The town
Pigeon Forge and the Parkway
The valley town around the show: where its name comes from, the Parkway and its theatres, the Old Mill, and the drive from Sevierville and Gatlinburg.
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Pigeon Forge is a small city in Sevier County, Tennessee, in a narrow valley between Sevierville and Gatlinburg, a few miles north of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Most of its attractions, theatres included, line US 441, the six-lane road known as the Parkway. It is a tourist town built around Southern culture and country music.
A town named for a forge
The name comes from an iron forge that Isaac Love built beside the Little Pigeon River in the early 19th century. The river itself was named for the flocks of passenger pigeons that gathered on its banks when the first Euro-American settlers arrived. Love's son opened a post office in 1841 and named it Pigeon Forge. The forge is long gone, but the gristmill on the same site, usually called the Old Mill, still stands, with its millhouse, breastshot wheel and milldam all working, and it is the only structure in Pigeon Forge on the National Register of Historic Places.
From hamlet to show town
In the early 20th century Pigeon Forge was an isolated mountain hamlet with no major roads. When the national park opened to the south in 1934 the town had no tourist businesses at all, and only in the 1950s did improvements to US 441 bring the first campgrounds and lodges. Neighbouring Gatlinburg had little spare land, so outside businesses looked north along US 441, and from the 1960s the town filled with theme attractions, outlet malls and, in time, music theatres. Today it caters mainly to fans of Southern culture and country music, and its attractions include numerous museums, musical theatres and shopping centres.
The Parkway
US 441 runs through the middle of Pigeon Forge on its way to Gatlinburg and the national park, and in town it is called the Parkway. The six-lane strip along it holds most of the town's tourist attractions, which is why a show night in Pigeon Forge so often begins with a drive along it. Beyond Gatlinburg the road climbs into the park and crests at Newfound Gap before descending into North Carolina.
Sevierville and Gatlinburg
Sevierville, the county seat, borders Pigeon Forge to the north, where a bend in the Little Pigeon River marks the line. Gatlinburg lies to the south, through a narrow gorge the river has cut between Cove Mountain and Shields Mountain. It is a mountain resort town on the border of the national park, along the same US 441. Wherever you stay in the three towns, the road to the theatre is that one route through the valley.
Trolleys
Pigeon Forge runs a bus system whose vehicles look like early 20th-century trolleys, with stops across Pigeon Forge and in neighbouring Gatlinburg and Sevierville, and every one is fitted with a lift for wheelchairs and other mobility aids. Check the current routes and hours before you rely on it for the return trip after an evening show.
A calendar of its own
Pigeon Forge keeps a busy calendar beyond the theatres. Seasonal events such as Winterfest bring light displays to the town, and car and truck shows, from spring and autumn rod runs to gatherings for particular makes, fill the roads on certain weekends. The line-up changes from year to year, so check what is on during your dates and plan the drive to the show with that in mind.
The mountains to the south
Great Smoky Mountains National Park straddles the ridgeline of the Great Smoky Mountains between Tennessee and North Carolina. Congress chartered it in 1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicated it in 1940, and it joined UNESCO's World Heritage list in 1983. Its main entrances lie along US 441 in Gatlinburg and in Cherokee, North Carolina. For most visitors to Pigeon Forge, the days belong to the park and the evenings to the shows.
Frequently asked questions
Why is it called Pigeon Forge?
After an iron forge on the Little Pigeon River, which was named for the passenger pigeons that once flocked on its banks.
What is the Parkway?
The local name for US 441 through Pigeon Forge. Most of the town's attractions sit along it.
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