New Pigeon Forge Visitor Center

Dolly’s image and voice appear on the large flat screen television on the wall of the visitor center, and she urges you to see what is happening in Pigeon Forge today. Just step into the 34-seat theater and the doors close automatically behind you as the screen comes to life.

The theater displays well-programmed presentations of mountain scenery, shopping malls, Dollywood, rollicking shows and Christmas lights, along with the latest attractions, shops and restaurants that make up this very busy foothills town. It gives visitors a quick, thorough overview about what is available in the area.

Kay Powell, Assistant Director of the Department of Tourism for Pigeon Forge, said, ‘It’s magic. A lot of times, people don’t know what they want,” and the presentations make them “ask more questions.” She is seeing larger numbers of vacationers visit the area more frequently for shorter periods of time. It is not unheard of for groups of people to come here 6 times during the year. Powell said, “some people even come nine times a year”, and we need “to show them what’s new.”

The new, $100,000 system allows for easy additions or deletions to be made to the presentation, and as Rouser Company GM, Martin Rouser added, “the program allows audio and video files in any format, including high-definition video, to be easily dragged and dropped into sequence.” It’s “much easier than with conventional methods of presentation,” he said. “It’s extremely flexible.”

Great News for the Park’s Gorgeous Hemlock Trees

Finally, the park managers are getting results from one of the many different treatments they have tried on old growth and new growth hemlock forests in the Smokies that have been decimated by the woolly adelgid.

Two and a half years ago, park personnel treated the trees with a nicotine-based insecticide which was injected into the soil or directly into the tree if located close to water. Tom Remaley, forester with the Smokies, said recent lab test revealed traces of the chemical are still present in the needles of the treated trees, and he added, “the important thing is that the treated hemlocks were green and had new growth. They stood out in stark contrast to the untreated hemlocks, which had gray, transparent crowns.”

The woolly adelgid is just one of many pests that have killed more than 90 percent of the park’s Frasier firs between 1960s and 1990. Soap sprays and tiny predator beetles that feed on the woolly adelgid have also been used to combat the damage done by the destructive pests, but the results are not in as to their effectiveness yet.

Park crews have now treated all the hemlocks in the front-country campground and developed areas, and they have expanded their efforts to include hemlocks in old-growth areas like Albright Grove and Cataloochee. The hemlocks grown along streams and provide shade for fish and water animals during the summer. The Smokies contain almost 90,000 acres of forest where hemlocks make up 4,950 acres of pure hemlock forests and 800 acres of old-growth hemlocks that are at least 150 years old.

The magnitude of the effort to rid the park of the woolly little pests is best imagined with a drive through the park on a lovely day. The huge number of hemlocks and firs contained in the park is mind boggling when viewed from the roadside, and the number of hiking miles to get to them all has to be astronomical. The park managers and personnel have to be congratulated on a job well done, for the loss of just one of the gorgeous hemlocks is a tragedy to lovers of the Smokies.

Tuckaleechee Caverns Adds New Seismic Attraction

In collaboration with TVA and the University of Tennessee, the Vananda family of Townsend, Tennessee, owner’s of the world famous Tuckaleechee Caverns, are adding a monitor for earthquakes and nuclear blasts as part of the international Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization verification program.

The seismometer is about the size of a large bucket and it transmits information via a cable to a console center located in the welcome center for the Tuckaleechee Caverns. Visitors can watch the earth’s movements on a monitor. This is the second monitor placed inside the caverns. The first one stopped functioning several years ago.

The equipment is sensitive enough to detect an earthquake in California of a magnitude of 0.5 or greater. The data ends up being sent to TVA and then on to Vienna, Austria where the center for the Test Ban Treaty Organization is located.

Abrams Creek - Best Kept Secret to Great Fishing

Many hikers and visitors to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park are familiar with the Abrams Creek area before it goes over Abrams Falls and drops downhill past Abrams Campground almost 500 feet and 7 miles to the Chilhowee Lake. That 7 mile stretch is isolated and hard to reach and usually too shallow to traverse easily in a canoe without having to drag it long distances over slippery, moss-covered rocks and trees. Ah ha, the reason then is obvious as to why the secret of good fishing here has been divulged at last. Very few float, fish and camp afionados are comfortable with the added verb "drag" being thrown into their day of relaxation, and we now know it takes a special breed of sportsman to attempt this 7 mile drop to Chilhowee Lake.

