Pigeon Forge Attracts Another Class Act!

Though wooed by a serious list of investors throughout the world, the owners of Wonder Works have decided that the second installation of their successful Orlando-based educational and entertainment facility will go into the former home of the Music Mansion in Pigeon Forge.

The exterior of the building is so unique that it is designed to stop traffic: the three story building appears to have landed upside down and angled upon another existing structure as if some power of nature uprooted the building and sent it swirling through the air out of control, until the tornadic force dropped it on another building..

“We knew we had to have an outside wow,” said Robin Turner, who came up with the idea of the upside down building, with his partner John Morgan. “It had to be a traffic stopper,”

Plans are to keep the Music Mansion primarily intact with the new structure built atop it. Customers will enter through a space where the new building intersects with the old. Turner said, “It will be spectacular. It will become one of the icons of Pigeon Forge.”

Turner expects to close on the sale of the Music Mansion within the next six to eight weeks for $7.25 million. The total investment in the property is expected to be between $15 and $18 million.

Construction will be handled by Denark Construction and Bullock Smith & Partners are handling the conceptual design. Construction on the 50,000 square foot project is expected to begin in August with a completion date set for spring or summer of 2006.

Some of the activities in the Orlando based business include laser tag, a bed of nails, a bubble lab where visitors can make giant bubbles large enough to encapsulate a person, simulations of flying F-14 and F-18 fighter jets, and a Wonder Coaster where visitors can ride a simulation of a roller coaster that has the ability to turn 360 degrees in every direction. The exhibits are designed to be fun and educational and although there has been much interest in franchising the idea, the two partners say they want to “maintain the quality and uniqueness of the attraction by keeping the number of locations down to four across the country.”

John Jagger, community development director for Pigeon Forge visited the Orlando facility earlier this month and said, “It’s very different and certain eye-catching.” He added that the quality of the building is obvious and there is nothing similar to the attraction in the Smoky Mountains.

The Orlando facility of Wonder Works hosts 500,000 visitors each year, and they new owners expect the Pigeon Forge location to see at least 800,000 annually because of its larger size, the higher concentration of people in the area and a lack of competition such as Sea World and Disney World.

The attraction will have a retail component and a dinner/magic show that can accommodate 300-400 people, and expects to hire 90 to 100 full and part time employees.

Coyotes are Here to Stay

One of our favorite publications is the Smoky Mountain’s own “Smokies Guide” put out by the National Park Service. We always learn something interesting every time we pick up one of the magazines.

The Winter 2004-05 edition told me that Coyotes made their way here from the west during the 1980s, and while their natural predator the Gray Wolf, was larger (80lbs compared to the coyote average of 30 lbs), it was largely eliminated by hunting and trapping here. This gave the coyotes the opportunity to thrive and let their populations increase.

Coyotes are most active at night and they exist on a diet of rabbits, mice, squirrels, deer, grasshoppers, groundhogs and berries. They also have a positive effect on the park by eating wild hog piglets whose parents do considerable damage to the flora and fauna with their rooting habits. During the fall through late winter, the howls and yips that are characteristic to these animals can be heard throughout Cades Cove in the Park.

Ocoee River Use and Rafting Outfitters Reach Accord with TVA

An agreement between TVA and the Rafting Outfitters for water releases on the Upper Ocoee River has been signed.

The season for rafters began April 23 and the 2005 contract calls for 43 days of water, the last of which will come on September 24 of this year.

“We took October dates out and some Sundays in September where there were no bookings, “ said Larry Mashburn, President of the Ocoee Outfitters Association.

It has taken a lot of work on the parts of outfitters to come up with creative ways to pay TVA for the costs of water in the contract, which this year amounts to $234,000. Mashburn says each rafting ticket includes a $3.50 fee for water costs and that revenue only covers half the actual water costs. Mashburn wouldn’t elaborate on other ways they will raise the funds for the water, but is “glad we finally got it settled” for this year. “Now we will be meeting to try and figure out the nest 13 years,” he said.

A TVA statement was released saying that they had donated 12 days of water releases, from April 23 to June 5, while the contract was being negotiated. They blamed the contract delay on late payments from the outfitters, whereas the outfitters maintain their payments were made in December and a departmental payment problem existed within TVA.

Nonetheless, both TVA and the outfitters wants to “develop a responsible solutions” for sustaining rafting on the river, and each recognizes the “importance of recreational use of the Upper Ocoee to the regions economic development, while balancing electricity and environmental needs.”

A Life Lesson From Fireflies at Elkmont!

One of the columnists I most enjoy with the local Knoxville News Sentinel is Sam Venable, whose articles appear 4 days a week. Today, June 24, 2005 he wrote about the fabulous show that the Fireflies are putting on in parts of the Smokies in East Tennessee and over the mountains in western North Carolina.

We’ve already posted a couple articles about the newly famed Synchronous Fireflies, but Venable goes on to say that “these bugs – which blink in unison, stop in unison, start again in unison – have become media darlings the last few years. So many people have been flocking to the Great Smokies to see ‘em, it’s been necessary to arrange shuttle buses to and from Gatlinburg.”

One viewer to the shows, Mike Clark, said he was downright awestruck by the presence of the bugs themselves.

“We were standing on a trail in the middle of Elkmont, not sure of what to expect,” he says. “As soon as (the bugs) started blinking, all conversation. What conversation there was after the show started was in hushed, almost reverent, tones.

