The 234-mile Tenn-Tom Waterway is a popular route for commercial and recreational vessels because it shortens the distance traveled on inland waters and offers historic and scenic points of interest along the way. The Tenn-Tom cuts 665 miles off the trip from Knoxville, TN, to Mobile Bay, AL; 400 miles from Pittsburgh; and for those traveling from Chicago, 144 miles.

Another benefit of the Tenn-Tom is that it is primarily a slack-water system and lacks the fierce current of the Mississippi and other rivers. There is an abundance of marinas and far less commercial traffic than on the Mississippi. The scenery is splendid and the opportunities for side trips to Nashville, Chattanooga, Knoxville and other interesting locations in Tennessee make exiting the Mississippi at the Ohio River a tantalizing alternative.