Gatlinburg, Tennessee

On October 11, 2018, we left Spencer, Tennessee and headed about 150 miles east to Gatlinburg, Tennessee, where we stayed for one week. A mountain town on the eastern side of the state, Gatlinburg is known as a gateway to the 520,000-acre Great Smoky Mountain National Park. We managed to squeeze in lots of touring and hiking while we were there, including a couple of visits the National Park, a walking tour of downtown Gatlinburg, a tour of the Salt & Pepper Museum, and a tour of the near-by town of Pigeon Forge. Gatlinburg is such an extreme tourist town, I am devoting this entire post to a description and pictures of that alone, with separate posts covering our other activities.

Gatlinburg is a resort city located 39 miles southeast of Knoxville, and has a population of just under 4,000 permanent residents. But on any given day, those numbers can swell dramatically, with Sevier County hosting over 12 million people each year. It’s hard to explain what we experienced, but hopefully the many pictures in this post will help me do the job. The town is an amazing combination of amusement parks, ski resort, churches, wineries, tourist themed museums (such as Ripley’s Believe It or Not, Hollywood Stars car museum, Dukes of Hazard museum), souvenir shops, restaurants, clothing stores, artists, and musicians, all rolled up into one big festive “come sit a spell” celebratory southern style hospitality. I can’t remember how  many places where I saw big rocking chairs set out for anyone to take advantage of.

The Gatlinburg SkyLift takes visitors up 1,800 feet to the top of Crockett Mountain, and the Gatlinburg Space Needle provides 360-degree views of the Smoky Mountains from its 407-foot observation tower. Because of the ease of obtaining a marriage license in Tennessee, Gatlinburg is a popular wedding destination and has more than 20 wedding chapels in the town and surrounding area.

Unbeknownst to us, and what may have explained the massive gridlock we experienced in the area, Gatlinburg is one of the top places to see fall foliage in the United States, and downtown Gatlinburg goes all out to adorn the city with lavish fall decorations to kick off the Smoky Mountain Harvest Festival. I was more than impressed with all the fall themed décor, everywhere we turned, including, and starting with, the RV Park we stayed in. During the  Christmas season, the entire downtown area is decorated with lights for the Winterfest Celebration that takes place from November through February.

We really had a great time the day we took off on foot to walk up and down the downtown streets, trying to take in the fun and vibrant surroundings. It  was truly a unique experience