I think you've got the fruits split up about right. There are peaches and plums adapted to your climate. Nectarines and cherries would require a commercial caliber spray regime and then it would be difficult esp cherry.

For apples and pears pick only fire blight resistant varieties. If you get a few susecptible varieties they will continually infect those with modest resistance. Also get FB resistant rootstocks.

There are some new grapes from U of Ark that might work; Faith, Hope, Joy, and Gratitude I think. But even those need spraying. Avoid Vinifera grapes like Thompson and Flame.

You might also consider persimmon. They are pretty trouble free where hardy.

One good source of information about which cultivars work best for your area, or even which general types of fruit would work best, is your local agricultural extension office. These people are paid with your tax money to be experts about this type of information and specifically in regards to the local area.

Many types of fruit (including all apples, most pears, many grapes, and many Prunus genus fruits) will require a regular spray regime for decent fruit. You can't just plant an apple tree, walk away, and come back later for good quality fruit. Even the "disease resistant" cultivars still frequently suffer from some degree of disease. A good example is two of my pear trees that I lost last year to fireblight; both were cultivars rated highly resistant to fireblight. Yes, it was an unusual year, but then lots of years are unusual in some way or other. Also, disease resistance doesn't mean pest resistance.

Most members of the prunus genus (almonds, apricots, cherries, nectarines, peaches, and plums) are short lived and disease-prone. If you grow these, don't plan on them being around for many years and do plan on trying to keep them growing vigorously in an attempt to "outgrow" all the challenges (disease). Vigorous trees can sometimes stay ahead of the diseases for much longer than weaker plants.

Many native and some of the more unusual types of fruit are much easier to grow and more reliable. Pawpaws, native persimmons, and muscadines are good examples. Blueberries, if you are careful to pick the ones that are best for your area AND you give them decent soil conditions, can be very reliable. On the flip side, blueberries that are not recommended for your area may fizzle out in just a few years, if they last that long.

One last thing...DO YOUR HOMEWORK!!! Know which diseases and problems the type of fruit in question suffer from. Find out which cultivars are resistant to those diseases or less prone to the particular problem. Find out which types or cultivars are best for your area. When picking trees grown on rootstock (apples, pears, and cherries, for example), find out which rootstock is best for YOUR application. Don't assume that you can just choose the scion cultivar and send in your order. Once you do choose the types of trees you want, research the potential suppliers so as not to get ripped off. There are many suppliers with great reputations, but there are also scam organizations posing as fruiting plant nurseries. The list of suppliers, linked below, might be of use.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sources for Fruit Trees and Plants

Dear hopin4rain, You are in the perfect location for muscadine grapes! I have Carlos, Cowart, Late Fry growing in Nashville, and you are in a warmer location than I, which is good for muscadines. I have had great production from a tart cherry tree, called North Star. The beautiful apples they sell at the grocery come from cooler climates. The same apples grown here develop fungal problems, because of the warm and humid nights of a Tennessee summer. But, I have an "Arkansas Black" apple tree in the third year and it seems to be doing well, so far. Peaches and Nectarines do well, but I agree that to check with the local county extension office will help determine which varieties thrive in your area. Nashville (my home) is far enough North to grow northern High bush blueberries, but you may be far enough south to grow “Cats Eye “ Blueberries which are much more productive in a hot and humid climate, than the northern high bush blueberry. Avoid the “Burbank” plum, unless you are willing to spray for worms almost continually. Here is a pic of two of my 6 grape vines growing on a chain link fence. Best Wishes!

