This year marks the twentieth anniversary of the closing of an attraction in Gatlinburg that most of you (except maybe those of you local to the area) probably didn’t know existed – Fun Mountain. Fun Mountain is an abandoned theme park that closed in the year 2000. One thing that is interesting is that it…
The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is home to the black bear, a medium-sized bear that is widely distributed throughout North America. They are omnivores (meaning they eat both plants and animals) that like to live in heavily forested areas but will approach developed areas in search of food. This eventually became a problem for…
In 1970, Columbia Pictures released a movie titled “A Walk in the Spring Rain.” The movie, filmed in 1969, starred Ingrid Bergman and Anthony Quinn, two Hollywood superstars at the time. The plot of the movie involves a couple (college professor Roger Meredith, played by Fritz Weaver, and his wife, Libby, played by Bergman) who…
The Centennial Olympics occurred in the summer of 1996 in Atlanta, Georgia. Over 10 thousand athletes from nearly 200 countries competed while the world watched. As is traditional for the Olympics, the Olympic torch relay carried the Olympic flame to the site of the games. And on June 26, 1996, the torch passed through Gatlinburg,…
The Noah “Bud” Ogle Farm in Gatlinburg, also known as “Ogle Place,” is a historic location maintained by the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1977, it is a wonderful place to visit to get a true sense of what life was like for the early settlers…
Cades Cove, as experienced today, is an extremely popular valley located in the Great Smoky Mountains. It’s an area that, because of the natural beauty and peacefulness, attracts many every year. The Cades Cove history is unusual, however, as a thriving mountain community was reduced to a historical attraction by the creation of the national…
On September 26, 2019. Mr. David Cross, his wife Jennifer Cross, Mr. Allen Barker, and his wife Anita Barker represented the Board of Directors of the Historic Gatlinburg Inn as attendees at a private opening of a new exhibit at the Country Music Hall of Fame titled “We Could: the Songwriting Artistry of Boudleaux and…
Felice and Boudleaux Bryant were legendary songwriters, responsible for multiple hit songs in multiple genres. But it wasn’t always easy. Like many songwriters, they struggled in their early years, writing and attempting to sell dozens of songs while living in a mobile home. Then in 1948, the song “Country Boy,” which was recorded by Little…
We have begun the task of digitizing some of the photos in our archives. We think it is absolutely fascinating to look back at old photos like these, especially if you compare them to what Gatlinburg looks like today. You could say the town has changed a little bit! While we’re at it, we are…
Jerome (Jerry) Lederer (1901-1963) was a former guest of the Historic Gatlinburg Inn. Kentuckian Lederer entered the restaurant business in Shelbyville, Kentucky in 1929. He established a chain of hamburger stands under the name White Tavern (inspired by the chain known as White Castle). World War II wiped out 10 of his 13 restaurants, however,…
