Four score and 2 years ago this June, my new bride and I were honeymooning in a small but busy town in the "Great Smoky Mountains" of Tennessee. Nestled between mountains Gatlinburg was and is a gateway to the national park. Now in 2006 we find ourselves revisiting the Gatlinburg area with our RV.
Traveling with his wife from North Carolina in 1855 Radford Gatlin arrived at the settlement, which would later bear his name. He acquired land and built a store in the area of the intersection of Parkway and Roaring Fork Road. Five years later the new postmaster was looking for space for the post office. Hearing this Gatlin offered him space in his store in exchange for renaming the town Gatlinburg.
Almost at the city limits is the entrance to the Smoky Mountains so for over 50 years Gatlinburg has been known as the "Gateway to the Great Smoky Mountains". The main street in town is about 2 miles in length consisting of every tourist trap item known to man. Touted as an arts and crafts center most of what I saw wasn't made in this country. Well perhaps the signs that have your name engraved on them in the likeness of your dog, cat or motorhome. Yes we got one! There were lots of 1960's collectables. There is icon memorabilia such as Coca Cola and John Deere to Nascar and Disney. Places to eat range from "MickeyD's" or the "king" to mid priced café's and out of sight priced cuisine dining. Motels and inns run the same gamut.
One of the really neat things to do here is stay in a log cabin. These things are everywhere hidden in the dense woods. The cabins may be a little hard to find but the street hawkers surely are not. These, usually gals, remind me of a red light district but instead of "Hey sailor!" it's " Excuse me are you folks on vacation?" There is also a time-share due to open soon that will pay you $100.00 to listen to their spiel. Good luck sitting through one of those sales pitches. Did I mention that this town was the "gateway to the Great Smoky Mountains"? This is something it seems to me lost in the hustle and bustle of this little town.
Parking is tricky here as there is little or no parking on the streets. Most of the parking is off of the main street. Two things I found. One most parking will not accommodate oversized vehicles. Two park at either end of town. The lots in town center are on side streets and full so you wind up wandering on very narrow streets. Thus you will end up back at the outermost lots anyhow.
All in all it if you want to see the Smoky Mountains this so far is the town to launch from even though it has the touristy stuff it just might be a bit quieter than some of the other locations.