“It made me think that human beings, who are always looking for something to fight about, could learn something about working together from humble bugs.”

Wampus Cats and Haints!

The longer you read this blog, the more you will hear and see quotes from the Knoxville News Sentinel’s funny columnist, Sam Venable. He cracks me up and he always has something funny to say about our superstitions and the good ol’ timey rumors in this neck of the woods.

In a recent edition of the paper, Venable wrote about the move of the UT dairy farm from its present location on the UT campus, and the column “elicited a funny remembrance from Bill Simpson, who worked at UT’s agricultural complex 1950-65.” The story took place in an old barn down close to the river and it is a lol (laugh out loud) story.

It was Simpson’s job every morning to climb to the top of the barn and clean out a “light trap” to recover one species of moth. He said, “the zoology department also had a complete cow skeleton stored in the hay loft, the critter standing on a big pedestal.”

One of the co-workers Simpson worked with was a believer in “wampus cats” and other East Tennessee “haints”, and it was just too natural that Simpson and a buddy should conspire to bring the scary critter to life.

“A buddy and I ran twine from the foreleg of the skeleton, down the bones and between the loft boards, unplugged the light trap, then covered our twine tracks with loose hay.

“We took the wampus cat believer with us the next morning, and when we noticed the ‘light was out’, we left him in the loft while we went to ‘check the fuses’.

“Of course, we started pulling on our hidden twine, and the skeleton began pawing the pedestal.

“We heard three or four giant steps on the loft floor, then a crash outside. The guy had jumped out of the loft down to the ground! Fortunately he was unhurt, but he did have to change his underwear.

“Every time I go by the farm, I remember how nice the fields always looked and how nice it was down there among the corn and the cows. But I also start hee-hawing when I remember the ‘Wampus Cow’.”

$600 Million Pigeon Forge Project Stalled

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has halted the forward momentum of two of the cities most expansive and costly new developments. Because the two developers of the old Jake Thomas farm failed to obtain wetlands permits before excavating began, the project came to a fast stop. One of the developers, Mike McCall with Maryland based Strategic Leisure Inc., said they are in the process of obtaining a permit and “doing everything the Corps is asking us to do.”

Strategic Leisure and Riverwalk Park, LLC, a Florida-based group of investors had introduced the $600M project last month at a catered, groundbreaking ceremony attended by business people from all the surrounding counties.

Land prep work had been started on Main Street Marketplace, a “lifestyle center” south of Teaster Lane and north of the river, but no buildings had been started when the Corps of Engineers ordered a halt.

“There are two acres of wetlands on the site and the contractor inadvertently damaged a portion of those 2 acres,” McCall said. “We’ve got some respected environmental people working with us and they are getting us back on the straight and narrow. It shouldn’t take too long,” he continued.

But wetland issues aren’t the first deterrent to stop development here in the land of the Smoky Mountains and the Native American Indians. “Several prehistoric Indian sites on the property” show evidence of Indian graves, said Tennessee state archaeologist, Nick Fielder. And if developers don’t already know how seriously the state and the Native American Indians take these burial grounds, they will find out shortly.

But I am not worried and I hope that instead of being depressed over the stoppage on the work site, the developers are excited about adding another tier of experience to their already impressive plans. As a constant visitor to the area I sure look on this news with wonder and excitement. History is one of the greatest attractions in the world and I want this area’s history to be treated with the respect that the sleepy little burg of Townsend handled their surprise history a couple of years ago.

In the midst of widening the road through Townsend, Indian burial grounds and significant relics were found and a stop was called to the five-lane highway that state road-crews were building. Luckily for all of us, the town embraced the history that was being uncovered, and today the Heritage Center is going up in town as a direct result of the wonderful findings that were uncovered.

Even better is the fact that the McClung Museum at the University of Tennessee is helping to identify the Indian pieces and to loan intact pieces from the museum’s collections to the new center to sit alongside shards that were found in the digs. The new Heritage Center will encompass both the Native American culture and the pioneer life in an important, historically significant way with exhibits and classes offered to area school children and adults.

The more we embrace our history, the richer experiences we can offer visitors to all the towns in and outside the Smokies, and I can’t wait to see how the Pigeon Forge developers respond to the wetlands issue and the Indian digs.

The Pigeon Forge Village, Riverwalk and the Belle Island projects are all class acts and I can’t think of a better way to improve them than by overlaying history and diverse cultures with the inherent attractions of entertainment, good dining and a real respect for our environment. We feel sure that this project will also finish well ahead of its vision.....bringing even more depth to an already well-thought-out plan.

Riverstone Condos in Pigeon Forge to Border Golf Club

Developers Glen Glafenhein, Michael Shular and his daughter, Candra, announced plans to build a spectacular, 300 unit, condo on 12 wooded acres alongside the Gatlinburg Golf and Country Club on Dollywood Lane.

Riverstone is a very upscale set of condos that will have the best of all worlds in amenities as well as views of mountains, the No. 7 fairway of the golf course or the Little Pigeon River. The amenities will include all granite countertops, hardwood floors, stainless steel appliances, flat-screen TVs, fireplaces and Jacuzzis, and the project will offer five-star services including an indoor and outdoor pool complex, day spa and fitness center.

“It’s going to be a wow experience from the moment you walk in the door. We’re spending more than 41 million on landscaping and more than $1 million on the welcome center alone. It’s an oasis experience in the middle of town,” said Shular, who also owns the Shular Inn in Pigeon Forge and other properties in Sevier County.

