A look at the Biltmore Estate, from today’s standards In the 1880s, George Washington Vanderbilt II came to the mountains with a dream. He also came with the type of generational wealth typically reserved for kings and pharaohs. So when Vanderbilt wanted a summer house, he purchased nearly 700 parcels of land – 50 farms and at least five cemeteries
Smoky Mountain Buc-ee’s remains the largest store, at least for now When the self-styled “home of the world’s cleanest bathrooms, delicious barbecue, freshest food and friendliest beaver” announced plans to build the world’s largest convenience store in Kodak (near Sevierville, Tennessee), it generated a lot of attention. And now, the Kodak location is officially open, and it is the largest
What you should know about armadillos As an East Tennessean, I have seen plenty of armadillo carcasses. But I’d never found myself face-to-face with one of the nocturnal mammals until recently. I had assumed that armadillos are essentially possums with chain mail. However, it turns out that armadillos have more in common with the anteater than they do the possum,
A round-up of Dolly Parton’s siblings, where they are now Dolly Parton is the fourth of twelve siblings. Her parents are Robert and Avie Lee Parton, and thanks to the big family, Dolly has many nieces and nephews. Whenever Dolly’s siblings are brought up, the song “Old Black Kettle” comes to my mind. My mama and daddy must have loved
What you need to know about bobcats As someone who has lived in rural areas up and down East Tennessee, I am familiar with the bobcat. So yes, they do live in Tennessee. In fact, there are bobcats almost everywhere. IN THIS ARTICLE Where do bobcats live? Are they common? Bobcats can be found from Florida and all the way
A history of Elkmont and what to know before you go What is known as the Elkmont ghost town is a former logging camp town and once-booming resort town near the Sevier-Blount County line in the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee. The first settlers in the 1800s were mostly hunters, homesteaders and small-scale loggers. IN THIS ARTICLE The history of
And why the white squirrel you spotted is probably not albino It may not be a surprise, but a true albino squirrel is significantly rarer than the white squirrel, according to squirrelgazer.com, which reports that 20-30% of the white squirrels in North America are albino. Most reports state that only about 1 in 100,000 squirrels are albino. So how can
Diving into the internet rumors regarding Dolly selling Dollywood I couldn’t have been much more than 8 or 9 on a spring morning and I was in bed dreaming of baseball or Star Wars or some other of my boyhood passions. “John!” my mom shouted. “Wake up! It’s snowing. You won’t have to go to school today.” I threw off
The Cherokee Legend of Spearfinger: What Did She Look Like? The Great Smoky Mountains are full of wonder and also full of folklore and legends. And if you’re looking for a great story to tell by the campfire, there’s probably none more infamous than the Cherokee legend of Spearfinger. A legend being made famous once again thanks to Mountain Monsters
The Fugitive train wreck: Discovering the movie crash site in the Smokies Déjà vu is the common feeling that you’ve already experienced something even as it is happening. Could it be memories from a past life? Or is it that you’ve watched a movie 145 times on TBS and you’ve unknowingly wandered onto the exact location where it was filmed? When