Gerry Dickens, son Zack and friends Billy Fly and Bob Hodge, are the avid fisherman/sportsmen/athletes who are willing to take the chances, watch the weather and keep their fingers crossed for a good spate of rain. They also have the patience to wait for the murky creek to settle before using the skills and energy needed to traverse the downed trees and mossy covered rocks in the creek, and to lug the canoes when they reach a dry patch.They also have a better than normal chance of finding the pools of fish along the creek. The water here is too warm for trout, but the small mouth bass and redeye bass catches can be awesome. For instance, in just two days of intermittent fishing, three of the guys pulled out over 150 over-the-size-limit small mouth using a white tube jig with one-sixteenth-ounce heads. I said three guys because Bob Hodge, who also writes for the News Sentinel, was supposed to go along on the trip but ran late and told the three to go on ahead of him. He would "catch up" to them as soon as he could.

After reading Bob's article in the Sunday section of the Sentinel, it makes me wonder if he had ever traveled the same footage required of his "catch up", as it was a harrowing trip even without having to drag along a canoe. He met a poisonous Copperhead on top of one of the rocks and a northern water snake who "thinks they are" poisonous as well, and he had to keep picking himself up after a continuous series of walk-slip-falls, walk-slip-falls, etc. He admits to coming very well equipped with plenty of food in case something went wrong. "I had a compass, first aid kit, two flashlights with extra batteries, a sleeping bag and my best I'm lost-an-over-here whistle. I also had my backpack, fishing rod, a micro tackle box and a pair of exstra shoes. Unfortunately, I also brought along my 44 year old legs," Bob said with a chuckle. I guess this accounts for the walk-slip-falls portion of his ordeal.

Anyway, he was constantly in and out of the water, trying to push through thick rhododendron which didn't work and back into the water to slide some more. He continues, "it was while I was crawling over a big pine that my hand slipped...and when I looked at my pinky it was pointing in three directions, the skin was twisted and it was already swelling."

After continuing another 150 yards, Bob realized he was staring trouble in the face and he turned back retracing "my steps to the car. I didn't even wet a hook."

The doctor deadened his hand so he could pop my finger back into place. "My pinky was dislocated and broke all at once, but after some pulling, followed by snapping and crackling, it was whole again", he added. However, when he learned from Gerry that they had caught over 100 smallmouth, Bob admitted that, "I don't know what hurts more."

Endangered Hemlocks Get More Help

A boost in funding from the federal government and Friends of the Smokies has enabled the National Park to expand its efforts to save the hemlock trees.

Early this year, Park Rangers released over 50,000 predator beetles and hope to release another 100,000 this winter. With the help of Americorps volunteers, the Rangers also treated trees at all 100 backcountry campsites and at all front country campgrounds, picnic areas and historic sites. The methods used included soap sprays, soil drenches and trunk injections.

Hemlocks throughout the Appalachians are being besieged by the hemlock woolly adelgid, a tiny Asian insect that was first confirmed in the Smokies in 2002. If not stopped, the adelgid will wipe out most of the hemlocks here.

The Eastern hemlock is one of the most common trees in the southern Appalachian Mountains, and in the Smokies alone over 700 acres of old-growth hemlock are being treated by Park crews. If the predator beetles can get established in the Smokies, it would be the most cost effective way to reduce hemlock mortality.

Free Entry to the Smoky Mountains National Park

There are 54 national parks in the United States that are accessible by roads, and they each charge from $10 to $20 per car for entry. The only one that allows free access is the Great Smoky Mountain National Park that serves as a border to both East Tennessee and Western North Carolina. Over 9 million people visit the Park every year.

Just prior to establishing the National Park, the state of Tennessee transferred ownership of Newfound Gap Road to the federal government, the only major road crossing the mountains from Tennessee to North Carolina. Tennessee stipulated in 1936, that “no toll or license fee shall ever be imposed…” for visitors or travelers of the road. The Park managers said there are no current plans to take any such action to the Tennessee legislature.

In 2000, a survey about public attitudes towards entrance fees found that eighty-six percent of the respondents indicated that the amount they paid for entrance to various parks was “just about right” or ‘too little”, so it is fairly obvious that an entrance fee for admittance to the Smokies would be taken in stride by the vacationing public. We think an entrance fee would help provide electric transport in the Smokies that would help with the pollution

Another survey of the members of the Great Smoky Mountain Association was done in 2004 and it pointed up some interesting concerns. Among other topics that received “very interested in” marks from the members were:

Transportation issues in Cades Cove
Hiking in the Smokies
Park plants and animals
Park history
Threats to the Park
Things to see and do in the park
New publications about the park

A high percentage of the members of the GSMA, over 85%, rated their association as “Outstanding”, and they value the 15% discount that comes with the membership. They also value the publications that are put out by the Association, including the Bearpaw, the Smokies Guide and Sightline.

Good News in Townsend!