Two-bedroom units will sell for about $299,900 and four-bedroom condos will sell for $439,900.

These condos join Pigeon Forge Village in announcing top of the line five-star services in the Smokies. The Pigeon Forge Village, being developed by a Florida-based investors group, is expected to receive over $300 million in 1200 condos in a planned $600 million multi-use property to be developed into residential, retail and entertainment forums. The Village will be located on a former 140 acre farm behind the main street of Pigeon Forge and just east of the Belz Outlet Mall.

Shular said, “Pigeon Forge is fixing to take off like a rocket. I think the market is going to grow tremendously in the next few years.”

Glafenhein said that buyers have put deposits on nearly 70 condos and he and Shular have had good success with another local endeavor on nearby Douglas Lake. Here they developed Harbor Crest, an upscale waterfront project in Dandridge. Both Riverstone and the Harbor Crest development will be sold largely to buyers who will put them on a rental program.

A Hearty “Welcome Back” to the Honda Riders!

Over 18,000 riders are expected to cruise into East Tennessee this week for the nation’s second-largest, multibrand motorcycle rally in Knoxville. Known as the Honda Hoot, and hosted by the Honda Rider’s Club of America, this is the 5th year that Knoxville has been privileged to host the group that will fill 15-20 hotels in the area.

“We think they are great,” said Mayor Bill Haslam. “Not only do they have a large economic impact, they are a great group to have in town, and we hope to have them come back for years to come.”

The Hoot drew about 1200 people in its first year in Asheville, NC, said Charles Keller, HRCA manager, but the facilities in Knoxville and the town’s ability to handle larger crowds made the switch an easy choice.

Over the years the Hoot has generated over $47 million for the city and East Tennessee, and this year the event is expected to leave $16 million behind in our economy.

The daily events vary and start today at Chilhowee Park with demo rides on Hondas, Aprillias, BMWs, Buells, Moto Guzzies, Piaggios, Urals, Vespas and Victory bikes and continue with Riverboat Cruises, and a Poker Run to benefit the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation. Pre-planned daily rides will take place to the Cherohala Skyway, Cumberland Gap plus a “sportbike” ride designed for more daring riders. Then, of course, our infamous “Dragon” ride will attract the real dare-devils to the twisting, tortuous U.S. Highway 129 through the mountains.

For families attending the event an ice cream social and a Knoxville Police Department riding exhibition will take place and the Knoxville Fire Department will host a firefighters’ chili cook-off and dinner to benefit the Department’s prevention fund. And if all the activities haven’t worn everyone out, join your friends at the Old City Street Party which will crank up at 6 p.m. with bands and dancers tonight.

Thursday, is “Tennessee Day” and anyone presenting a valid TN driver’s license, will be admitted to Chilhowee Park at one half off the regular price.

The “Honda Hula Hoot Party” at the Knoxville Civic Coliseum will feature local bands, Polynesian food and drinks and a grand fireworks display starting at 6 p.m Thursday.

On Saturday night, Gay Street will be the scene of the final Saturday Night on the Town, with three stages, a children’s activity area on the Market Square with food and drink for all

Grand Marshall of the Honda Hoot is well known motocross enthusiast, Johnny Campbell, winner of the last 8 Baja 1000s on his Honda XR650R off road motorcycle. Her will spend time at the Hoot with his wife Faye and his two small children, who love the travel and the fun activities, and will sign autographs and hand out stickers throughout the event.

The Baja 1000 is “pretty much the granddaddy of off-road desert races,” said Campbell. The roads are rough and changeable with unanticipated obstacles and temperatures that can ranges from 30 to 100 degrees during the course of the race across 1000 miles of desert. Campbell runs the course a month ahead of time to get himself ready for the ordeal. “It’s pretty exhilarating reaching the Honda’s top speed of 114 miles per hour,” said Campbell with an easy smile. “Dangerous at the same time,” he admits.

The family lives in San Clemente, California and Jerry competes in one major event every month and in a series of local races to stay in shape. His next ride is the Nevada 1000, which differs from the Baja 1000 in that there will be stops in Nevada and the Baja is just one long, continuous race.

Racing became a “passion for me in my teenage years,” continued Campbell, but he started riding when he was 9. He entered his first race at 13. Of all his years of racing, he said that “I can’t accomplish my goals without the support of 100 volunteers”, mostly made up of family members and friends along the way.

2nd Annual Troutfest in Townsend

The Little River Chapter of Trout Unlimited is not comprised of just anglers. Its 220 members are as devoted to clean water as they are the original Brook trout, and many work with the Great Smoky Mountain National Park with ongoing acid precipitation tests that require several long hikes each year. Members also assist with aquatic life sampling projects and with the brook trout restoration efforts………all because they love clean water and they love the Smoky Mountains.

Active member and past President, Tom Eustis, estimates that 15% of the members don’t fish but do support the mission to preserver cold water fisheries. Two of the areas best-known species of trout, the rainbow and brown, are not native to the region, and in some instances, they have crowded out the original brook or “speck” populations. “Brook trout right now are the canaries in the cage,” Eustis said, to monitor the migrations of high acidity levels from the higher to the lower elevation streams in the Park.

The Trout Unlimited members of the Little River Chapter have logged impressive man-hours with help to the Park. Park Fisheries biologist, Matt Kulp, says “the chapter contributes between 266 and 850 hours a year. Over 10 years, that in-kind donation of labor from the Little River Chapter has approached a value of some $300,000.” The chapter also assists the Park with direct financial support and grant-writing assistance.

