Lee and Eileen, Coast to Coast 2014: We Turn Westward to Dollywood Land

From Asheville, we turned west, through the mountains to eastern Tennessee. We have stopped just east of Knoxville, a part of the United States that is very unfamiliar to Lee and I both. We have been lucky so far. Rain clouds have kept it cooler than usual.

Some of you have asked how we know when Barney and Beanie are tired after a day's travel, and here is the answer. They settle down for a nap as soon as we stop for the day! These are tired little birds.

I like the RV park here. Look at our view, of the French Broad River. We watched wild turkeys and deer the first evening, in the grass across the river.

This part of Tennessee has a lot of history. Hard battles were fought here during the Civil War, often with neighbor pitted against neighbor. Eastern Tennessee was divided when it came to slavery, with a slight majority for abolition. We spent our first day in Knoxville, and were surprised at how quiet it was. There were very few tourists. We saw mostly those who lived and worked in the town.

The next day we found out why. The whole world is in Sevierville (pronounced Se-vere'-vul by locals) and Pigeon Forge, an area best known for.... Dollywood! We had no plans to visit Dollywood, although I have read only good reviews about it. Many may know that Dolly Parton built Dollywood, in part, to bring jobs and people to this part of Tennessee. I would say she was successful, perhaps too much so. The traffic is terrible, and this is supposedly the slow season.

We decided to do as those who come to Pigeon Forge do, and so attended a dinner show called the "Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede". A few people had told us it was the best dinner show in the area. This is not the sort of thing we normally do, but once in awhile it is good to stimulate the synapses of the brain with something different. At least, that's my excuse.

Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take photographs during the show. It was about 1 1/2 hours long, mostly horseback riding. The show was polished, and sparkly with lots of sequins. Trick riders, formation riding, barrel riding, herding buffalo, and wagon racing were all part of the show, and the performers were very, very good. I especially liked the piglet races - little pigs are fast, and they know exactly where to go. Smart little guys. Even the serving of the meals was choreographed, and fit in nicely with the program. We had no silverware, fingers only. I have to admit, the show was cheesy, but I enjoyed the athleticism of the horses and the riders. And the intelligence of the piglets.

I have decided to use a photo from a Dixie Stampede brochure, to give you the idea. This image is copyrighted, so please do not distribute.

Pigeon Forge is an odd place. It is located in a valley at the foot of the Smoky Mountains, and is one giant theme park. It is basically a 6-lane highway, a few miles long, lined with arcades, theaters, dinner shows, carnivals, and go-cart tracks. Bizzaro-land, but very popular with young families.

Oh, look - Godzilla!

I told Lee it was difficult to take a photo without power lines. He said "Don't worry about it, it's part of the ambiance." Which is true.

You get the idea. It goes on and on and on, and surprisingly there seem to be enough visitors to support it all.

Further down the road from Pigeon Forge is Gatlinburg. Gatlinburg is at the west entrance to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and is a popular tourist destination. During the winter it is a ski resort, which may be why the architecture resembles that of Alpine villages. I wanted to see Gatlinburg, and also wanted to drive a short loop from the town through a section of the national park. Gatlinberg, it turns out, has as much a traffic problem as Pigeon Forge (if not more - the narrow valley that enters the town restricts road size), so we didn't get very far. From photos I have seen, there are charming village shops further along, one which reminded me of a shopping area in Strasbourg, Austria, that I once visited. Another attraction is a tram that gives rides to the top of a nearby mountain. The traffic we ran into may have been a bottleneck, as the valley widens towards the center of town.

At any rate, we had had enough traffic for one day, so turned off towards the nature loop known as the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail just inside the Great Smoky Mountain NP. Fortunately, most of the traffic went the other way and I really enjoyed the drive. The road is one lane and one way, making it feel remote.

There were a few spectacular views along the route. This one I wanted to soak in for a long time.

We passed several hiking trails to waterfalls, but did stop at an old farm house, lived in from the 1890's through 1930. It was very rustic, compared to the stone and brick farmhouses of southeastern and central Pennsylvania. These people lived a hard life.

The family, which included 8 children, lived in the larger section of the structure. The smaller section was used as the kitchen. Cooking was done in the fireplace, there was no stove, even in 1930.

Tools used to built the house must have been very crude, and methods unsophisticated.

The gaps between the logs are significant. Inhabitants must have filled the gaping spaces during the winter to stop the cold drafts, I would think. Perhaps they filled them with mud and grass, as the Indians did.

At least they had heat when needed.

For light, the one-room house had a small hole, a "granny hole", about 1 foot by 1 foot in size. Even with the doors open, which would not have been possible when it was cold, it was dark in the house. There was no electricity and no bathroom.

We passed by a few other homesteads which were just like this one, so this farmhouse was typical of the region. The farm included a few other crudely made structures, including a chicken coop, spring house, and barn.

Here is the barn. The floor was hard dirt and small boulders. I don't know what animals were kept in it. It seemed too small for a cow or horse.

Very close to the barn was a lovely mountain stream that provided a musical background. Notice the plant with the elongated leaves. It is a wild rhododendron, of which the region has many. Some are very large plants, 20 to 30 feet high. The mountains must be amazingly beautiful when the rhododendrons bloom!

Further down the road, just outside the park, was a small roadside antique and gift shop. The original owner started with a farm, added a mill, and gradually built up several businesses and 20 buildings of various sizes. Today the third generation daughter still lives on the property and runs the store.