Under its new ownership, Maple Leaf Lodge will partner with the famed Blackberry Farm in Walland, TN to expand its level of services to a four star resort, and increase the size of its rustic facility from the current 15,000 square foot lodge with 12 rooms, plus 17 cabins and a 2,000 square-foot meeting facility to 15 to 25 more cabins, a full service restaurant and 45 more rooms at the lodge within the next 3 years.

Matt Alexander, former General Manager of Blackberry Farms is now at the helm of Maple Leaf Lodge, and wants to bring the same expertise he worked with at Blackberry to bear on the guests experience at Maple Leaf Lodge.

Maple Leaf will operate at a lower price point than Blackberry Farms, but the service, the food and the accommodations will mirror the experience guests receive at the famed Blackberry Farms.

During his tenure at Blackberry, Matt was part of the team that opened an Aveda-concept Farmhouse spa, doubled the size of the estate and received numerous awards including Zagat’s 2003 and 2004 “#1 Small Hotel”, “#1 Hotel for Service”, and “#1 Hotel for Dining.” Blackberry has also been awarded the best business in Blount County for two consecutive years by the Chamber of Commerce.

Lily Barn and Company in the News Again!

It is exciting to watch a special place evolve, and under the careful tutelage of one of Knoxville's doctors, we are fortunate to be sharing in the growth and expansion of the Lily Barn, one of Townsend, Tennessee's treasures.

What began as a 67 acre field of a few lilies with an antique 1880s cantilevered barn has been transformed into a 95 acre fairyland of waterways, covered bridges, a gift shop, rustic cabins, a pavillion, a gazebo, a tree maze and a greenhouse. There is no charge to tour the exquisite landscape and the owners, Dr. Janice Fillmore and her husband Steve, co-owner of Maryville's Foothills Contracting, were able to parlay a $10,000 gift from Janice's mother into the extensive plantings of lilies and wildflowers that cover the multi-faceted complex today.

"We lived and breathed this land when we first began with the gardens and construction," relates Janice Fillmore. She remembers carrying buckets of water with her friend and helper, Brenda Stewart, before an irrigation system was established.

"We were just hoping and praying that something would bloom," said Brenda. And the blooms didn't fail them. Open year-round, the Lily Barn is an "English-style lily garden that looks as if it has always been there, tucked away into nature's landscape," said Debbie Willbourne, the general manager of the place. "This is just nature at it's best. You just have to see if for yourself," Debbie added.

Dr. Fillmore is passionate about gardening, beauty and the mountains and she does her best to hide any efforts at commercialization, saying the raison d'etre of the Lily Barn"doesn't involve mounds of concrete and commercialization. That's not (commercialization) what I remember about going to the mountains as a child. I remember nature and the beauty of it all."

In the last year and a half, Dr. Fillmore has also added the Heartland Little River Wedding Chapel to her porfolio of properties, and then at the beginning of July, she opened Miss Lily's Cafe Floral and Gifts, just a few miles from the Lily Barn. Catering for weddings and other current events is available and the bakery is open daily to the public.

Multi-tasked, multi-talented and multi-familied, the alliance of the Fillmores's and daughter, arah Fillmore Greeway, with the well-known family of Willbournes, famed local artist John and wife, Debbie, GM of the property, along with Willbourne daughter, Rachel, bring assets galore to the planning tables of this remarkable group of people. Maybe this is just the beginning of a creative exploration into all the possibilities that are inherent in this beautiful mountain community? We certainly look forward to reporting on anything new they choose to introduce.

The vibrance of the Fillmore/Willbourne families and their stories echoes a similar emergence in Townsend of other new developments that have sparked the imagination and ingenuity of residents and developers there. We are just as excited about the new Smoky Mountain Heritage Center and the Trillium Cove Appalachian Center that are going up on Townsend's main street.

We applaud them all and look forward to our next trip to Townsend, Tennessee.

Little River Railroad and Lumber Company Museum Update

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.

“Lost” Manuscript on Cherokee Indians Found

In 1951, Willliam Banks was studying for his Masters of Science at the University of Tennessee, when he decided to do his thesis on the use of plants by the Cherokee Indians. An article published in the Autumn 2004 edition of the Bearpaw, a publication put out by the Great Smoky Mountain Association tells us about the interesting true story.

The next spring William and his wife moved onto the Cherokee Reservation in western North Carolina and rented a room there to begin his research and writing. One of his first contacts was with the Librarian of the Cherokee Government School and eventually he developed good working network with over 14 other knowledgeable elders and herb doctors. They walked many acres through the rich forests and hours were spent with the Cherokees going over various plant specimens.

