Sevierville is the first of the three (the others are Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge) that you come to after turning off I-81 and heading south into the Tennessee mountains. As you arrive there, you’ll see signs of construction on every side, because the city has great hopes and plans for becoming a major tourist destination. Fortunately, they have a development plan that will ensure the construction of more attractive commercial buildings than have been the norm in adjacent cities.
Stay at the Wilderness Resort
There already are comfortable and reasonably-priced accommodations in Sevierville; one of them, the Wilderness Resort, will soon have the largest indoor water park in the Southeast, which could make it target number one for families with kids that are into that. But Sevierville has hardly focused only on accommodations: for example, they have a brand new, adventure attraction, called the Wahoo Zipline, and a now-permanent acrobatic show known as the Cirque de Chine. Either one of those is enough to draw me back to their city.
Feature Attractions in Sevierville
The Cirque de Chine is reminiscent of other “cirques” you may have heard of, or even seen, but I find it to be better than the others. Frankly, I believe that there are differences between races and ethnicities, and the Chinese are, simply, better athletes than the French. I was especially impressed by performances of young Chinese women that choregraphed impossible synchronized feats with large, sometimes free-flying, yo-yos; also by the young men that, seemingly recklessly, raced five motorcycles around the inside a spherical cage, defying all logic and common sense. “Thrilling,” and “incredible” are words that seem almost adequate.
Ziplines Are a Big Hit With Visitors
Ziplines, in case you’re not familiar with the term, are cables strung between towers, on which slightly adventuresome persons are suspended in harnesses, then sent z-i-i-ping along at speeds of up to 40 mph. The Wahoo Zipline opened only just last August, and, from what I saw, is sure to be a major attraction to visitors anywhere in the region. They boast of six sets of towers, carefully designed and placed so that users climb stairs onto one tower; get safely secured to the cable; z-i-p to the next tower (perhaps 1,600 feet, away across a valley); climb down and walk to the next tower, where the process is repeated with clearly evident and increasing pleasure. Tickets are $98; patrons must be between 8 and 80, while weighing between 70 and 275 lbs Attractive mountain cabins have already been built on the mountainsides along the cable routes; they’ll reportedly be for sale or rent; other facilities, such as a restaurant may follow.
Great Restaurants
One of the better restaurants in Sevierville (and there are many in the region) is the Applewood Farmhouse. It’s located in an old farmhouse, across a blacktop road from a rushing creek, and was once home to a family that, in a classic American success story, turned a dairy farm into a very popular complex of two restaurants and a factory/sales facility producing everything made from apples — including excellent wines. The restaurant’s several dining rooms feature widely varying themes and atmosphere: there’s even a sort of sun porch room, where your dining chairs are chain-hung swings. The service, cuisine, and variety of selections are first class. If you’re there for breakfast, you’ll likely order so much that you won’t want lunch later on. A “Five forks” rating!
Major Regional Attractions, Such As DollyWood
Now, just because you’ve chosen to make your base in Sevierville’s new hotels doesn’t mean that you can’t enjoy the many other wonderful attractions nearby. Dolly Parton’s Dollywood is one of the best parks of its kind this seasoned traveler has ever experienced. It is a walk through gently rolling, well forested hillsides, where gurgling creeks thread their way through widely varying exhibits and entertainments. And speakin’ of Dolly – and who doesn’t hereabouts – your family will surely enjoy dinner (eaten with your bare hands) at her Dixie Stampede Dinner Theater, which is an often thrilling, sometimes hokey, show involving cowboys, Indians, the Civil War, and patriotic America.
Don't Forget the Mountains
The surrounding Great Smoky Mountains are why the whole thing works, so for goodness sake do spend lots of time touring the National Park (the most heavily attended in the World). If you are fortunate enough to be there in peak “leaf season,” (usually starts in early October, but varies with climatological conditions) don’t miss an opportunity to fly over the breathtaking scenery in a chopper, piloted by the experts at Sevierville’s Scenic Helicopter Tours.
When you go:
Anytime of the year is wonderful there, because the mountains have a special beauty with every change. High season–early October–is clearly the crowded favorite Winters are cold; summers hot.
For further information:
Cirque De Chine www.smokymountinpalace.com; Dollywood www.dollywood.com; Wahoo Ziplines www.wahooziplines.com; Wilderness at the Smokies www.wildernessatthesmokies.com; Scenic Helicopters www.flyscenic.com
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