Series and shows that you didn’t know were filmed around the Smoky Mountains It’s certainly a big deal when Hollywood comes to the Smoky Mountains. Over the decades, several big-name stars filmed movies on location in the mountains. But with current economic incentives, it doesn’t happen much anymore. Stars like Harrison Ford, Paul Newman, Ingrid Bergman, Bradley Cooper and many
A local offers advice on mistakes to avoid to make the most out of your next trip to Ober Gatlinburg I had given up on Ober Gatlinburg in the autumn a couple of years ago. In the days after Halloween, the park hadn’t transitioned from fall to winter. It was understaffed and underfunded. Then Joe Baker and his partners stepped
Crawdaddy’s in Gatlinburg, TN says goodbye to the strip, announces new concept for 2025 From restaurants to lodging to entertainment, the competition is fierce on the Parkway in Gatlinburg. And while it seems there is enough traffic to support everybody, there appears to be a never-ending arms race to be the newest and hottest restaurant on the strip. One such
Oak Ridge, a secret city, was key to developing technology that ended World War II Gatlinburg was born when flatlanders from South Carolina found their way to a mountain paradise. Knoxville was born as a fort and a handful of cabins at the headwaters of the Tennessee River. Likewise, Chattanooga’s founding can be linked to its location on the Tennessee
The story of those who lost to the Tennessee Valley Authority My home is located in what is known as the Lakeway Area. With tentacles in Hamblen, Jefferson, Grainger, Cocke, Greene, Hawkins, Claiborne and Hancock counties, the Lakeway Area is a relatively modern term. Our communities touch Norris, Douglas and Cherokee lakes. But the truth is, had you arrived here
A local offers advice on mistakes to avoid to make the most of your next trip to the SkyBridge With Anakeesta drawing traffic across the valley and Ober Mountain under new ownership, the competition for your “SkyDollars” has never been higher. But the eldest of the major mountaintop attractions isn’t ready to wave a white flag of surrender. The park’s
Following the trail to abandoned cabins and forgotten history in the Smokies There is an alternate history of how things might have been different if the National Park had not been created. In the decades before the park, there were a variety of groups that changed the future of the park. Logging companies – to the chagrin of naturalists campaigning
Want to explore Gatlinburg the way the locals do? Here are three suggestions When I was young, my wife Leslie and I were lucky enough to go to France and England a couple of times. We’d go in late March and early April and hope to catch an unseasonably warm week. We were lucky more than we weren’t. But warm
Tired of the mini golf and mountain coasters? Here are a few non-touristy things to do in Pigeon Forge Every once in a while, one of those old photos catches fire on a social media platform and dances around the internet drawing waves of nostalgia for how things used to be. “Pigeon Forge circa 1950,” the caption will read alongside
A local weighs the pros and cons of two popular star-studded restaurants in Gatlinburg, TN There’s a battle of country icons going on every day on the strip in Gatlinburg. In one corner you have Oklahoma’s Blake Shelton whose fame rocketed over some 110 seasons of “The Voice”, which allowed him to display his particular brand of charm and humor.