The Cherokees were very cooperative and generous with their time and their information. The very few that weren’t feared that sharing their remedies and cures might diminish their powers. To gain their trust, Banks promised that he would never profit from the information he obtained from them.

Banks took copious notes over the course of three months spent on the reservation and he repeatedly interviewed the elders about the centuries of wisdom that was distilled in this generation of Indians. Unbelievably, the Cherokees didn’t pass much of this same information on to their next generation, so William’s thesis was really the only comprehensive, detailed listing of herbarium specimens identified by both the common names and scientific names ever recorded. “And, in an unfortunate twist of fate, the copies of the thesis that Banks gave to the University of Tennessee libraries, disappeared.”

The article continues, “Some 50 years after Banks made his sojourn to the reservation, his manuscript resurfaced. Naturalist and medicinal plant specialist Ila Hatter was giving an herb lore seminar at the Great Smoky Mountain Institute at Tremont,” when she was approached by a student in the audience who said she had something in her attic that might interest Hatter. It was the Banks manuscript.

Hatter brought the manuscript to the Association’s office at the Park headquarters and the staff immediately “recognized the value of the manuscript and contacted William Banks in Louisville, Kentucky in order to get permission to publish the manuscript. “Banks agreed, but remembering his pledge a half century earlier, insisted that his royalties be donated to a fund that would benefit the Cherokees.”

The Association updated the scientific plant names that had changed since the 1950s, added plant illustrations and kept everything else just about the same.

The book, Plants of the Cherokee, covers over “300 species of plants, from ferns to tree to wildflowers, and lists the many ways they were used by the Cherokee. Most of the uses are medicinal. There are treatments for coughs, colds, sore throat, measles, bee sting, snakebite, poor circulations, swollen feet, fever, indigestions, rheumatism, toothache, headache, complications during pregnancy, thrush, diabetes, cramps, bad memory, backache, fainting, even cancer and impotency. Although some of the ailments are unfamiliar to most modern American (“bad disease,” “disordered saliva,” “dreaming of snakes”), their inclusion reveals details about the culture of the Cherokee.”

You can order your copy of the book by contacting 1-888-898-9102 or www.SmokiesStore.com. The cost of the book is $11.95. Members of the Great Smoky Mountain Association receive a 15% discount.

GSMA Budgets over $1 Million for Park

The National Park Service will benefit from a total of $1.7 million derived from the Great Smoky Mountain Association’s sales at park bookstores, its website and member’s dues. The amount is $500,000 greater than what the association provided last year.

There are no entrance fees charged to the public to drive into the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and it is interesting to us that this one association can spread their funds wide enough to cover the following highlights of the park budget:

$169,400 to pay salaries for seasonal rangers who staff visitor centers and present interpretive walks and talks in the park. This sum will include a new ranger stationed on Mt. Le Conte who will contact day hikers, backpackers, and lodge guests and stress different ways these users can help preserve the fragile eco-system atop the mountain.

$100,000 for supplies, equipment and personnel for the save the hemlock trees project.

$25,750 to sponsor the ongoing bear population monitoring project conducted by the University of Tennessee, including the work of a bear warden.

$127,000 for the Appalachian Highlands Science Learning Center at Purchase Knob, located above Maggie Valley. Funds will cover facility renovations and mini grants for scientific research.

$20,000 for the ongoing experimental elk reintroduction project.

$72,000 for the All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory – a project to identify all species of plants and animals in the Smokies.

$72,500 for the continuing environmental education provided for adults and children at Tremont in the Park.

$31,000 for two seasonal wildlife technicians to control bears and non native wild hogs.

$27,000 to mow Cades Cove fields. This preserves the beauty and the historical integrity of the cove and enhances the wildlife viewing for visitors.

$26,000 to store the park’s artifact collection in Oak Ridge, TN.

$13,000 for air quality monitoring equipment.

Biodiesel Used in GSMA Truck

The purchase in 2004 of a diesel delivery van by the Great Smoky Mountain Association has proved itself to be a good one. The van is used to transport merchandise from the warehouse to visitor centers, and the new generation engine gets very good mileage and produces much less pollution than a regular diesel or gas vehicle.

“Standing right beside it,” says Terry Maddox, GSMA Executive Director, “You can’t hear it or smell it.”

A Maryville supplier provides biodiesel and delivers the fuel to a tank at the Sugarlands center in the park. The fuel is 20% vegetable product and some of it comes from recycled fat from restaurant deep fat fryers.

Next year, regular diesel will be refined in a new process that will remove sulfur and other pollutants and the park vehicles will be able to use either fuel. Biodiesel fuel gets about the same mileage as gasoline, but it burns cleaner with less pollution.