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Downtown Sevierville and the adjoining West Prong Greenway make for a walk that has ample connections to the town’s favorite daughter, along with many other treats.
I am a long-time fan of Dolly Parton. From when she was just beginning to garner media attention on the “Porter Wagoner Show” to her Hollywood actress days to her latest albums, I’ve always enjoyed her song writing talents, singing and related ventures. However, I’m not a devotee of amusement parks, so when a day at Dollywood was planned during a recent family vacation, Laurie and I decided to do a walking exploration of Dolly’s hometown, Sevierville, Tennessee.
The logical starting point was stops 1 and 2 on the Sevierville Historic Walking Tour: the 1896 county courthouse fronted by a six-foot statue of a smiling Parton holding a guitar. In the few minutes we were there a dozen people stopped by to take selfies beside the town’s most famous daughter.
A café across the street became our unplanned breakfast stop. The aroma drifting out of Courthouse Donuts made it impossible to ignore the design-your-own treats. Mine was dipped in vanilla icing and topped by golden grahams and key-lime drizzle. Laurie’s southern pecans were held in place by warm caramel sauce.
We found the smaller items on the walking tour to be the most interesting. Next to the town’s gazebo was a small magnolia tree planted in 2013 from a cutting from Senator Howard Baker’s magnolia, which in itself was a cutting taken from Andrew Jackson’s White House magnolia. In turn, that tree grew from a sprout taken from The Hermitage, Jackson’s home near Nashville. We would have not given a storm drain in a side alley a second thought if the tour brochure hadn’t mentioned that it was fashioned from prison bars salvaged from the town’s jail that had burned in 1856.
It was not a part of the walking tour, but we learned that Walker’s Grocery Store (now incorporated into the First Baptist Church) at 317 Parkway is where a young Dolly sang on a weekly basis.
A twittering call from a red-winged blackbird welcomed us to the West Prong (of the Little Pigeon River) Greenway. With the Great Smoky Mountains rising dramatically as the eastern backdrop, the pathway straddles both sides of the namesake stream. Its waters rippled and swirled in an eye-pleasing way around a myriad of diminutive, grass-covered islands. Kingfishers and herons wandered along the banks, while mallards, with their iridescent green heads, slowly floated by. This peaceful scene was enhanced by numerous benches that are each surrounded by artfully-designed landscaping schemes.
Our outing ended with a late lunch at Healthy Balance Meals (gohealthybalance.com) just two blocks from the greenway. In contrast to our delightful, but high-carb breakfast, offerings on this menu are organic, made in house and designed to provide a proper ratio of proteins, fats and carbohydrates. How was lunch? Well, when something as simple as broccoli salad makes your taste buds take notice, you know the rest of the meal is going to be special.