hopin,
Spent several years in Giles Co., but now located just north of the TN/KY line.
Cherries - tart/pie cherries, like Montmorency will probably work fine for you. Sweet cherries - probably not; Nankings & the little bush cherries are for folks in the far north - fruits are too danged little to bother with in a climate like ours, where we can actually grow something.
Apricots will break your heart - they're usually gonna break dormancy early... like in February...if you're bound and determined to try one, get Tomcot.
Peaches...hit or miss...you may get a crop one or two years out of five. Late (or typical spring) frosts often get the crop.
Have seen some good plums around, but the only ones that ever performed for me were the native Chickasaw types. Euro & Japanese hybrids just didn't work. YMMV.
Fireblight resistant pears will be easy-peasy, and very productive. Plant both European and Asian types.
Apples...do your homework. I didn't - went overboard planting 'em - had upwards of 60 varieties early on... only about a half-dozen have stood the test of time(and my neglect). Many were just not suitable for my location.
IMO, the 'disease resistant' thing is overplayed - none are insect resistant - so you'll need to consider at least a minimal spraying program or practice early thinning and bagging - or live with blemished, worm-infested apples; early varieties will have less damage.

By all means, plant rabbiteye and southern highbush blueberries - don't bother with the northern highbush types, unless you just don't want a lot of berries.
Figs will probably work pretty well for you.
Any interest in persimmons? Easy to grow, require little in the way of care. You should be able to do both American and Asian types.
Grapes...if I could grow muscadine/scuppernong types here, I would. You may be able to make it work.
Cultivated blackberries definitely worth a little space - I can pick a gallon of Kiowa berries in 10 minutes - that'd take all day, picking wild ones.

I'm over in Chattanooga out in the county, fruit bearing trees/bushes/etc that I have had for at least several years:

Cherries
Mulberries
Paw Paws
Venus grapes
Blueberries

Had a fig tree until the damned power company came and sprayed it with weed killer.

Oh yeah, and a couple of tea bushes that are doing fairly well (as in, camelia sinensis, the stuff you actually make tea from).

We haven't heard from the OP since his original post, so while he may be one of those who post and then loose interest, perhaps others considering Tennessee fruit growing will enjoy this thread.
I'm familiar with many of the posters on this thread, and they all know far more than me. But sometimes newbies can learn from newbies, so I wanted to chime in a bit. I live about 25 min north of Nashville on the TN/KY line. I started my little orchard 3.5 years ago but already had a few fruit trees on the property when I bought it. In spite of my being a beginner with very little knowledge, I have had a lot of luck with some fruits already. One is peaches. The old peach tree on my place was/is an early peach and didn't do much UNTIL I started following a good spray program. At the same time I planted several of my own. I got peaches off of most of them last year, which was just the 3rd year for most (I even got some from 2 year old peaches, but they were bought as large, potted trees). I've had the best luck with Red Haven and there is even a commercial orchard 3 miles away that grows them and does well (most years). I also harvested off of J.H. Hale, Contender, and Elberta. These are the ones you often see recommended for our area (including by the aforementioned UT extension office) and they have done well for me so far.
I also have had very good luck with TART cherries (aka pie cherries). I have Montmorency and they produced quite a few in just their 3rd year (but again, they were potted, 5-6 ft trees when planted). These are also recommended for our area by UT Extension. I've planted a few sweet cherries (Bing, black Tartarian, Stella) and while the trees have done great, I have received no fruit and almost all sources say they will not do well here at all, so you probably don't want to waste your time/money on them. Figs have done incredibly well for me, with my best performing being Chicago Hardy and Brown Turkey (in that order). Again, those are the 2 most often recommended for us. That being said, mine were all killed back to the ground in the harsh winter of 2013-14. But amazingly, most came back enough to fruit that very next summer (2014), which some say is unlikely. I have several pears, 2 of which already started producing and one old tree that was on the property already. I don't know what the old one is but the new ones are Bartlett and Ayers, and both have done remarkably well for just 3 year old trees (though large and potted when planted). In fact, based on my experience and that of my neighbors who do almost nothing to their pear trees, Pears have proven to be the easiest tree to grow and produce fruit- by far. My apples were mostly bear-root and have not yet produced, but I will say that my Gala had 85% killed by fireblight last summer. All my other fruit trees are too young to know about so far. I have lots of other types of fruit so it will be fun to see what does well and what doesn't. I admittedly have several that almost certainly won't ever produce, but I had lots of space and it isn't that much money and I have the time so I figured I'd try them and learn for myself-maybe I'll get a nice surprise. They are all rated for my zone, though, so I'm not doing completely crazy stuff like trying citrus or other things not rated for my zone. But as the pros here will tell you, there is a lot more to tree selection that just zone compatibility. For example, I planted 3 appricots and they are rated to my zone but I fully concede that they almost certainly will never produce fruit.
The OP mentioned grapes....I must say that I've had better luck with grapes than almost anything else. The varieties that have done incredibly well for me here in TN are Concord, Catawba, and Niagara (white). They were delicious and high producing and a great way to get a substantial amount of fruit in only 3 years. (I even got some in year 2).
Anyway, as always I want to restate that I'm a beginner and not trying to promote myself as any kind of expert of even intermediate fruit producer. But to other beginners, you might find that encouraging. I know better than most how overwhelming fruit growing information can be and how you sometimes feel like you will never learn enough to produce anything at all. I've certainly made countless mistakes and undoubtedly could have done much better at selecting and growing and spraying my trees and plants. But I hope I can encourage some of you: even with my lack of knowledge, my mistakes, my confussion, etc, I have managed to pick some very nice peaches, pears, sour cherries, figs, and grapes in just 3.5 years and I really think the coming year will see even more fruit on my little mini-orchard. So give it a try! Its my all time favorite hobby and these days I'd rather be in my orchard than hunting or fishing- and for me that is really saying something! Good luck.

