Blue Ridge Country - November/December 2014 - 24

PIGEON FORGE, TN

Dollywood!
For more than a quarter-century, Dolly
Parton has hung her hair at Dollywood,
the singer's namesake theme park, featuring shops, shows and rides in Pigeon
Forge, Tennessee.
Come Christmastime, this park is
dressed with millions of colorful lights.
"And couples love to come here, like, in
the fall for the fall festivals," Parton says.
In 2015, Parton plans to open the
300-room DreamMore Resort, adjacent
to both Dollywood and Dolly's Splash
Country, her summertime water park.
"It's going to be a beautiful setting,"
Parton promises. "We're going to try to
keep it very Southern." - JT

The Old Mill District, at left, offers dining, shopping
and a fun place to take a stroll - just off The Parkway in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.

Is Gore skinny? Well, no. But, he's awfully happy.
He smiles when you meet him. And you can tell he
eats what he makes: succulent barbeque, juiced-up
with several kinds of sauces.
He's not only a cook. He's a gospel singer, too.
As for the food, we ate mounds of barbeque,
smothered with cheese and sauce, sitting on a pile of
potatoes - a mouthwatering and addictive delight
that all at our table wanted to capture with camera
phones. By the mid-portion of the plate, I was full.
Yet T's Loaded Tater Chips was just the appetizer -
still a couple of courses ahead of delicious desserts
like Fresh Strawberry Sensation.
You're in luck looking for a great breakfast anywhere on the Tennessee side of the Smokies. While
ELKMONT, TENNEssEE

Cabin Central
Just a few miles outside Gatlinburg, you can flip back the calendar and find where the rich
and wealthy built cabins decades ago - at Elkmont, Tennessee.
"Well-heeled people liked to come up to the mountains to hike, so they needed a place
to stay," says Carroll McMahan, a Sevier County historian.
Today, rows of old homes from yesteryear stand vacant at the Elkmont section of the
Great Smoky Mountains National Park. A couple of cabins have been restored; others simply
remain as relics of the past, open for walk-by visitation, near Elkmont's campground. - JT

24 | BlueRidgeCountry.com

traveling across Sevier County, I sampled veggie
omelets at Flapjack's in Sevierville and Mel's Diner
in Pigeon Forge.
Funny, they make jokes about all of the area's
pancake houses at the must-see Lumberjack Feud in
Pigeon Forge. This rousing dinner show promotes
good-spirited competition among chaps with chainsaws. The audience takes sides, being Dawsons or
McGraws, as guys cut up logs and pretty girls cheer.
Bluegrass musicians perform. And you eat a good
meal.
While in North Carolina, I had breakfast for dinner: a fluffy biscuit, Western omelet and wonderful
red potatoes, roasted to perfection, at the Maggie
Valley Restaurant, just off U.S. 19.
Come Christmastime, there was nothing more
delicious than digging into the all-you-can-eat holiday feast at the Backstage Buffet Restaurant of
Dollywood.
Come spring, I chomped on one of Dolly Parton's
favorites - the slaw dog at Frank Allen's Market of
Sevierville, her hometown. While still in Sevierville,
I jumped all over the fried frog legs at the Bistro 109.
Then I relaxed in that restaurant - thanks to the wonderful piano stylings of Brian Whitcomb, performing
a string of songs that sounded, oh, so familiar.
I also savored other sweet sounds of the Smokies
- naturally and namely Lands Creek, refreshingly
rushing past Raccoon Retreat, my home for a weekend at Lands Creek Log Cabins in Bryson City.
Lying on the border of the Great Smoky
Mountains National Park, Lands Creek was developed by a musician, Robin Fronrath.
"We have been told many times," says Fronrath,
"that our guests feel like they are coming to visit

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Blue Ridge Country - November/December 2014

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