Blue Ridge Country - November/December 2014 - 21

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TOWNSEND, TENNESSEE:

Caverns

IT'S EASY TO GRASP the beauty that captivates Robert
A. Tino, a painter from Sevier County, Tennessee.
Tino satisfies his artistic inclinations - and makes a
living - depicting realistic wildlife scenes of bears,
birds and creeks in the Great Smoky Mountains.
"I love the area, love the nature," Tino says. "You
can go out and look at the same subject and see it
different - definitely in the seasons. But, week to
week, it can be different."
Tino roams the Great Smoky Mountains National
Park. And he can afford to find solitude. The park
spans over 500,000 acres along the North CarolinaTennessee line. In a word, it's sprawling - with creatures that crawl, waters that fall, trees that stand tall.
For an artist, it is a natural draw.
Curiously, though, the Smokies are shouldered
with what you might expect to find along a shore.
Big sharks swim in the tanks of the Ripley's
Aquarium of the Smokies in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.
Frothy waves consistently cascade in pools at Dolly's
Splash Country in Pigeon Forge and the Wilderness
at the Smokies of Sevierville. A replica of the world's
most famous sunken ship, the Titanic, stands along
"The Parkway" at Pigeon Forge.
Just like a trip to a beach resort, you can spend
your days playing miniature golf along The Parkway.
Or you can mash the gas of a go-kart at Adventure
Raceway or the Xtreme Racing Center.
You can also find great seafood - from fish and

shrimp to scallops and oysters - at eateries like Jimmy
Mac's Restaurant in Bryson City, North Carolina.
Unlike the beach, you can go underground to see
the eerie formations of Forbidden Caverns and hear
how Native Americans once considered this some
kind of portal to the underworld in what is now
Sevier County. "This cave is a very up-close and personal cave," says Bob Hounshell, the Forbidden
Caverns manager.
Over the course of four seasons, I journeyed to
both sides of the Great Smoky Mountains - getting
up-close and personal with Tarheel towns like Bryson
City and the "peaceful side" of the Smokies at
Townsend, Tennessee. I went "from zero to hero" in
1.1 seconds on Dollywood's new FireChaser Express
rollercoaster; launched a tube on the lazy river at
Dolly's Splash Country; and caught a baseball game
at the Smokies Stadium near Sevierville.
In North Carolina, I traced the tracks of the Great
Smoky Mountains Railroad from Bryson City to
Fontana Lake then took an excursion with Wildwater
Jeep Adventures, passing an old moonshiner's cabin,
a 400-year-old tree, trout farms, waterfalls and the
Appalachian Trail.
I also embraced Ruth Miller's "Good Golly Miss
Dolly" tour in Sevier County and learned all about
Dolly Parton's cousins, the school she attended and
how the larger-than-life singer struggled to reach her
dreams, far beyond these mountains.

For one weekend excursion,
I tooled around Townsend,
Tennessee, and enjoyed the
comforts of the Highland
Manor Inn - a resort located
conveniently near
Tuckaleechee Caverns.
Josh Effler, a
Tuckaleechee tour guide,
generously shared his time.
We passed formations that
looked like animals. Then
we found the waterfall.
What's inside these caverns is no Niagara. OK, it's
not even a Ruby. But Silver
Falls is a true jewel that
needs to be seen; it gushes
like a showerhead at full
blast.
Sawmill workers discovered Tuckaleechee Caverns
in the mid-1800s as they
watched heavy rains pour
into a sinkhole. The name of
the caverns, Effler says,
means "green or peaceful
valley." - JT

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2014 | 21

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Blue Ridge Country - November/December 2014

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