The Sawbriar is located in the heart of Tennessee’s Upper Cumberland Plateau literally a stone’s throw from the picturesque 125,000 acre Big South Fork National River and Recreational area. Our property has been painstakingly established in native warm season grasses, which provides fantastic natural hunting cover and greatly enhances the local ecosystem. Deer, turkey and many non-game species as well as unbelievable numbers of bobwhite quail and pheasants flourish on the Sawbriar. You won’t find a better-managed slice of wingshooting heaven anywhere!
Accommodations
Our newly renovated lodge provides spacious room for entertaining. A large wood-burning fireplace and big-screen television are amenities for relaxing after the hunt. The kitchen is well equipped to provide all meals and beverages.
A large back porch and outdoor fire pit round out the relaxing atmosphere at The Sawbriar.
About Big South Fork & Rugby
Come Explore the Cumberland Plateau
Encompassing 125,000 acres of the Cumberland Plateau, the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area protects the free-flowing Big South Fork of the Cumberland River and its tributaries. The area boasts miles of scenic gorges and sandstone bluffs, is rich with natural and historic features, and has been developed to provide visitors with a wide range of outdoor recreational activities.
Named after Thomas Hughes’ alma mater in England, Rugby was originally conceived as a class-free, agricultural community for younger sons of English gentry and others wishing to start a new life in America. At its peak in the mid-1880s, some 300 people lived in the colony. More than 60 buildings of Victorian design graced the townscape on East Tennessee’s beautiful Cumberland Plateau. By 1900 most colonists had left for other places, but we are fortunate that enough folks remained in Rugby to ensure that it survived to the present day.
Today Rugby is both a living community and a fascinating public historic site run by Historic Rugby offering visitors a museum, historic building tours, lodging, stores, and a full-service restaurant. Many original buildings still stand, nestled between the Big South Fork National Recreation Area and the Rugby State Natural Area, surrounded by rugged river gorges and historic trails. Historic Rugby has been open to the public since 1966 and is nationally recognized by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
