Our Neighbors
Preferred Local Businesses
When you move into a new place, the first week is all small questions. Where do I get a fitting at seven in the morning? Where is the food actually good? Who will not run me around?
This is our answer list. These are the places we use ourselves and the places we point guests toward when they ask. Rhea County is small, and the people running these counters remember you.
Nobody pays to be on this page. These are our own picks, and we take them off just as easily as we put them on. If one of them ever lets you down, tell us.
Friends of Ours
One entry, and full disclosure: these are our friends. Which is exactly why it says so right here.
Tri Dog Brewing Company
This one is a drive, about fifty minutes north to Harriman, and it is on this page because the people running it are friends of mine. They put a brewery and a taproom into the old Rocky Top General Store building and named it for three founders and three dogs. Bring yours, dogs are welcome. Beer made on site, flatbreads and smash burgers out of their own kitchen, trivia and local music most weeks, and a patio out back. Straight from me: I do not like IPAs, so I have not tried theirs. Absolutely everything else there is amazing. If you are the same way about IPAs, the board also runs to stouts, a Kolsch, an amber lager and fruited sours, so you will not go without. Great people, great beer, great time, and worth the drive.
Hardware and Supplies
Potters Ace Hardware
The closest real hardware store, and the one we drive to first. Ten minutes down Rhea County Highway toward Dayton. Open at seven every weekday, which matters when something breaks before work instead of after. They stock RV and plumbing fittings, propane, and the odd adapter you did not know you needed, and somebody will actually walk you to the aisle.
RV Service and Repair
When you live in your RV, a broken air conditioner is not a repair, it is your house. This is who we would call.
Millard Mobile RV Service
Mobile, which is the whole point. Your RV stays on the pad and the technician drives out to it, so nothing has to be unhooked, packed down and towed anywhere. James Millard is certified through the RV Technical Institute in Elkhart, Indiana, which is where most RVs in this country are actually built, and he and his wife Sandy are RVers themselves. The work list covers air conditioners, slide outs, 12 volt and 120 volt electrical, plumbing and leak chasing, refrigerators and water heaters and furnaces, roof and window resealing, awning fabric, winterizing, and upgrades like lithium batteries, inverters and solar. Their flat service call covers a wide radius out of Dayton, so we sit comfortably inside it. Two things worth knowing before you dial: they do not take warranty or insurance work, and after hours emergency calls run at a higher rate. Current rates are posted on their site, so check there rather than trusting this page. Straight from us: they have already worked here. They have been out to two of our four sites, which is why they are on this page instead of on a list of names we found on the internet.
Food and Drink
Most of this section came from guests, not from us. When somebody parked out back tells us where they actually ate twice, it goes on the list.
Long Hollow Grill
The closest sit down meal to the park, and the only one on this list with our own zip code on it. It is out at the golf club on Payne Lane, about eleven minutes. Wings are what people order and what they come back for, and the burgers and ribeyes are real Black Angus. A guest tells us Wednesday is the wing night, so call and ask if that is what you are driving out for. Closed Sunday and Monday, so plan around that.
Delia’s Mexican Restaurant
The closest sit down Mexican food to the park and the one our guests keep going back to. Straight down Rhea County Highway, sit down or carry out, and open late enough that a long shift does not mean cereal for dinner. Portions are honest and the salsa is not an afterthought. The menu runs wider than the usual combo plates too, so order something you have not had before.
Taqueria Gonzalez
The other Mexican place, and not a repeat of Delia’s. This is the traditional end of the menu. Huaraches, sopes, chilaquiles, birria, menudo on the weekend, and tacos with lengua or campechano if that is what you grew up eating. They started as a truck and have a building now, out on Maley Hollow Road beside the ice cream shop. Half the internet still lists their old food truck address on Market Street, so go by the address here.
Dayton Coffee Shop
Open at six in the morning and closed by seven at night, weekdays only. We called and got those hours from them directly, which is worth mentioning because most listings online have them wrong. Downtown on Second Avenue, not First, plate lunches and a real diner breakfast, and it has been there long enough that nobody local needs it explained. Closed both weekend days, so it is a workweek stop.
Master Donuts of Dayton
Open at five in the morning, earlier than anything else on this page. If you are rolling out before daylight this is the only hot thing going. They close at three and take Mondays off, so it is a morning stop and nothing else.
Kenny’s Bar and Grill
A sports bar downtown on Railroad Street. Burgers, wings, and a television with the game on. Because it closed and reopened, most of what you find about it online is out of date, including the hours. Call before you drive down.
MO MO’s Bar BQ
Family run since 2004 and named after the owner’s daughter, which tells you most of what you need to know. Ribs are what people talk about, but the thing to order is the Killer Potato. Homemade fried pies after that. You order at a walk up window, and there is a small room inside plus covered tables outside, so weather does not ruin it. Dogs are welcome at the outside tables. Fifteen minutes straight down US-27, and note it closes at four on Saturday and not at all on Sunday.
Tacos Ramirez
A food truck out on Watts Bar Highway toward Wolf Creek, ten minutes from the pads. Street tacos, tortas, gorditas, tamales, the whole board, and a Mexican Coke to go with it. It runs seasonally and the schedule shifts, so look at their page first. When they are open, this is the food guests bring back and tell us about.
Nick’s Lakeside Grill
Down on the water at the marina in Spring City, about fifteen minutes. Wings, burgers, brisket bowls, shrimp, and a place to sit and look at Watts Bar while you eat them. This is where you take somebody who drove out to visit you, or where a Saturday ends when nobody wants to cook in the RV.
Hearty Hog BBQ
Veteran owned barbecue over in Decatur, about fifteen minutes. Brisket is what people talk about, and the pulled pork and the pepper jack mac hold their own. Weekends only and short hours, so go early rather than ten minutes before close, and call ahead if you need a lot of it.
