The Giant Dollywood Sign About To Take Shape at Dollywood

I don’t remember when I first heard about Dollywood coming. It might have been in 1986 as the media covered the park opening or it might have been earlier when the coming of the park was announced. Either way, I was around 11 and I was a hater.

I can distinctly remember scoffing at the idea. Dollywood? Sure, Dolly was a big star of movies and music. Of course, I watched “9 to 5” and “Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” over and over again on HBO (a result of being a latchkey kid). And “Islands in the Stream” had been EVERYWHERE a couple of years before. But an eponymous mountain theme park? Like a country music Disney? It was hubris. Did an 11-year-old me know words like eponymous or hubris? Maybe? I was quite precocious.

Of course, I’ve spent the last four decades eating those words with a healthy helping of crow. I may have never been more wrong in my life. Dolly’s park is a wonder. As Dreamer-in-Chief, she has helped turn what was once an underwhelming regional park into one of the best in the nation, even the world. Dollywood is frequently recognized for its operations that outpace its rivals and the park’s popularity has never been higher.

And with the park’s 40th anniversary season underway, Dolly herself has taken the time to reflect on a California landmark that helped inspire her vision. She has decided – after all these years – to fulfill that vision completely.

The Giant Dollywood sign is about to take shape

During passholder preview day, Parton reflected on an interview she’d given to Barbara Walters in 1983. Talking about her vision as a businesswoman, Parton mentioned the idea for a theme park back home in Sevier County. She told Walters of passing the famous Hollywood sign in the Hollywood Hills and dreaming of replacing the H with a D. Parton and her team had gotten so far as selecting land near Gatlinburg for Dollywood but fate intervened. 

The president of Silver Dollar City Tennessee saw the interview. He then contacted his bosses at Herschend Family Entertainment who owned both Silver Dollar City Tennessee and its sister park in Branson. The Herschends reached out about working together instead of competing. Dolly, quite literally, bought in and the rest is history. 

Now, for the 40th anniversary of the park, officials have announced plans to build that Dollywood sign of which Parton dreamed so many years ago, replacing the H with a D.

Where is the sign going?

It’s going on the hillside overlooking the park above where the old Inventor’s Mansion used to be. Looking up from the Dogs N Taters stand, it is right there. 

Why a new sign?

In 40 years of making Dolly’s dreams a reality, Park officials are finally making this vision from long ago. Making the dream that inspired the whole thing – a reality.

Well, for multiple reasons, I suppose. First, that’s a good spot for the sign to overlook the park like the original Hollywood sign overlooks Hollywood. But, maybe more importantly, that’s where Dolly and company stood to cut the ribbon and release balloons to celebrate the opening of the park 40 years ago.

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