A local imagines holiday time at Ghost Town in the Sky We don’t think about it much anymore, but back long ago, Christmas was a time of ghosts. Back in the days of Charles Dicken’s “A Christmas Carol” with its holiday hauntings, telling ghosts stories around the Yuletide fire was something a tradition. The peculiar holiday would include the ending
Study finds these popular tourist destinations to be the least expensive in the nation It is part of daily life existing in modern media. Each day, we are served various pitches designed to deliver clicks to the PR firm’s client. “Top 10 towns to retire in the country” “Top 10 towns to get pizza in the Southeast” “Towns where you’re
The fascinating story of the MoonPie and how East Tennessee played a role My first experience with the idea of a MoonPie didn’t involve tasting one. As a youngster who loved music and comedy, I had a Dr. Demento tape of silly songs that I listened to repeatedly with the same reverence I would for the Beatles or the Stones.
Efforts to revive Ghost Town in the Sky left in limbo after tragic death of co-owner In the more than 60 years since it opened, the Western North Carolina theme park known as Ghost Town in the Sky has seen more than its fair share of hardships, challenges and difficulties. There were long-term ramifications of building a theme park atop
A local shares his biggest mistakes when visiting the National Park It’s easy to take it for granted when the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is in your backyard. I wake up every morning with immense natural beauty as the backdrop. I run up to the mountains on the weekends or summer afternoons and it becomes old hat. It’s easy
Social media revives rumors of feral humans in the Smoky Mountains linked to old cold case Dennis Martin was 6 years old in June of 1969. It was Father’s Day weekend and they hiked near the Tennessee-North Carolina border, a Martin family tradition. William Martin (his father) and Clyde (his grandfather) and the two boys started at Cades Cove and
Seven signs that indicate you grew up visiting the Smokies Almost everyone takes pride in the state where they were born and raised, or at least, where they now live. This is probably truer with people who call Tennessee and the Smoky Mountains home. One of a Tennessean’s first childhood memories is a trip to the Great Smoky Mountains. You
A local talks about his favorite area restaurants to visit around Thanksgiving and Christmas in Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg and Sevierville The holidays have arrived in the mountains – and, technically, everywhere. But the holidays in the mountains come with more than a few traditions. Yes, Sevier County has been a premier holiday shopping location for generations. And, the local governments
A rumored casino may be on its way to Sevierville after Cherokee land purchase Is a casino on its way to the Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee? I wouldn’t bet against it. The Tennessee Smokies are leaving Sevier County and returning to East Knoxville. Thus, a rather prominent piece of real estate is sitting empty in Kodak, on the West
How the TVA brought progress – and controversy – to the South When Tropical Storm Helene brought historic flooding to the region, an agency that has chiefly been a simple fact of life for many of us in the mountains came a little more sharply into focus. With overwhelmed dams threatened to fail, the Tennessee Valley Authority suddenly found itself