A great way to get out and experience the great outdoors!  Climb a top one of these beautiful creatures and enjoy the scenery!  Here is a list of some of the riding stables in the area.

The 1-4 are located in the national park.  Cades Cove Stables offers hay rides and carriage rides as well as single rider.  Smokemont offers wagon rides.

Be sure to call or check websites for operating times, rates and restrictions.

1.   Smoky Mountain Riding Stables, 1720 East Parkway, Gatlinburg TN   865-436-5634

http://www.smokymountainridingstables.com/

2.   Smokemont Riding Stables, 135 Smokemont Riding Stable Road, Cherokee, NC  828-497-2373

http://www.smokemontridingstable.com/

3.   Sugarlands Riding Stable, 1409 Parkway Gatlinburg, TN, 865-436-3535

http://www.sugarlandsridingstables.com/

4.   Cade’s Cove Riding Stables, Cades Cove Townsend, TN,  865-448-9009

http://cadescovestables.com/index.shtml

5.   Five Oaks Riding Stables, 1630 Parkway, Sevierville, TN, 877-538-0569

http://www.fiveoaksridingstables.com/

6.   Davy Crockett Riding Stables, 550 Old Cades Cove Rd, Townsend TN 865-448-6411

http://davycrockettridingstables.com/

7.   Deer Farm Riding Stables, 470 Happy Hollow Lane, Sevierville, TN 865-429-2276

http://www.deerfarmzoo.com/horserides.html

8.  Big Rock Dude Ranch, 909 Little Cove Rd, Pigeon Forge, TN  865-428-9398

http://www.horseridingbigrock.com/

9.  Next to Heaven Riding Stables, 1239 Wears Valley Rd, Townsend TN 865-448-9150

https://www.facebook.com/next2heavensmokies/

10.  McCarter’s Riding Stable, 923 Robinson Gap Road, Sevierville, TN 865-436-5354

11.  Cedar Ridge Stables, 3 mi out of Sevierville, 865-428-5802

12.  Douglas Lake View Stables, 1650 Providence Road, Sevierville, TN 423-428-3587

 

Let’s Go Shopping!

Whether you are shopping for yourself, for that special someone, to complete your holiday list or maybe just find that unique conversation piece, you can find it all right here in the Smoky Mt Area.  Here are some links to help plan your outing.

http://www.tangeroutlet.com/sevierville/

http://www.mypigeonforge.com/things-to-do/shopping/

http://shopsofpigeonforge.com/

http://www.pigeonforgefactoryoutlet.com/

http://www.waldenslanding.com/stores.html

http://www.gatlinburg.com/things-to-do/shopping/default.aspx

 

What’s Going On

Looking for fun, unique and interesting things to do while visiting?  Just click on the links below to access the cities events calendar.   Something for everyone and every season of the year. Happy planning!

http://www.mypigeonforge.com/events/

http://www.gatlinburg.com/events/fall.aspx

http://www.attractions-gatlinburg.com/

http://www.visitsevierville.com/vsevents.aspx

 

The When and Why of Fall Color

Fall Colors

High elevations along Newfound Gap Road are ablaze with fall color in early October. The park usually experiences an autumn leaf season of several weeks as fall colors travel down the mountain sides from high elevation to low. However, the timing of fall color change depends upon so many variables that the exact dates of “peak” season are impossible to predict in advance. Elevation profoundly affects when fall colors change in the park. At higher elevations, where the climate is similar to New England’s, color displays start as early as mid-September with the turning of yellow birch, American beech, mountain maple, hobblebush, and pin cherry. From early to mid-October, fall colors develop above 4,000 feet. To enjoy them, drive the Clingmans Dome Road, the Blue Ridge Parkway, or the Foothills Parkway. The fall color display usually reaches peak at mid and lower elevations between mid-October and early November. This is the park’s most spectacular display as it includes such colorful trees as sugar maple, scarlet oak, sweetgum, red maple, and the hickories. Autumn is both a beautiful and a busy time in the Great Smoky Mountains. The annual show of fall colors attracts huge numbers of sightseers, especially during the last three weeks of October. Areas in the park which experience the longest traffic delays are Cades Cove and Newfound Gap Road (U.S. 441). Try some of these suggestedautumn drives and hikes to enjoy fall leaf colors in areas of the park that are a little less crowded. Why are fall colors so remarkable in the Smokies? One reason is the park’s amazing diversity of trees. Some 100 species of native trees live in the Smokies and the vast majority of these are deciduous. How do colors change? As summer ends, the green pigments in leaves deteriorate, giving other colors a chance to shine. Carotenoids, the pigment that makes carrots orange and leaves yellow, are exposed as the green fades. Reds and purples come from anthocyanins, a pigment that is formed when sugars in leaves break down in bright autumn sunlight.   Article from the National Park System website.

