When we visited Pigeon Forge during a trip to Tennessee several years ago, I absolutely fell in love with this charming little town. There are tons of little boutiques and shops to keep any shopaholic happily content for hours on end. In addition to all the neat little shops, there are also two huge factory outlets.
My favorite part of the town is the Old Mill. It really is an old mill that has actually been in operation for a number of years. They’ve added on a lot of features over the years since the area has become such a popular tourist attraction, but it was originally built for the purpose of milling and is still in operation today. In fact, you can still purchase and even order your cornmeal from there, if you want. They will ship it practically anywhere.
One of the most recent additions is a restaurant. It has a gorgeous scenic view of the creek over which the mill sits and the inside is very quaint and antique looking. The food was absolutely to die for. I would seriously consider giving up an arm or leg just to have one of their recipes. The dishes they served were the epitome of down home cooking. The staff were extremely friendly and made our visit there very pleasant.
Besides the shopping and visiting the Old Mill, Dollywood is also located in Pigeon Forge. A visit there could easily take an entire day, with lots of rides and shows as well as live music.
Scattered throughout town, I saw a lot of other various amusement park type places, like miniature golf, go-carts, arcades and even a water slide. I can’t imagine that you could visit this cute little town and not find something interesting and entertaining to do. I’m only sorry that we didn’t have more time to spend there.
They also have a place that will do helicopter rides, which I imagine would be a terrific way to get a bird’s eye view of the Great Smokey Mountains. Since we were only there for the day, we didn’t have time to do that and I really wanted to do the Dixie Stampede and tour the Old Mill, but if we ever go back, that will surely be a the top of our list.
Probably the best thing about Pigeon Forge is that while there is certainly plenty to do there, the entire town has still managed to retail a small town feel and the people are extremely nice and friendly. They make you feel right at home, no matter how far you’ve traveled.
