Drive-it-yourself alpine slide, 200-foot-tall observation wheel new to list PIGEON FORGE, Tenn. (September 2013) – Autumn in East Tennessee gets people thinking about two things, football and fall foliage in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The tourist destination of Pigeon Forge offers five very elevated ways to view what Mother Nature paints in the mountains […]
The only telethon in the U.S. for a national park is on the calendar for Aug. 19 (Thursday) to raise money for Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It is the 19th Annual Friends Across the Mountains Telethon, a project of Friends of the Smokies, an independent 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that supports America’s most visited national […]
GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK (July 15, 2013) – A popular trail on the Tennessee side of Great Smoky Mountains National Park is open for weekend hikers after replacement of a 70-foot-long bridge over a mountain stream. Chimney Tops Trail itself is undergoing a full rehabilitation from a Trails Forever crew every Monday through Thursday […]
Visitation to Great Smoky Mountains National Park rose to 9,685,828 in 2012. That’s a 7.5 percent jump, making 2012 the biggest year since the 10.1 million visitors in 2000, which remains the record. Park management credited mild weather last winter and spring as a big factor. Every month in 2012 had more visitors than the […]
Half of the 10 destinations the Society of American Travel Writers recommends for holiday lights are in the Southeast. SATW members compiled a list of 10 destinations with light-up-the-night displays that might be lesser known than destinations such as Times Square in New York but still very much worth the trip. The five destinations in […]
PIGEON FORGE, Tenn. (October 2012) – A gigantic blue and green helium balloon has people all over Pigeon Forge pointing to the sky and admiring the city’s newest attraction. It is Wonders of Flight, an addition to the science- and fun-filled WonderWorks attraction on the Parkway. The Wonders of Flight balloon is 72 feet in […]
GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK (March 2012) – Visitors to America’s most visited national park will see something quite unusual for the next few months – crews at work opening scenic vistas that have grown up dramatically over the decades since the park was created. After more than 75 years of forest growth, maturing trees […]
SEVIER COUNTY, Tenn. (February 2012) – Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg and Sevierville, three gateway cities to Great Smoky Mountains National Park, are featured in an upcoming episode of the new PBS series “Getting Away Together.” The episode features some of the area’s most popular attractions: Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP), Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies, […]
PIGEON FORGE, Tenn. (January 2012) – Wilderness Wildlife Week, Pigeon Forge, Tenn.’s, annual salute to Great Smoky Mountains National Park, expanded its reach by attracting visitors from 33 states and the District of Columbia. That’s six more states than in 2011. In addition, travelers from New Zealand, England and Canada also registered their attendance. “The […]