The easternmost part of Tennessee is marked by the Smoky (also, in Tennessee, properly Smokey) Mountains. Going west, the mountains give way to foothills then a lower area cut by ridges around Knoxville and Oak Ridge. The "Tricities" of Bristol, Kingsport, and Johnson City are in the northeasternmost corner. West of Knoxville, the terrain rises again to the Cumberland Plateau. At the southeast corner of the Tennessee part of the plateau is Chattanooga. One can argue that the plateau separates east and middle Tennessee, but the plateau is large, and deciding exactly where the line should be drawn is not well agreed upon (even though the three stars on the state flag are for east, middle, and west Tennessee). I prefer to think of east Tennessee as the mountains, and I include the plateau.