Answer:
The state of Tennessee is divided into three sections called the Grand Divisions, and people commonly refer to themselves as being from East, Middle, or West Tennessee. These divisions are legal as well as geographic and cultural, and date back to the earliest period of European settlement.
It’s no coincidence that the geographical divisions of the state follow geological lines. East Tennessee includes the Southern Appalachian Mountains (also called the Great Smoky Mountains, which encompass more than the Great Smoky Mountains National Park), the eastern Tennessee River valley, and a portion of the Cumberland Plateau, with soils less-suited to large-scale commercial agriculture than Middle or West Tennessee, with smaller farms.