God’s Country
Is this an actual place?
The Great Smoky Mountains of Eastern Tennessee
No, it’s not a specific place.
An informal label, usually used to refer to rural beauty and idealism. It implies that God has a favored geographic location that He imbued with special beauty or tranquility.
There is no specific meaning, in a geographic sense, but the word has been used in media, recently as the title of the Blake Shelton song and at least three feature films.
In the song, Georgia is mentioned in the chorus. However, Shelton hails from Oklahoma.
Why I Looked It Up
I was on a road-trip from Sioux Falls to Charlotte, North Carolina. Past Nashville, I drove through the Great Smoky Mountains, which was some of the most beautiful landscape I have ever seen.
I stopped at a gas station somewhere east of Knoxville. I was talking to the cashier, and I remarked at how scenic the countryside was. He responded, “That’s why they call it ‘God’s Country.'”
I was familiar with the phrase from the Blake Shelton song, but I got to wondering if it had any claimed meaning to a specific geographic place.
(It does not. With all due respect to the gas station cashier, lots of people and regions claim this title.)