It’s not all work and no play for the membership however. The Little River Chapter just held its second annual TroutFest in Townsend at the Visitor’s Center. Hailed as a “Fund Raising Festival for trout streams and cold water conservation in and around the Great Smoky Mountain National Park”, the June 3rd, 4th and 5th Troutfest, will include demonstrations and presentations about trout and their environment, a Casting Contest, Fly Tyers and Rod Makers booths, with Photographers, Guides, Artists, Food and Live Music. Eustis says, “it is an educational thing for Blount County and a fund-raiser for the Little River chapter,” which operates as a non-profit. Last year the chapter raised $7,000, which went directly to the fisheries program in the Park. This year’s goal is to raise $10,000.

Standing Room Only for the Firefly Shows

We missed it, but record numbers of others saw fabulous synchronized “blinking” shows performed by cooperative fireflies throughout Elkmont in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and in western North Carolina.

All week long the crowds came to see the shows, and Jim Calderback, owner of Moonshine Creek Campground in Balsam, NC, said, “Our guests come to hear the rushing waterfalls, maybe a bear or two. I never would have thought fireflies would take top billing, but this summer, we have people walking all over the campground looking for them.” Oddly, the fireflies come back to the same spot in the campground each year, much as they do at Elkmont.

On Thursday night 2,000 people showed up at Elkmont to see the shows and Park Rangers said the crowd exceeded the parking facilities and the new transportation shuttles taking people from the parking lots to the “shows” and back. “Overall, we feel the nights when we had the trolleys and a greater management presence went better than the Monday through Wednesday nights when we did not,” said park Superintendent Dale Ditmanson.

Biologists in the Smokies are looking for new groupings of synchronous fireflies –Photinus carolinus - inside the 800 square mile park. For the past two weeks, researchers have conducted a “Beetle Blitz” in the Smokies as part of the All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory. They found what may be a new “species of firefly to the park – a small species called the blue ghost that doesn’t flash, but hovers low to the ground and give off a pale white or bluish glow,’ according to entomologist Becky Nichols. She said that there are more than 14 different species of fireflies in the park in addition to the synchronous species.

The Townsend Ladies Guild vs. Mother Nature

The Second Annual Fund Raiser/Auction for the Great Smoky Mountain Heritage Center was almost washed out by June storms. Party planners, volunteers and the Ladies Guild were called out in the early morning, 2:30 a.m. in fact, to get to the scene as quickly as possible in order to rescue the two tents, which were in danger of imminent collapse from the rains and winds. Husbands came out en force to help.

Once the tents were anchored and the valuable items for the auction were safe-guarded, some of the hardier helped vacuum water from the ground, while others helped drape round tables with white linens. Each table was centered with small, handmade green wagons filled with flowers.

By 6 p.m. the rains ended and the skies cleared and partygoers arrived to see that order prevailed at the Heartland Wedding Chapel in Townsend where the event was held. Dinner was catered by chapel owner, Janice Fillmore, and music was furnished by The Fiddler Four, a group of young fiddlers who ranged in age from 11 to 15. Mike and Connie Clemmer followed up on dulcimers, with Mike playing one he had handcrafted from rare, wormy chestnut decorated with a carving of the Tree of Life. The dulcimer was auctioned off later in the evening.

What began badly, ended well, with lively bidding and happy attendees. The Heritage Center, scheduled to open in November, received almost $85,000 for the educational facility that will preserve and promote the culture and history of the mountain people and American Indians.

A Baby Boom for Elk in the Cataloochee Valley

This is the fifth year of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park’s experimental elk reintroduction, and it looks like a bumper crop of baby elk will be born in June and July this year. Of the 53 elk now in the park, 19 cow elk have reached maturity and are ready to be potential mothers, so the possible boost to the elk population could be significant.

Nine Global Positioning System (GPS) collars, have been recording movements of elk over the last 18 months. Once the data is downloaded and analyzed, researchers will be able to determine where elk like to feed, breed and give birth to calves in the park.

Biologists will also be visiting over 50 elk enclosures in the Smokies to determine what effect elk are having on the flora and fauna. The enclosures are approximately 40’ by 40’ plots with high fences to keep elk out. They give biologists the opportunity to compare habitats browsed by elk to those that aren’t.

Ghost House

One day three years ago, Inez Adams, a life-long Cades Cove resident experienced a “ghostly” sighting of a home’s roof peak, and one side of the house with windows and an upper attic window. The area of the Cove was very familiar to Inez and she had never known a house to be located there, and the “house only appears when the season is right, when there aren’t many leaves on the trees”, she say. “Really it is a mysterious thing. It just shocked me when I saw it. I know Cades Cove like the back of my hand.”

Afraid no one would believe her, Inez began researching to see if a log cabin had ever stood on the spot. She talked to the 90 year old daughters of Tyre Shields, who owned the property before the Federal Government took possession of it and made it part of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The daughters couldn’t remember a cabin ever standing there.

Several years before she saw the ghostly outline of the house, Inez and her husband had learned “dousing”, a technique using two metal rods that help in the search for graves, water wells and house foundations. She thought the Baptist minister who taught them the procedures was “nuts”, but to her surprise the technique did uncover the cabin’s well, even though the area has since become a wetland.