This post was edited by thecityman on Tue, Jan 13, 15 at 14:35

Thank you everyone for all of the suggestions. I ended up purchasing a Chicago hardy and Celeste fig, Arkansas Black, Liberty, and Horse apple trees, a sour cherry, 2 pears, 5 blackberries, 2 blueberries, and a kiwi. Thank you for all the help and all of the suggestions on varieties and nurseries. All of the advice was extremely helpful. I can't wait until I start getting produce (even though I know it may be a few years).

I will have to look into Paw Paws. I've never even seen those before I don't believe. I will also have to take a look at persimmons. I thought usually persimmons grew too tall to pick them or is that just the wild persimmons I remember as a kid?

The one thing that I can't seem to make my mind up on are grapes. I like the versatility of concord, Catawba, and niagra, but I seem them listed as very disease prone. Has anyone that tried them found they don't need to be sprayed regularly? Also, others that were suggested were Venus or some muscadine varieties. Are muscadines ever used as table grapes or just for wine?

I'm north of Nashville so its a probably a few degrees cooler here on average. But I've had most of my Chicago Hardy and Celeste figs killed to the ground the last two years, and this year several were completely killed. I assume you got some cold hardy Kiwis. Just know that these take years to produce and must have a "male" and "female" and a good place to climb. I would think everything else you got will do well as long as you keep them sprayed and pruned properly.

I never knew what paw paws were until I started getting into fruit growing as a hobby. Once I did, I learned that they were supposed to grow wild all over Tennessee. I'm ad avid outdoor person so I was shocked to find out they were in woods near me and didn't even believe it. But once I learned what they looked for, it turned out that they really were quite common all around. I found so many that I got to collect and taste several and even ended up digging up and moving a couple (something most literature says is almost impossible to do). I really enjoyed the taste, but many people do not, so I suggest you try some before you go too far down that road. They are slow growers, too, fyi.

I, too, have read that the grapes I suggested may have some disease issues, but as someone who only lives 2-3 hours north of you I can tell you that I've had WONDERFUL results with Catawba, Concord, and Niagra. I grow them all within feet of each other and they have been a picture of good health and prolific producers for me. Right or wrong, I usually just hit them with the same things and at the same time I spray my peach trees, and the grapes have always been bright green and healthy vines with large, sweet, perfect fruit. The only real problem I've had is with Japanese Bettles. These require a little more frequent spraying than they do on fruit trees, but they are manageable and very taste. They have proven to be my biggest fruit success so far, producing substantial amounts of fruit in only 3 years (and a decent amount in just year 2!)

Good luck. I just bought a house with about 7.5 acres in TN myself in 2011 so we're similar in those areas. I hope you have great luck and enjoy this hobby as much as I do!