SOLO ROADTRIP IV: DAYS 7-8 [THE GREAT SMOKEY MOUNTAINS]

the next morning i left knoxville for the smokies, but first made my way west to the museum of appalachia in clinton. here is a collection of 30 buildings from around the area that help explain eastern tennessee appalachian culture & the folks from this region. the museum also includes several folk art collections, including handmade instruments (like banjos made of ham & cookie tin boxes!). it is cool how a museum that was started by one man as a passion project is now a smithsonian affiliate museum.  this was one of the best museums i went to during this trip. you can feel the love here, there is a lot to see, & it is a spot where locals meet up. here is also where i was advised by some locals to avoid going to cherokee, north carolina, where i was supposed to stay the next day (but more on that later).

the tom cassidy home

i cute little bird's nest on the fence

the museum also consisted of some farm animals (sheep, pigs, chickens, & even peacocks). the pigs had such cute floppy ears.

i went on a sunday & was advised by the receptionist that if i wanted to get food to get it as soon as it opened as the local families would be coming in after church. i did just that, and she was right. it was cute to see multigenerational families coming in wearing their sunday best. i gladly ate by myself & people watched (as i was also watched - by a peacock).

mac & cheese, green beans, cowboy caviar (pickled cucumbers, corn, & onions), corn bread, & banana pudding - an eclectic mix.

iapeacock watched me as i ate.

i then made by way towards townsend, one of the gateways to the smokies. it is less busy & touristy than gatlinburg or pigeon forge, so that is why i chose it. it did feel pretty empty other than the highway that ran down the middle. i stopped at an antique store along the highway & then made my way to the smoky mountain visitor center in townsend. here is where i learned from the ranger that the highway that runs through the park would be closed for at least a week to clean debris form the hurricane. i knew it was closed this day but was dumb and assumed 2 days would be enough have the road re-opened (it did not have the type of damage that affected parts of north carolina). this was a problem since this road was supposed to not only take me through the park to visit, but to cherokee, south carolina where my motel was for the next night. i thought then i would just take the detour down south & around to cherokee (that added another 2 hours to my drive), but that ended up changing.

the visitor center with a shop & helpful rangers.

i then went to the great smoky mountains heritage center in townsend, another museum that ended up being one of my favorites (today was a good museum day). it was similar to the museum of appalachia, but focused on the broader history instead of the region & individual stories of folks. they compliment each other well & i am glad i was able to go to both. the center includes a museum that shares information about the land & people, including the indigenous groups, & an outdoor museum with some original and reconstructed buildings. 

the garden had several gourds (tis the season).

 i was lucky that this so happened to be the railroad days festival at the local, small train museum in townsend. it was small & appeared to be only locals, but i enjoyed it. there was live bluegrass music & vendors; i love a fiddle. i ended up buying a handmade stained glass hanging. it did not take long to walk around & go in the small museum, but i had fun. also the worker was so nice & called for me when i was leaving to pass along hurricane helene information that affected my plans. she literally yelled "california!" to get my attention as i had told her i was visiting from CA. 

railroad days in townsend

soooo, here is when i decided to change plans. all day i had been asking friendly locals in the area about what they thought about the interstate to cherokee, north carolina (where i was supposed to say the next evening). i knew ashland was hit bad, but cherokee is hours south from ashland & was not driving through ashland. everyone was very nice, but were also legitimately worried about me driving. i did not know a thing about the area because the news focused on ashland & the tennesee dot website showed the roads were open, including in north carolina. i called my accommodation & they said they were still open & the roads were fine. i finally had the bright idea to check the north carolina dot website where in big red letters it said that nonemergency travel from tennessee to south carolina was prohibited. that is when i knew i was not going to to cherokee. luckily my accommodation in townsend was helpful & the receptionist knew i could cancel a nonrefundable trip advisor reservation if there was a state of emergency to get my money back. i decided to stay in townsend another day (the motel was pretty empty). because i could not drive to north carolina. that meant that i could not visit the cherokee nation (which was one of the places i was the most excited to visit during my trip) & most of my plans for the next 2 days were changed, but more on that in the next post.

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the next morning i left early when it was still dark to enter the great smokies national park. most of this day was changed last minute due to aftermath hurricane helene, but i still wanted to make the most of it. though most of the national park would be closed, cades cove was still open. i got there very early & luckily it was not busy at all. i pretty had the park to myself. not until i left a couple hours later did it seem to get busy, though most who visited just stayed in their cars. cades cove is a scenic section of the park where you can drive 11 miles in a loop down a 1 way road (which i hear is a nightmare on the weekends & holidays). there are places you can stop along the way to watch animals, hike, & see some of the cabins collected from the region. this area is known to be a good spot to see black bears.

they do not call it smoky for northing

i saw deer (and lots of turkeys)

and horses (i thought they were wild, but i was corrected by a ranger; there are stables maintained by the nps nearby)

most people come for the bears, but i only got a quick glance. as i was driving down the one way road, rangers were trying to get people in their cars & down the road as there was a momma bear with her cubs. though black bears are not generally violent, any momma animal will be defensive if threatened. most people were not listening to the rangers & i have too much dignity to stop my car to take a photo of anything when told to keep moving, so i kept on driving. all i have is my memory.

to memorialize me in my purple/red chevy spark clown car rental.

john oliver cabin (1820s)

the methodist church (1902)

the elijah oliver trail (people really stayed off the trails)

cable mill (1867) - a grist mill near the visitors center

i then made the drive to sugarland visitor center, the only other section of the park that would be open. this is the biggest visitors center in the park & is near gatlinburg. i arrived later in the morning & boy was it busy, like miserably busy. there were swarms of people. i thought because cade's cove was not busy in the morning, that most people skipped the park. the smoky mountains is the most visited park in the us (that is due to how accessible it is to many states on the east coast). i visited the visitor center & did a short trail to cataract falls before getting my butt out of there.

i did pull over on the road as it followed along a creek.

as the rest of the park was closed, i had decided to stop at pigeon forge because gatlinburg was out of the question. nothing against it, but it is not my kind of place. from doing research gatlinburg seems to be an equivalent to the hollywood strip, busy with tons of tourist traps. i thought i would do better at pigeon forge. it was cute, but nothing much to do there. i walked to the only coffee place in town, which was closed though online it said it was open. it then started pouring buckets of rain out of nowhere. i was drenched with no umbrella, so i made my way back to the car to blast my heater & attempt to dry off.

pigeon forge

it took me a long time, but i decided have lunch at a texas roadhouse as i had never gone before. their bread is such a big deal, but i will say overhyped. i still prefer my dear cracker barrel. since i still had more time, i decided to stop at sevierville. i only knew about this place since this is where dolly parton is from. people may associate her with pigeon forge, but she is actually from a neighboring town. it is a pretty small downtown block with some pretty buildings, but nothing to do as a tourist. the downtown is actually used for everyday business, not for visitors. 

the dolly parton memorial

random, but the old jail bars from the 1800s were reused as storm drains.

i then drove through gatlinburg since that was the easiest way back to townsend.  i am glad i decided to skip gatlinburg. it was a nightmare to drive through. after passing, i took a weird winding road which was empty & pretty. it was nice to be away from people & the sun started peeking out after the clouds.  i also happened to drive by an appalachian handmade crafts store from a local church, so i stopped in. i then made my way back to townsend & picked up a subway sandwich (one of the few establishments in town) for dinner to bring back to my motel room. though it was bummer i did not get to see cherokee & more of the park, i am glad i still attempted to make the most of my day,

the pretty view of the smoky mountains from my motel room. though a motel, they did have rocking chairs outside which was nice.