Don’t let Smoky Mountain smoke get in your eyes
If you do, I’m telling you
You’ll want to live there the rest of your life
Smoky Mountain, Tennessee.
I spent my childhood not very far from the beautiful Smoky Mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee. It was a treat every time our family drove through those mountains and saw the autumn leaves or the mountain laurel and rhododendron of spring. Life in the Appalachians was very different from the Carolina piedmont I was used to and as we drove through the alien hinterlands we were exposed to a different culture where people said “ryce” instead of “rice” and if you needed some dental work, you might just “chip” a tooth yourself with a hammer and nail. (for full details of the practice, see Horace Kephart’s Our Southern Highlanders).
The mountains of western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee are special and beautiful. So I was heartbroken when I heard of the devastating fire that ripped through the area in recent weeks. They only opened the last areas to traffic this weekend. Gatlinburg was especially hard hit but most of the town was spared.
Gatlinburg, precious jewel, a mountain treasure. Smoky Mountain paradise
The closest place to heaven that I know of
Smoky Mountain. Smoke in your eyes.
I used to laugh every time I heard that verse from the Osborne Brothers because to me growing up, Gatlinburg was anything but a precious jewel. On the highway between Cherokee and Knoxville, you saw some spectacular mountain scenery and the only eyesore along the way was Gatlinburg. It took forever to make your way right through the center of town before the real highway resumed its course and it was gaudy neon and cheap motels the whole way. Fortunately, the area has become much more of a tourist attraction since I last visited. Dolly Parton built a theme park nearby in Pigeon Forge and an aerial tramway now transports skiers to the slopes above the town. Those attractions survived the recent fire, as well as the main drag that I remember as such an eyesore.
California is not the only place that gets devastated by wildfire. The loss of life and property in the Smoky Mountains recently is tragic. I hope we can all recover from these tragedies and rebuild. Gatlinburg has rebuilt from other downtown fires and I hope it can rebuild from this one. Some day I hope to visit the Smokies again and I hope when I pass through Gatlinburg that it is the precious jewel of song.
