Blue Ridge Country - January/February 2017 - 29

Joe

Tenn

Dolly Parton. The internationally known superstar was born dirtpoor in the shadow of Great Smoky
Mountains at Sevier County, Tennessee, and, there, she still maintains a
private home. In Pigeon Forge, she
also projects a presence as the face
of Dollywood, her theme park, which
began life-when she was still a teen,
living at home-as Rebel Railroad
in 1961. "And some of my family
worked there," she says. "I had an
uncle who worked on the train as a
robber. That was his job."
At 70, Parton is both a singer and
actress. Her dozens of hits include
"Jolene," "I Will Always Love You"
and "9 to 5." Growing up, she says,
"We would go to Gatlinburg, if we got
a chance, if we had a relative who had
a car, or somebody who could take us,
because we lived way back up in the
hills. But we thought Gatlinburg was
a real special place."
Where do you like to go?
"Places we love to go and early,
so we don't have to get behind
such a line of traffic? We love Cades Cove. We usually go up to our
Tennessee mountain home, cook
a picnic lunch, then we'll spend a
day out. And we'll take our camper through Cades Cove. We love
places like that ... We love Wears
Valley. My husband and I love
to go up through there. We love
Townsend, Tennessee. There are always great places that we just love
to visit-stop at the little markets,
stop at the little stores, get a little
fast foods or things and go down
by the river and have a picnic."

Breaks Interstate Park
Sarah hauSer, Virginia TouriSm CorporaTion

Jayma Mays. Jayma Mays was
born in Bristol, Tennessee, on July 16,
1979 and grew up in Grundy, Virginia.
She's starred in a variety of movies and
TV shows, mostly comedies, including
several seasons on TV's "Glee" and a
year on CBS-TV's "The Millers." She
now lives in Los Angeles. Her films include "Paul Blart: Mall Cop" and the
upcoming "American Made."
Where do you like to go?
Breaks Interstate Park on the Kentucky-Virginia border. "I loved going to that park, growing up. Like
on a Sunday, after church, we would
get a bucket of fried chicken and go
to the Breaks. That was like a big
Sunday out, and I loved it. I don't
believe in magic, but it's a magical
place."
Cathy Robbins. Behind the
scenes, Cathy Robbins
knows what it takes
to keep the tracks
a'tweeting at the
Tweetsie Railroad
of Blowing Rock,
Jo e
North Carolina. Just
Tenn
iS
off
the Blue Ridge Parkway,
the kid-friendly Tweetsie Railroad
opened in 1957, using an antique
steam engine pulling passenger car
saround a three-mile-long track. Robbins' husband, Chris Robbins, is the
president of Tweetsie Railroad and a
nephew of park founder Grover Rob-

bins. Chris and Cathy married in
1984; Cathy Robbins has served as
the park's marketing director since
1989.
Where do you like to go? "I
love the outdoors, so one of my
favorite places is the Blue Ridge
Parkway, which is only a half a
mile from Tweetsie ... I actually
spend a lot of time at Moses Cone
Park. I love the hiking trails around
there. And we like to just drive up
and down the parkway-the whole
parkway-from Asheville up to Virginia."
Jack Hinshelwood. More
than the executive director of
The Crooked Road: Virginia's
Heritage Music Trail, the eversmiling Jack Hinshelwood, 60, is
also a musician. He's played guitar
in a string of bands, including the
Appalachian Ramblers, led by Olen
and Frances Gardner. This native of
Montreal, Canada, grew up in Christiansburg, Virginia, and now lives at
Abingdon, Virginia.
Where do you like to go? Claytor Lake in Pulaski County, Virginia. "Claytor Lake is the lake that I
grew up being familiar with-and
getting out on ... The shore tends
to stay nicely vegetated and is a little more attractive. It's pretty good
size and has some pretty cliffs on it.
So it's also pretty scenic."

Jo e

Tenn

January/February 2017 29

Blue Ridge Country - January/February 2017

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