 

Hidden in the Heart of Gatlinburg

Hidden in the heart of the bustling tourist town of Gatlinburg is a peaceful spot….White Oak Flats Cemetary.  Gatlinburg once hailed the name White Oak Flats (see the post “What’s in a name…” for more) and the cemetary still does. 

The cemetary is actually easy to get to once you know how that is.  For driving directions click on the youtube video below.  Once you watch the video you will see you can also walk to the cemetary if you are walking through town and in the area known as The Village.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuTY6AlQpK0&list=PL41E5F5162B68B069&index=4

For an aerial view and to see the names of those whose final resting place is here, click on the link below.

http://www.smokykin.com/tng/showmap.php?cemeteryID=4

If you find yourself in town and need a quiet place to rest for a moment, walk on in to the cemetary have a seat on the bench or under one of the shade trees.  Walk among the headstones and read some of the names, dates, epitaphs and get a feel for the history of the town and the folk who called it home.

 

Golden Glow of Autumn on Little River

 

All Aboard!

A relatively new attraction in Pigeon Forge is the Titanic Museum.  The museum is dedicated to all things Titanic.  They have events all throughout the year including artist appearances, author book signings, sleep overs and special exhibits in the gallery.  Currently being featured is an exhibit titled: Discover the 133 Children’s Stories of Titanic The RMS Titanic sailed with 2,208 people on board – 133 of them were children. These were Titanic’s littlest heroes. What they saw, heard and felt from the moment they boarded the ship has been documented and visualized for the first time anywhere by the Titanic Museum Attractions in Branson, Missouri and Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. This year-long, exclusive exhibit is a celebration of The Children of Titanic whose bravery, innocence and faith can be an inspiration to us all.  For more information, please contact us at 800-381-7670. Reposted from the Titanic Museums webpage, for more Titanic info visit them at http://www.titanicpigeonforge.com/ Once Upon a Time on Titanic The Eleanor Johnson Story It must have seemed like a magical, floating kingdom to 18-month-old Eleanor Johnson when she boarded Titanic with her mother, Alice, and older brother, Harold, in 1912. They were returning to their home in the United States following a visit with an ailing relative in Finland. If little Eleanor’s Titanic adventure had a fairytale beginning, then it did not have a happy-ever-after ending. Approaching midnight on the fourth day at sea, Titanic struck an iceberg, sending chunks of ice onto the deck, ironically providing a brief moment of recreation for a few passengers, including Eleanor’s mother, who playfully kicked the ice around. Soon the enormity of their situation became clear when a steward rushed them to the boat deck. Eleanor, clinging tightly to her mother, entered Lifeboat No. 15, her brother right behind her. Later they were picked up by the rescue ship Carpathia and taken to New York City. Life, after her tumultuous Titanic experience, was mostly smooth sailing for Eleanor. In 1934 she married Delbert Shuman, an International Harvester engineer, had a son and daughter, and had a job at the Elgin Watch Company. They were married for 47 years before Delbert died in 1981. In 1996 Eleanor joined two other Titanic survivors on an emotional, expedition cruise to the Titanic wreck site. Eleanor was the only survivor that director James Cameron met while filming TITANIC. She saw the movie at a special screening with movie critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert. Eleanor had a tale to tell and she told it often, becoming something of a celebrity after the movie’s release. Eleanor lived to see Titanic make world headlines, once again, before dying at the age of 87. Upon her death there were only 5Titanic survivors remaining – today there are none. Her story, and those of the other 2,207 Titanic voyagers, lives on at the Titanic Museum Attraction. When you visit, we look forward to introducing you to them all.