Latest news stories from around the Great Smoky Mountains.
In what was promoted as the biggest news in Dollywood history, Dolly Parton Wednesday announced a $300 million investment in the entertainment complex. About half of that will go toward a 300-room resort hotel, called Dollywood’s DreamMore Resort. It will open in summer 2015 on 100 acres near the water park Dollywood’s Splash Country. The
Repaving of the Gatlinburg Bypass in the Smoky Mountains will be done around tourism demands. The National Park Service announced Wednesday that a contractor will begin milling and repaving the road on Monday. The bypass will be closed to all traffic from 8 p.m. to 7 a.m. each weekday, starting Sunday night and ending Friday
Parts of Greenbrier Road in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park will be closed over the next couple of weeks for repairs. The road was severely damaged by flooding last winter. Parts of the roadway were completely washed out, exposing underlying rock and damaging culverts. >> Read Complete Article
“They always say you can’t go home again,” says 64-year-old country music icon Dolly Parton, who skedaddled to the bright lights of Nashville from her sharecropper family’s two-room cabin on the Little Pigeon River the day after her high school graduation. “Well,” adds the self-proclaimed Backwoods Barbie, “I’ve certainly proved that wrong.” >> Read Complete
Cades Cove and the rest of the national park serve as a sanctuary for the black bears of the Southern Appalachians. The estimated 1,500 black bears that live in the park are still hunted, however, with cameras — furiously and sometimes fatally by millions of visitors eager to capture the moment. “Of course, people come
Some visitors to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park were hurt when a tree fell during inclement weather. According to park officials, rangers were called around 4 p.m. EDT Wednesday and told people touring Cades Cove had been injured. Rangers found a 41-year-old woman had been knocked unconscious by the falling tree and her 1-year-old
Campgrounds in the Great Smoky Mountains are staying busy during this long holiday weekend. But this summer, visitors have limited options. >> Read Complete Article
Great Smoky Mountains National Park rangers are reminding visitors that water recreation is not recommended in the park due to numerous hazards and dangers. Weather forecasts for the Fourth of July holiday week include heavy rain and thunderstorms which can cause river levels to rise rapidly. Serious water-related injuries, including fatalities, occur each year in the
On a recent May morning, Joe Yarkovich waded into the tall grass in a field in the Cataloochee Valley of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. A wildlife biologist with the National Park Service, he was there to examine and collar a day-old 45-pound baby elk — the newest addition to a herd attracting thousand
Moonshine: A word that paints a thousand pictures. In fact, according to author and University of North Carolina at Asheville history professor Dan Pierce, life in the Smoky Mountain region for many often brings to mind a vivid image of the lowly moonshiner holding his XXX-labeled stoneware jug, passed out beside his cooper pot still.
