Blog for Zipline Attraction in the Smoky Mountains
Located in Pigeon Forge, TN and near Gatlinburg and Sevierville.
Blog posts for January 2016
Last week, we started digging back into the history books a little bit, exploring the fascinating stories of the people and events that led to the founding of Sevier County's three primary towns – Sevierville, Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg. We kicked our three-part series off last time around with a look back at the origins of Sevierville. This week, we continue with the history of Pigeon Forge.
The Smoky Mountain communities of Sevierville, Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg represent the pulse of what this region has to offer, at least outside Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Most visitors probably regard them primarily as homes to numerous lodging properties, attractions, restaurants and shops, but it's interesting to note that each town's history predates the era of tourism, which began around the 1940s and started growing in earnest in the 1980s and '90s.
Hey, sports fans! We know who you are…. You're that person who eats, breathes and sleeps sports – anything from football, basketball and baseball to cricket, golf and even curling. If it involves a ball or a helmet, chances are you're interested. You're either in the stadium or in front of the TV for the College Football Championship, the Super Bowl, the World Series, the World Cup and the Final Four of college basketball.
If you'll notice, we put “off-season” in quotation marks in the title of this blog post. That's because things have changed around here in the Great Smoky Mountains over the past 25 years. It used to be that once January 1 rolled around, most businesses – especially the hotels and attractions – would close their doors and remain out of commission until spring came.