Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg, and the Great Smoky Mountains
A week long trip to Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg, and the Great Smoky Mountains.
The Island at Pigeon Forge
When my mom said it was her dream to go to Tennessee, specifically this area, my family was completely confused about why. But then we realized that the area my mother wanted to go to Dolly Parton was born in, and so we began to realize that this was, essentially, a big tourist area.
And so when my eldest sister went to this region for her trip in 2020, despite it literally being a COVID hot spot, my mother was finally convinced that it was time to make the trek down to Tennessee. And so we rented a cabin in the mountains, a little outside of the town of Pigeon Forge, and drove eight hours down to Tennessee. This is our experience!
Smoky Mountains National Park
Driving from Maryland to Tennessee was a long, but fulfilling process.
We drove from Maryland to Tennessee, which, to be honest, wasn’t as bad as we thought it would be. It was an eight hour trek without traffic and the need to stop—which both existed, so it ended up being somewhere between nine and ten hours.
After heading in Pigeon Forge and discovering the traffic was absolutely terrible on the main road (avoid rush times. That main road is absolutely horrible traffic-wise), we headed down to the Sunliner Diner since we were starving. There we got a taste of the huge portions the South has to offer.
I ordered chicken and waffles; while this was indeed delicious, spicy and the perfect amount of savory, it was indeed too spicy for my taste buds.
We headed to our cabin, which had the most amazing hot tub and view of the mountains, and rested for the next day. The next morning, after my Bengali class, we headed out to the caverns called the Forbidden Caverns. Basically, you go up to three hundred feet below the mountain where you can see the natural rock formations.
You’ll also discover that the Native Americans would hold council meetings down there, there’s a freshwater river literally inside of the mountain, and during Prohibition people snuck into the mountain and made moonshine down there. It’s really fascinating history in these caverns, despite them now being a tourist attraction.
Forbidden Caverns
In Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, there’s so much to do that you’ll never be bored.
There’s way too much to do in Pigeon Forge. That night we had dinner at Dolly Parton’s Stampede, which was literally the worst meal I’ve ever had. More on that in the food section of this post (down below). All in all, if you don’t read that, the gist is that I don’t recommend the Stampede at all. My family isn’t into rollercoasters, so we chose to do this instead of going to Dollywood.
Notable places we went to after this was rafting along the Tennessee rivers—this was insanely fun, highly recommend if you’re into nature or white-water rafting at all—, the Titanic Museum, the Wax Museum, Gatlinburg, the Island at Pigeon Forge, and the Great Smoky Mountains.
The Titanic Museum is apparently the largest in the world. This was my pick to go to and thought it was a nice experience. They have a bunch of recovered artifacts as well as replicas of what it was like: e.g. the freezing water, a thing of the sloped deck to see if you could walk up.
They also did a Holocaust-Museum style concept where they gave you a person and saw if you survived at the end. I did, of course. I also enjoyed the emphasis on Jewish passengers they added this year, as well as how they mentioned the only Black man on the ship.
Gatlinburg had that tourist-y street vibe, like a boardwalk stretch but along the mountains. It was insanely crowded there and no one really wore masks, which made us anxious during COVID-times. The Island was a nice place to walk around and get dinner or buy souvenirs—we recommend Byrd’s cookies.
Gatlinburg
The Great Smoky Mountains were insanely nice to drive through. The national park is one big loop with places to stop and linger in, and sometimes you can spot animals like black bears. I only spotted a moose along with the turkeys and horses at the beginning, but the scenery was so nice. We rolled down the windows and got blasts of that fresh, fresh mountain air. This is highly recommended from our family!
I wish we went to Alcatraz East. It was weeks later did I discover that was originally the National Crime Museum in Washington D.C., they had just relocated to Pigeon Forge of all places. My regret is real because who knows when I’ll be back in this area.
The real highlight of this trip, however, was our cabin. It was located on Legacy Mountain Resort and had the most stunning view from the hot tub. We all raved about how we could just do a staycation in that cabin alone. 10/10 would recommend staying in a cabin in that area, the sunsets and sunrises are insane from the cabin.
Our last mountain sunset at the cabin :c
A food itinerary for the area.
Sunliner Diner. This was our first stop. Their milkshakes are very expensive, so are their desserts, but don’t be fooled: the portions for everything on the menu are huge. I got chicken and waffles and couldn’t finish the food because there was so much of it. My mother then ordered a chocolate sundae and it fed three of us, that’s how big it was. This is a popular joint and we can see why, it serves classic fifties style Americana fare. Rating: 4.5/5
Old Mill Restaurant. Serves Southern food. They’re known as the best restaurant in the area and serve huge portions as well. We went for lunch. They start off with corn chowder soup, corn fritters, and biscuits. Then you pick an entree; the meats all come with green beans, mashed potatoes, and a side unique to the dish. I got the pulled pork and that extra side was a coleslaw. The dinner portion comes with a house salad and dessert. We were stuffed with the lunch portion; I found the food to be mediocre. Worth it for the big portions. 3/5
Old Mill Pottery House Cafe. Located next to the Old Mill Restaurant. They have lighter options. They also bake their own bread and desserts, which was really nice to see. They also use pottery they make and sell next door, which was really cute. I went over and bought an insanely nice clay mug for only $23. The food here is decent, it seemed better than the Old Mill Restaurant, but I’m biased against Southern dishes. Rating: 4/5
Gigi’s Cupcakes. My family stopped here for cupcakes. I didn’t get one, but the rest of my family said they were insanely good. I trust their word.
Thai Basil Restaurant. We got this when we were sick of the Southern food. It was a really nice place, they actually listened to COVID protocols and took it seriously. I liked my pad thai a lot, while my family liked their fried rices. This honestly was my favorite place on the trip food-wise. Rating: 5/5
Dolly Parton’s Stampede. We ordered the vegetarian meals and my god it was the worst thing I ever ate. They deadass served us frozen vegetables from a bag plain with no sauce. It was so shameful that we paid $60 for Walmart vegetables. We didn’t even eat half of our plates. Biscuit was salty, potato was dry, and we tried my father’s pork loin, which also was terrible. Rating: 0/5
Best Italian Parkway. Another Southern palate cleanser. We all ordered the spaghetti. It’s extremely hard to mess up spaghetti. They get bonus points for giving three garlic knots per person. It’s a thumbs up from me. Rating: 3.5/5
Five Oaks Farm Kitchen. This was my favorite Southern restaurant. I recommend putting your name on the waitlist before you get there, since there’s usually a line out the door. And boy I could see why after the food and decor. They nailed their aesthetic. With your entree you get to pick three sides, and so I got pulled pork, corn on the cob, coleslaw, and macaroni and cheese. The portions were huge and this was delicious. Rating: 5/5