In the intervening years, many people have seen the cabin and the first time Inez ever took her son to the site, he saw “it before we ever stopped to show it to him. It was really plain then.” It is getting harder to see the house. It sits between a couple of rows of trees just off the loop road that runs through the Cove. The light has to be just right to bring out the shape of the house in the afternoons, and it is best seen before the leaves come out in the spring.

Construction of the Trillium Cove Appalachian Village in Townsend is underway.

The Great Smoky Mountains Heritage Center is Taking Shape!

Construction has begun and already the finished structure can be seen in the bones of the timber frame building in Townsend, TN, that will house the new Great Smoky Mountains Heritage Center. The two story, 17,000 square-foot building sits on the main road through town, and the building will feature a center glass section enclosing a chandelier, that center director, Bob Patterson calls “dynamic”.

A Veterans Memorial Garden will provide green space outside the center and will include a flag and a circle of gray Tennessee marble from the Staley Marble Company in Rockford, TN. “People can purchase space on the marble and honor a loved one,” Patterson said.

The exterior will be faced with 12 inches of dry-stacked stone, topped with wood from old barns from the area. A porch will run the width of the building and green shingles will top the roof of the building.

Inside, the ground floor will be devoted to the public with a store containing local art and historical items. An auditorium will seat 100 people. The second floor will house a library, two classrooms, climate controlled storage space for artifacts and office space.

A Native American Gallery of 5000 square feet will feature items from the archeological dig that occurred during the 5-lane Parkway widening project down the center of Townsend. The items range from 5000 years old to artifacts made in the 1800s.

In another section of the Center, a 1500 square foot space will be devoted to horse drawn vehicles from the Richard Way collection that include buggies, a mail wagon, road equipment and a freight wagon.

Elsewhere on the 3 acres parcel of land, two pioneer cabins, a cantilevered barn and the original Montvale Station Stage Stop building will draw curious eyes. Yet another area on the site will hold a wheelwright shop, saw mill, grist mill and a Little River Lumber Company “set off” house (small, pre-constructed buildings that were delivered via flatbed trains and literally “set off” the trains about 4 feet from the rails), used by Lumber workers and their families.

The outbuildings will be used as part of the educational programs that are being designed by local educators from Maryville and Alcoa for kindergarteners to 8th graders. Classes will include churning butter, jack talks (storytelling0, rug braiding, birch bark canoes, corn husk dolls, pinch pots of clay, basket making, quilting, rag rugs, Appalachian music and dance.

We look forward to visiting the Great Smoky Mountains Heritage Center when it opens this fall in the Smoky Mountains.

Tennessee Tandom Rally

East Tennessee played host to the third annual Tennessee Tandem Rally June 3rd through June 5th, 2005. Fifty three teams, mostly made up of married couples, rode their two and sometimes 3 seater bicycles throughout differing areas of the eastern part of the state.

The contestants came from all over the United States and Canada, and Sharon Patterson, from Louisville, Tennessee, co-organizer of the ride, remarked on the speeds and the trust that must be attained by partners on the Rallys. “We’ve gotten up to 62 miles an hour” and “if I didn’t trust him (husband Tim), I couldn’t do that.” They have spent the last 18 years biking all over the United States and started the Rally here so other bikers could also enjoy the unique landscape of East Tennessee and the sense of community and friendship that is shared by other bicyclists.

Many of the couples know each other and keep in touch through an online forum, Double forte, which was responsible for bringing the Dave Seto’s of South Carolina to the Tennessee Tandem Rally. After some mountain bike riding in their home state, the Setos drove 12 hours to participate in the Tennessee Rally.

Friday, the event kicked off with a 37 mile ride from Old Walland Highway in Maryville that wound through the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains. Four more rides, ranging from 25 miles to a top of 90 miles were held Saturday and Sunday. Entertainment and good food round out the weekend and plans are already in the discussion stage for the 4th annual Rally next year.

Trillium Cove Appalachian Village

Townsend residents, Tim and Jan Byrd and Dick Olson, president of Earthbound Ltd Partnership, are developing a 6 ½ acre parcel of land near Townsend’s only traffic light into a combination residential and commercial “village.” Each unit in the village will be sold, not leased and the purchasers will also own the land underneath the structures.

To date, a jewelry store, antique store, real estate offices, two restaurants, a coffee shop and an ice cream store have been sold. There will be 25 business units and 10 residences available. “The basic premise is an Appalachian Village. It’s modernized Appalachian architecture,” explained Olson.

“Architecturally they’re all very similar,” said Jan Byrd. “(But) it won’t be a hodgepodge. An architect has already drawn guidelines.” All buildings in the commercial area will face inward and some of the structures should be open this August.

The residences will be located off Old Highway 73 which runs behind the property. Shoppers in the commercial spaces won’t have access to the residential area and won’t be able to just ‘wander in to the residences,” said Byrd.

100 Year Old Cabin Donated to Heritage Center

The Great Smoky Mountain Heritage Center in Townsend, TN has been gifted with a 100 year old log cabin, which has stood for over a century on property owned by Wilma Maples, also owner of the Gatlinburg Inn. It will be used for educational purposes on the new Center’s site.

Originally built by James Andrew Cardwell for his wife and 10 children, the 19th century cabin was dismantled log by log and stone by stone by Freddie Haun and Neil Atkins, general contractors, who tagged and numbered each piece as it came down before its transfer to the Townsend site for rebuilding. Both men are enjoying the “rebirth” of the cabin, and Haun noted that, “It goes up exactly like it went down.” A few of the bottom logs of the cabin had rotted, but in keeping with the age of the cabin, they were replaced with logs that had come from other historic structures.

