Sevierville, Tennessee

Sevierville /səˈvɪərvɪl/ is the county seat of Sevier County, Tennessee, located in Eastern Tennessee. The population was 14,807 at the 2010 United States Census.

Geography

Sevierville is located at 35°52′39″N 83°34′12″W / 35.87750°N 83.57000°W / 35.87750; -83.57000 (35.878, -83.570). In the town's eastern section, the Little Pigeon River is formed by the confluence of its East Fork and Middle Fork, both of which flow down from their sources high in the Great Smoky Mountains. Five miles (8 km) downstream to the west, the Little Pigeon absorbs its West Fork before turning north and flowing for another five miles (8 km) to its mouth along the French Broad River. Sevierville is centered on the stretch of land between these two junctions of the East and Middle Fork and the West Fork, known traditionally as Forks-of-the-Pigeon or Forks-of-the-River.

Situated in an area where the Foothills of the Great Smokies give way to the Tennessee Valley, Sevierville has long acted as a nexus between Knoxville to the north and the Appalachian towns in the mountains to the south. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is located approximately ten miles south of Sevierville.

Pigeon Forge, Tennessee

Pigeon Forge is a mountain resort city in Sevier County, Tennessee, located in the southeastern United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 5,875.

Situated just five miles (8 km) north of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Pigeon Forge is a tourist destination that caters primarily to Southern culture and country music fans. The city's attractions include Dollywood, as well as numerous gift shops, outlet malls, amusement rides, and music theaters.

History

Early history

The name "Pigeon Forge" comes from an iron forge built by Isaac Love (1783–1854) sometime around 1820. The name of this forge referred to its location along the Little Pigeon River, in the vicinity of what is now the Old Mill. The name of the river comes from the flocks of passenger pigeons that frequented its banks at the time of the first Euro-American settlers' arrival.

For centuries, the Cherokee used the valley where Pigeon Forge is now located as a hunting ground. A Cherokee footpath known as the "Indian Gap Trail" crossed the Great Smokies from North Carolina, and passed through the Pigeon Forge valley en route to its junction with the Great Indian Warpath in modern Sevierville (US-441 closely parallels this ancient trail, although it crests the mountains at Newfound Gap rather than Indian Gap). From Sevierville, the Warpath headed west toward the Overhill Cherokee towns along the Little Tennessee River.

Great Smoky Mountains

The Great Smoky Mountains are a mountain range rising along the Tennessee–North Carolina border in the southeastern United States. They are a subrange of the Appalachian Mountains, and form part of the Blue Ridge Physiographic Province. The range is sometimes called the Smoky Mountains and the name is commonly shortened to the Smokies. The Great Smokies are best known as the home of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which protects most of the range. The park was established in 1934, and, with over 9 million visits per year, it is the most-visited national park in the United States.

The Great Smokies are part of an International Biosphere Reserve. The range is home to an estimated 187,000 acres (76,000 ha) of old growth forest, constituting the largest such stand east of the Mississippi River. The cove hardwood forests in the range's lower elevations are among the most diverse ecosystems in North America, and the Southern Appalachian spruce-fir forest that coats the range's upper elevations is the largest of its kind. The Great Smokies are also home to the densest black bear population in the Eastern United States and the most diverse salamander population outside of the tropics.