent increase in second-quarter profit Thursday, Dec. 9, 2010, as strong international sales offset sluggish U.S. performance. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, file)The town of Lynchburg is synonymous with a name, a taste and a number.
But there's more to the quaint Middle Tennessee town than the smooth, mellow taste of Jack Daniel's Old No. 7 whiskey.
Anybody who has been to Lynchburg knows about lunch at Miss Mary Bobo's Boarding House, the intriguing antique and art shops downtown and the century-old courthouse. Visitors can see the town from a horse-drawn carriage and can check out the Old Jail Museum.
"There ain't no telling what you're going to find going on in Lynchburg," said Woodye Bedford, president of the Lynchburg-Moore County Chamber of Commerce. "If you're coming from Chattanooga, we're really a good day's adventure."
But most visiting folks -- about 250,000 of them each year -- come to town for tours of the Jack Daniel Distillery, which is the oldest in America.
"Jack Daniel is our claim to fame," Bedford said. "Without the distillery, Lynchburg would be a courthouse with maybe a restaurant on the square and maybe a part-time lawyer."
AT A GLLANCE
-- Population: 6,362 (Consolidated Lynchburg/Moore County).
-- Best things to do: Distillery tours (free), carriage rides ($60), lunch at Miss Mary Bobo's Boarding House (reservation only).
-- Biggest employers: Jack Daniel's, agriculture.
-- Miles from Downtown Chattanooga: 90.
-- Landmarks: 100-year-old courthouse, the Baseball House, original jail that's now a private residence, Jack Daniel's grave.
-- Date founded: 1818.
-- History: Lynchburg was settled in the 1810s but wasn't incorporated until the 1840s. The town is said to have been named after a beech tree used as the lynching post to punish wrongdoers. Flour and cotton mills have at one time called Lynchburg home, but many of its buildings were destroyed by a fire in 1883.
-- Most-famous residents: Jack Daniel, Davy Crockett, Johnny Majors, Little Richard.
-- Unique traditions: Jack Daniel World Championship Barbecue Cookoff in late October, Frontier Days in late June, Oak Barrel Half Marathon in April, Spring in the Hollow in April, Lynchburg Motorcycle Rally in June, Tennessee Walking Horse Show in July, Cruisin' in the Hollow in October, Bike to Jack and Back motorcycle ride from Nashville, Christmas in Lynchburg on the first Saturday in December.
-- Not-so-fun fact: Nobody knows exactly what the number on Old No. 7 whiskey stands for.