Bob Patterson, director of the center and a career administrator at museums and historical centers is excited about Heritage Center’s opening which is scheduled for the fall of this year. To date, over 200 artifacts and exhibits have been acquired and Bob is ready to get the public’s reaction to the total property. In addition to the Cardwell cabin, the center will house nine other structures including two cantilever barns, a smokehouse, a non-working outhouse, a wheelwright shop, a sawmill, a gristmill and finally, the original Montvale Station: a stage stop, post office and Civil War troop terminal that witnessed much history in its former location on Montvale Road.

The Heritage Center will play host to many children with summer camps, Holiday camps and special events focused on indigenous arts, music, dance and storytelling. Classes will also be held on site for teaching some of the mountain arts of weaving, making corn husk dolls, and carving, and an amphitheater will provide a venue for the performance arts of music, dance and storytelling.

Three New Offerings in Pigeon Forge

Nearing completion on the Parkway in Pigeon Forge, right next door to the new Fiddler's Feast dinner theatre, are an Italian Restaurant as well as a new seafood house. They look to be open in June of this year. Parallel to the Parkway and opposite the Belz Mall on Teaster Lane is the Murder Mystery/Dinner Theater presented by Little River Productions. The show's owner and Chef, Gerri Blackwell says, "It's an interactive show.....the audience dictates how it goes...and the cast gives out clues along the way".....I have "laughed so hard I cried because of the audience members who were involved in the show.....Sometimes even the cast will break down laughing." Dinner is a multi-course event preceding the show and from all we've heard, it is good!!

Park Employee of the Year Named

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park’s 2004 Employee of the Year was named, and the honor goes to Scott Pardue, who is responsible for supervising staff that provide the visitors programs and ranger guided walks and talks at the North District area of the Park. “He also manages special events such as the Cosby Days in the Park and the Festival of Christmas Past….both long time favorites among our visitors and residents alike,” according to Park Superintendent Dale Ditmanson. Congratulations Scott! You are one of the good reasons that our glorious Smoky Mountains are one of the most visited areas in the United States.

It’s Full Steam Ahead in Townsend!

We’re happy to see that new life has been injected into the Little River Railroad and Lumber Company Museum in Townsend. New construction of a wooden water tank and tower are planned for 2005 and continued improvements will be made to other outdoor displays and a new foundation has been laid for the new shop building.

“The main thing this year is putting up the shop building, which is really a big deal,” said museum President, Jim Thurston. The track is almost finished and Sandy Headrick, museum secretary said, “We’ve seen a marked increase in visitation last season. When people see men pounding spikes and laying new rail the old fashioned way, they just have to stop and take a look.”

The museum features equipment used in the logging industry in what is now the Park land. Recently, a vintage log loader was received as a gift from the Texas Forestry Museum in Lufkin, Texas. “This is the most significant piece of equipment we have obtained for the museum since the Shay locomotive was brought here in 1962,” Thurston said. The log loader is a “huge, steam powered machine that rode atop flatcars in the logging industry,” Thurston continued. “This is one of only five such machines still in existence and may have been used in building the Panama Canal.”

A Frick steam engine, a caboose, two vintage flatcars and a set-off house are included in the outdoor exhibits. “Set off” houses were pre-constructed off site and delivered via flatbed to Townsend for use by the loggers and their families. Barely large enough to hold a pot-bellied stove, bed and kitchen table, the houses were Spartan at best. Large families had to take two of the storage-sized buildings in order to gain any space and the choice of location never varied. These homes were dropped off the flat cars barely four feet from the tracks.

The set off house on exhibit at the museum was relocated from another part of Townsend and was probably built in the 1920s. “We plan to interpret this as it was used in a lumber camp,” said Headrick. “Your front yard might have been three feet deep and your kids played right there on the railroad tracks,” She said renovations on the house would be consistent with how the house would have looked in a lumber camp.

Company History

The Little River Railroad and Lumber Company began in the Blount and Sevier countries’ sections that are now part of the National Park. The Walton and England Tannery in Walland needed tree bark for its operation, and invited Col . W.B. Townsend of Pennsylvania to form the lumber operation.

Townsend bought 100,000 acres of timberland along the Little River and its tributaries, in Cades Cove and along the Pigeon River, and construction began on the railroad in 1902 in Walland. The first 11 miles up to Townsend were completed in 1903, and a 15 mile extension to Elkmont was completed in 1908. Short spurs were run to patches of virgin timber…one being to Clingman’s Dome.

In 1926, Townsend sold 80,000 acres to the state of Tennessee to become part of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, and in 1934, the Park was officially opened. The lumber operation formally closed down its sawmill in 1939.

Fireflies at Elkmont

It’s Time for the Firefly Shows! One of the most popular “shows” of the year will once again take place at the Elkmont Historic District in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The Park is rolling out a special trolley service June 8-19 to begin a pilot project hoping to reduce the crowded conditions, while improving visitor safety and protecting park resources. The popularity of the synchronous light shows, a mating ritual of the fireflies, attracted more than 8,000 visitors last summer during the two week period of greatest activity, and this year more are expected..

“It’s a wonderful experience, but the congestion has taken away from the experience”, said Nancy Gray, park spokeswoman. Last year the parking area was jammed with 300 to 400 vehicles. Therefore, this year, visitors will have to ride a special trolley between Gatlinburg and Elkmont, riding with family and friends, and parking at off-site locations.

