Pigeon Forge TN
Although the town on Pigeon Forge TN was not incorporated until 1960, an unincorporated community existed here long before that. Settlers arrived in this isolated area as early as 1795. Originally named Fanshiers for one of these early arrivals, the community was renamed for the iron foundry on the Little Pigeon River that looked south toward Cove Mountain and the towering peaks of Mount Le Conte.
One of the few surviving man-made landmarks in Pigeon Forge from this era is the Old Mill, built in 1830 by William Love and his father, Isaac. The mill is in the National Register of Historic Places and continues to produce meal and flour, making it the oldest operating commercial water-powered mill in Tennessee. It’s situated along the banks of the Little Pigeon River at a location in the heart of the burgeoning commercial district along US 441 approaching the northern entrance to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. A restaurant and shopping malls surround the Mill area today.
Pigeon Forge grew slowly from the time the GSMNP was dedicated in 1940. It took 40 years for the boom to come. With hundreds of beautiful homes in the Pigeon Forge real estate market, the city is home to a community of several thousand year-round residents, but there are accommodations for about thirty-five thousand vacationers in the vicinity, including Pigeon Forge cabin rentals, condo rentals, bed and breakfast inns, hotels and motels.
Pigeon Forge is best known as a shopping mecca. Readers of Southern Living Magazine voted Pigeon Forge as such in 1996 and shopping opportunities have grown exponentially since then. There are more than two hundred outlet stores found here now. The outlet malls are popular year-round, but the activity really begins to hum from June through Thanksgiving. If you really like to shop, you’ll find your time well spent in Pigeon forge when the super sales occur during the World’s Largest Outlet Sale in December or the Winter Savings Fest in February when hotel rooms are plentiful and cheap.
Pigeon Forge is also a gateway to the 500,000 acre Great Smoky Mountains National Park, part of the largest wilderness area in the eastern United States.
Both the young and young-at-heart are drawn to Pigeon Forge’s fast-paced, action-packed laser arcades, bumper cars, go-cart racing, helicopter rides, indoor sky-diving, and bungee jumping. Compared to it’s sister towns, Pigeon Forge, by far offers more action attractions for visitors, including Dollywood Theme Park, a popular family destination with almost three dozen rides and attractions and forty live shows daily during peak season. Dollywood also hosts the Smoky Mountain Christmas Festival each November and December. Visitors are dazzled by 2 million twinkling lights and welcomed to restaurants with Christmas menus and gift shops filled with holiday ideas.
Winterfest activities continue from November through February and include our favorite, Wilderness Wildlife Week of Nature, referred to by most of us who insist on attending every year as Wilderness Week.