Angie’s Decatur Diner
Open at six in the morning, which is the entire point if you are working a schedule. Country cooking and daily specials, meatloaf, country fried steak, real breakfast, and reasonable for what lands on the plate. It is the longer of the two Decatur drives at a little over twenty minutes, and it is the kind of place where the coffee keeps coming.
The Restaurant at Cottonport Marina
Out at the end of Cottonport Ferry Road on Watts Bar, with a dock if you would rather arrive by boat than by truck. Casual lake food, catfish on the menu, inside and outside seating. If you are already out on the water it is the easy stop, which is exactly why it is on this list. It is the longest drive on this page at about half an hour, so treat it as a lake day rather than a weeknight dinner. Call before you go.
Groceries and Produce
Dayton is about ten miles south, Spring City about ten miles north, and nearly everything here sits in one or the other. Nothing on this list is a five minute run except the farm stand.
Food City
The real weekly shop. It is the newest store in the county, it opened in 2025, and it is open early and late seven days a week. There is a pharmacy inside, and it is the only pharmacy around here open on a Sunday. They also do curbside pickup, which is worth setting up if you work a schedule that does not leave time to walk an aisle. Note the address: this store replaced the old Market Street one, and half the internet still lists the old spot.
Save A Lot
Nearer end of Dayton than the big stores, so it is the shorter trip when you just need to restock. Smaller selection, lower prices, in and out quickly. This is the one we use when the list is short.
Piggly Wiggly
The north option, and the only full grocery store in Spring City. Worth knowing if you are already headed that way rather than doubling back toward Dayton.
Raburn Acres Farm Stand
The closest food of any kind to the pads, right here in Evensville on the same road as Long Hollow Grill. Self serve stand on the honor system. Produce in spring, summer and fall, and cut flowers year round. If you want something local and you do not want to drive to town, start here.
Fuel and Propane
Two things actually matter when you pull in with an RV: whether there is room to get in and back out, and whether they fill your tank or just swap it.
Eagle Exxon
This is the one to use if you are pulling anything. Three diesel lanes, a lot with room to actually maneuver, and it is set up for RV fueling and parking rather than tolerating it. Open all night with a deli inside. It is right on US-27, so there is no threading through town to reach it.
76 Deli Mart
The closest fuel and the closest cold drink, a couple of minutes down US-27. This is the everyday stop in the truck, not the one to bring an RV to.
Tractor Supply
Where you get propane actually REFILLED rather than swapped. They fill your own bottle and charge for the gallons that go in, and they will do an RV tank as long as it has its data plate. That is a real saving over exchange cages, which charge you for a full bottle and hand you whatever is in the one you get. They also carry feed, work clothes and half the hardware you forgot. Propane counter hours can be shorter than store hours, so call if you are cutting it close.
Everyday Errands
These are the closest ones, not a verdict on any of them. When you need a post office or a laundromat on a Tuesday, you just need to know where it is.
Evensville Post Office
The shortest errand on this whole page, about five minutes. The window keeps short hours and closes over lunch, so aim rather than wander down. Every site here has its own mailbox at the road, so this is for the things that will not fit in one.
PostNet
UPS and FedEx under one roof, which saves a second stop when you are returning something. They pack it for you if you turn up with a bare item. Weekday cutoff is 4pm for both ground and air.
The Wash Barn
We do not have laundry on site yet, and it is on the list, so until then this is where people go. There is a second Wash Barn on Market Street in Dayton if this one is busy. Bring your own quarters and soap rather than counting on the machines having them.
City Quick Wash
The second laundromat, downtown on Railroad Street, coin and card operated and genuinely open around the clock. Between this one and the Wash Barn you can get laundry done on any schedule a work week throws at you, which matters because we do not have laundry on site yet and it is on the list. Bring quarters and your own soap.
Walgreens
The closest pharmacy to the park and it has a drive through, which matters when you feel bad enough to need it. They do propane bottle exchange too, but that is a swap and not a fill. If you need a Sunday pharmacy, the one inside Food City is the only one open.
Tennessee Valley Federal Credit Union
The drive through is open at seven in the morning and stays open Saturdays, which is the useful part if you work days. The ATM runs around the clock. FirstBank on Market Street in Dayton has a 24 hour walk up ATM if you are on that side of town.
Liquor Warehouse
Package store in Dayton. Tennessee caps package store hours statewide, and everything closes on Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter, so plan a holiday weekend a day ahead.
Rhea Smoke Shop
Up in Spring City, and open later than most things around here on a Sunday.
Health and Pets
Worth reading before you need it rather than after.
Physicians Care Dayton
Walk in urgent care, no appointment needed, and they let you hold a spot online so you are not sitting in the waiting room the whole time. Open seven days, which is more than most things here.
Rhea Medical Center Emergency
The closest medical anything to the park, and the only thing in the county open after eight at night. Both urgent cares shut by then. Worth putting in your phone now rather than looking it up at eleven on a Sunday.
Rhea Pet Medical Center
The vet for anybody travelling with a dog. Note the short Wednesday and that only two Saturdays a month are open. There is also a walk in only clinic up in Spring City, though their published address and hours do not agree with each other, so call first. The nearest around the clock emergency vet is in Chattanooga, about an hour out, so if something happens at night you are driving. Call them on the way.
Know a Place We Missed?
If you stayed with us and found somebody worth sending the next guest to, tell us. Half of this list came from people parked in the four sites out back.
Hours and details change, especially around holidays. Call ahead if you are making a trip for something specific.
Gryptid RV Park, 1702 Pleasant Rd, Evensville, TN 37332. Phone 423-602-3085. Email kurt@gryptidrvpark.com.