Elkmont is “home to a special species of firefly – or lightening bug – that flashes in unison. In 1992, Lynn Faust, a Knoxville resident who grew up working in and staying in the cabins at Elkmont, called attention to the fireflies after reading an article in Science News magazine describing synchronous fireflies in Southeast Asia.” The flashing synchrony of the bugs occurs when swarms of male fireflies surround a female. Beginning about 9:30 p.m., the flashes begin “randomly at first, then in synchronized flashes that last six seconds and then shut down for 10 seconds,” according to biology professor, Jonathan Copeland, of Georgia Southern University, in Statesboro, Ga. Copeland has studied the fireflies for more than a decade, and although he says Elkmont is not the only place where synchronous fireflies put on a show, this area draws the most visitors. Park personnel would like other areas to become as well known in the hopes that the pressure of the crowds and cars could be relieved in the Elkmont area.

Managers at the Park have stated that No parking will be allowed June 8-19, between 5 p.m. and midnight at the Little River Trailhead. This area is strictly reserved as a turn around for the trolleys and carpool drop-offs. Hikers can park here during the day.

The city of Gatlinburg will offer expanded trolley service June 9-12 and June16-19. Trolleys will run every 20—25 minutes between 6 and 11 p.m. and stops include the Sugarlands Visitor Center, Laurel Falls Trailhead and Elkmont. The rides vary from 25 cents to 50 cents and Park rangers will provide guided walks and will also hand out cellophane to cover flashlights so that the lights won’t interfere with the firefly synchrony.

CATCHING FIREFLIES FOR SCIENCE

Every summer, a lab in Maryland buys fireflies to use in tests for food safety and genetic research that could help in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and some forms of cancer. Decades ago, the lab realized Tennessee always led all other states in the number of collected fireflies, as the climate, the humidity, the vegetation and the “Volunteer Spirit” all combine to make collectors ready their nets for four weeks of catching fireflies in the last three weeks of June until July 4.

Dwight Sullivan is the local liaison for the research lab and he recounts growing up in Oak Ridge, TN. and catching fireflies as a boy. Now a California minister, he returns to Tennessee each year for four weeks to purchase fireflies from the collectors in Middle and East Tennessee. “It’s a great sport – not like catching a rabbit or a housefly, but a challenge, nevertheless,” he says.

This year the bounty on fireflies is at an all time high of 36 cents a gram, or about $10.25 per ounce for a fresh supply, which are delivered to local fire stations in frozen batches. Last year the top catcher in Knox County was William Sherrod of Mascot, who caught 774 grams of fireflies for a total of $273. Sullivan will set up his scales at Knoxville Fire Hall No. 16 on Asheville Highway, and wait for the bags of fireflies to start coming in. He said children actually have an advantage over adults “because their line of vision is on level with the insects hovering just above the bushes.”

“I look forward to this,” Sullivan said. “We have East Tennessee collectors that have been collecting for years. They’re likable, motivated and they come in all ages.” He fondly recalls a La Follette woman, “Vergie Sharpe, who collected fireflies with her three-legged dog until she passed away at the age of 82.”

The peak season is from now to about July 4. “Fireflies take about two years to mature, and actually live only about a week in the adult phase that flies around and blinks. Instead of going to an anonymous death, these fireflies are going to help people,” Sullivan said.

Smoky Mountain Blogger

For the past 10 years I have sold advertising space on a website supported heavily by the Cabin and Chalet businesses in the Smoky Mountains. The expansion of that industry carried me and the cabin owners nicely over the years until cabin construction seemed to outpace renters this past two years.

I worried over the dropping numbers of visitors to websites that had been leaders of the Cabin industry here, and I watched in amazement when Campgrounds posted the biggest numbers they had ever felt in their life times. Just when I was certain that the towns of Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge and the Wears Valley area had reached a saturation point of over building, I discovered new developments that are springing up all over the area. I decided the best way to voice my ideas and concerns and hear those of others was to establish a "blog" (web log/journal) on a new website called www.allsmokymountainvacations.com. The blog can be found by typing in the address above, but elminate the .com right after the URL. Instead, type in the following:
www.allsmokymountainvacations.blogspot.com

I would welcome any input from developers, visitors, citizens, students.........give me your ideas and thoughts and comments about visits here........the good and the bad that happened.....what you would like to see here, do here. This is followed by a short travelogue of sights I noticed on my last trip from Pigeon Forge into Townsend. I was pretty surprised at what I discovered and hope you will be enticed into a visit!

My first post was about the fantastic Pigeon Forge Village, Belle Island and the 12-cinema Riverwalk development that will create top-quality experiences for local families as well as the out-of-state vacationer to Pigeon Forge. The locals have always patronized Dollywood, Splash Country and some of the go cart tracks, but little else has attracted families to the area besides the beloved Park and the Smokies. This is finally going to change!

Traveling out of Pigeon Forge through Wears Valley towards Townsend, I was delighted to see the Smoky Ridge development on the left looking well populated and "finished" eventhough construction is on-going. No pretense is made about having wooded sites for the cabins to reside in, but interestingly, the site was not leveled for development and the hills and homes instill architectural magic to the resort.

Entering the heart of Wears Valley, I was relieved to see the horrors of wide-scale construction on the mountain sides have been healed by the green of grass. Artist Steven Spangler has incorporated his art into a new store designed to furnish your cabin to the last detail, including beds, entertainment centers and all the furniture one would need.

