Blue Ridge Country - March/April 2019 - 30

RIGHT: Explore Park in Roanoke, Virginia,
offers new accommodations for travelers along
the Blue Ridge Parkway.
IMMEDIATELY BELOW: A rendering
shows the National Enquirer Attraction coming
to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.
LOWER: The 200-foot-tall Mountain Monster
offers a thrill ride in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.

COURTESY OF ROANOKE COUNTY PARKS AND REC

Overnight camping has arrived at Explore Park in Roanoke, with dozens of
new sites. Don's Cab-Inns Campground at
Explore Park features four Pod Cab-Inns,
four yurts and six RV sites. Other recent
additions to Explore include the Mayflower Hills Disc Golf Course.
Bryce Resort opens its Shenandoah
Center for 2019 near Mount Jackson,
with 4,500 square feet of seating space, a
state of the art kitchen and floor-to-ceiling
windows offering spectacular views of the
ski slope and surrounding scenery.
Wytheville's new Appalachian Regional Expo (APEX) Center is set to
offer seating for up to 5,000 (appalachianexpo.org).
What's on tap: Box Office Brewery
opened in October in a newly renovated

BLUERIDGECOUNTRY.COM

former theatre in Strasburg; the 7 Dogs
Brew Pub comes to Wytheville; and
Roanoke's craft beer scene gains Three
Notch'd Brewing Company and A
Few Old Goats Brewery.
The new Mattie's Place offers bike
rentals and baked goods at Burke's Garden while nearby Bland's new, 256-acre
Eupepsia Wellness Center focuses on
wellness, body, energy, mind and spirit.
For a more woodsy adventure, journey
to the Kairos Resort of the Two Virginias, a collection of cabins, a campground
and yurts that is shared along the Mercer
County border with Giles County, Virginia (kairosresort.com).
In Dickenson County, a new trail for
hiking and biking is slated to connect
Haysi to Breaks Interstate Park. In turn,
the park has opened routes for climbing enthusiasts on its rugged rocky cliffs
overlooking the Russell Fork of the Big
Sandy River.

TENNESSEE
Chattanooga adds new lodging with Edwin Hotel, a five-story structure with a
rooftop bar; the 102-room Moxy Chattanooga Downtown; and the Read
House Historic Hotel, which has undergone a $20 million renovation to upgrade 242 guest rooms.
The new Ramsey Hotel & Convention Center in Pigeon Forge features
more than 200 rooms. Nearby, the Resort

at Governor's Crossing in Sevierville is
opening 67 new units-some of which are
large enough to accommodate up to 18
guests. Also, near Kingston, you'll find a
new room called "The Quail" added to
the Whitestone Inn.
Knoxville's Baker Creek Bottoms
provides access to the city's Urban Wilderness, with more than 50 miles of trails and
four historic Civil War sites. More biking
trails are also being added to Norris Dam
State Park at Rocky Top.
The Mountain Goat Trail is a
walking and cycling trail connecting
communities along the historic path of
the Mountain Goat Railroad, which carried coal and passengers between communities on the South Cumberland Plateau from 1856 to 1985. Currently, the
trail spans five miles from Sewanee to
Monteagle plus a new three-mile section
recently opened in Tracy City.
Just for history: Greeneville opened its
1787 Seth Babb Homestead near the
Greeneville-Greene County History Museum in October 2018. At Vonore, the interior of the Sequoyah Birthplace Museum has been updated with new displays
and high-tech audio-visual presentations.
Just for thrills: The longest pedestrian suspension bridge in North America
brings Gatlinburg a new claim to fame
with the SkyBridge, spanning nearly
700 feet between ridges.
Near the Great Smoky Mountains Na-

http://www.kairosresort.com http://www.expo.org http://www.BLUERIDGECOUNTRY.COM

Blue Ridge Country - March/April 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Blue Ridge Country - March/April 2019