A little further on finds a new family restaurant, more family oriented than the well-known gourmet, dinner-by-reservation, Grist Mill across the street. Cove Mountain, Timbercreek and Volunteer Cabin rentals have been joined by Little River Cabin Rentals, the Homestead development and something I did not have time to investigate, called Wilderness Mountain.

On the outskirts of Townsend, the Rafting and Tubing companies flank the river, and as I get on the main drag through town, I find a new development going up with a high wooden fence behind it. It turns out to be the new Trillium Cove Appalachian Village, which will offer a unique look at quaint shops that front on a common area, with private residential construction behind, protected from the commercial area. Twenty five shops, galleries, and restaurants are expected here on the 6 i/2 acre plot.

Then the fabulous new Great Smoky Mountain Heritage Center comes into view, and they score a hugh plus with their plans for an educational and historical center devoted to the Native Indians, the first settlers, and the logging industry that thrived here in the early 1900s. What started out as a disaster, the 5-lane Parkway through Townsend, has ended in a judicial use of items found in the archeological digs that resulted when the Native Indians demanded responsibility for the burial remains in the area. Now exhibits of found, broken artifacts will be matched up with similar, intact items on loan from the McClung Museum at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

Classes at the Heritage Center wil be held for students of Kindergarten age up to 8th graders......and they will learn how to carve wood, churn butter, weave, make corn husk dolls, use herbs in dyeing cloth and other mountain skills. An auditorium seating 100 people is also on site with two large exhibit rooms for Native Indian artifacts and an antique vehicle exhibit with buggies, stage wagons, mail wagons and more.

New life has been breathed into the Little Railroad and Logging Company museum in Townsend, with new antique equipment and original buildings that were moved here to replicate the post office, and ticket office and train station of years past. The area is reminiscent of a sleepy little depot in the mountains, and the new additions have added much charm to its site.

I was met with a delightful surprise when I entered the Village Market to find good, local hand crafted art work, craft displays and unique kitchenware inside. They also have a wonderful selection of produce, meats and fresh seafood. I mentioned its resemblance to a west Knoxville business and wasn't surprised to learn that is where the owners had been.

While eating lunch, I happened on ads in the local Townsend Traveler for another Gourmet market, called "In the Woods" which proclaims to have a custom butcher, with imported fine foods and fresh food to go. This ad appeared just above one for the Trailhead Steak House, featuring Prime Angus Feef and Alaskan Halibut at an address that must be next door. I will check these out on my next trip.

In short, I came home feeling encouraged and optimistic about the future of our area. Millions of dollars are being poured into new roads to relieve the traffic problems, and millions more are being pumped into developments of high-class visitor interest throughout the area's towns.
Maybe we'll finally see the end of the Hill Billy memorabilia culture and the fake Indian moccasins that misrepresented the area over the last 30 years.

Anyway, all of the new destinations, restaurants, shops and museums are worthy of visits and will be embraced by vacationers and citizens alike. But my hat's really off to Townsend for their work in securing and treasuring the local history. Preserving and promoting history is a weighty obligation and it just seems fitting that those who choose to follow this path, should also be successful in the achievement of it. I can't wait to visit the Heritage Center and the Appalachina Village this fall and walk through the Railroad and Lumber Company exhibit on my next visit.

Pigeon Falls Village and Main Street Marketplace Development Unveiled

The exciting plans for the new Pigeon Falls Village were unveiled Monday, May 9th, on a former 114 acre farm located on the northern side of Teaster Lane, just east of the Belz Outlet Shopping Center. The $600 million development rivals plans that have already been announced for the Belle Island project just across the street, on land bordering the West Prong of the Little Pigeon River. Adjacent to that development, Riverwalk Park is also going forward with a lifestyle center and a $10 million , 12-screen movie theater.

Pigeon Falls Village LLC, an Orlando, Fl. based investors group, and Michael McCall, President of Strategic Leisure, Inc, the Maryland-based designer/developer hosted a presentation on site Monday to describe their efforts to create a “totally immersed Smoky Mountains experience” unlike any other in the area. It will include restaurants, luxury hotels, condos, retail, a water park with a 70 foot manmade waterfall, a miniature golf course and an interactive entertainment facility called the “Reality Play”, which will use digital production equipment to create the illusion that the audience is on stage......An actor comes out and as he or she starts telling a story, the room becomes a reflection of that story and the audience gets the feeling of really being on stage in the set. It’s a very powerful experience. The room changes as the story evolves,” McCall said.

The Reality Play will be part of an entertainment facility for families that will include bowling, billiards and other adult and children’s participatory games. The project is unique to Pigeon Forge in that it is based on a pedestrian scale in a “contained thematic environment”. Visitors can walk to everything within the Village and the parking will be abundant.

The first timetable we’ve seen shows the Lifestyle Center and the Theater Complex scheduled for 2006, followed by the first hotel, the water park and related facilities in the Pigeon Forge Village for 2007. The balance of the extensive project’s retail, restaurant and related facilities should be open in 2008, followed by more hotels and condominiums in 2009 and 2010.

Many articles have appeared in journals and magazines excoriating this tourist mecca of Pigeon Forge as the “tackiest” city in the United States, but we are encouraged that three developments of the scope and vision of the Pigeon Falls Village, Belle Island and the Riverwalk complex will put that adjective to rest forever more!