How Gatlinburg, Tennessee, Got Its Name

Every place has a name and every name has a story.
Today we tell the fascinating story of how the Great Smoky Mountains' premiere tourist destination came to be called "Gatlinburg." It contains a little bit of preaching, a lot of suing, and some feuding, too.
Thanks for watching!
www.storiesofappalachia.com

[@Dontwlookatthis]

Everyone who visits the area knows about Gatlinburg obviously and those who decide the leave the town to venture into the wilderness can learn about the town of Sugarlands. But the information I have says that in that small area there were two more towns as well, and try as I might, I cannot find the names of those or where they were located. A program on those towns, if they did exist, would be nice. This story is quite nice, too. My wife and I used to really pay attention to the names of cabins in the park and find out more about the families who were descendants. After visiting the Bud Ogle Cabin back of beyond Gatlinburg, we had our first education about Ogles in Gatlinburg. My wife even located a relation of the Walker Sisters and corresponded with her as well. We live down in Madison, Mississippi, but I have family in Maryville, my aunt taught manners classes and was known as Mary Manners. Because my mother and her brother were so close, when he moved his family to Maryville, I made so many trips up there with my mom and dad and grandparents that over the years I knew all the kids my cousins knew and I call Maryville my second home. There are more connections, as well, many doctors and nurses where I worked had a connection to my area and to Maryville because of Blount Memorial Hospital. One of my close friends in college was a nurse and she moved to Maryville and worked with my uncle at Blount Memorial, and later married Steve Kaufmann the blue grass music teacher who holds summer music camps. I have a good memory, remembering small details and can remember many things about the area from Gatlinburg, through the mountain to Maryville about places, cozy paces which existed in Gatlinburg before it became the draw it is today, like the restaurant the Pioneer Inn on the river,, the Cliff Dwellers, a silly tourist attraction called HELL which advertised beyond Maryville, dumb things like "See the Invisible Hand." What amazes me and that I am quite happy about is that the area around Townsend has avoided becoming another Gatlinburg-Pigeon Ford and they call it The Quiet Side of the Mountains. Oh, and I remember Pigeon Forge back when there was a nice restaurant called the Apple something, not the Apple Barn, and the old Pigeon Forge Pottery studio which produced artisan pottery.When Queen Elizabeth visited the United States in the 50s while there was a huge untarnished Folk ways revival with a goal of preserving the old home made music of the people of the Mountains, Pigeon Forge pottery was selected to produce old style (or so it was considered) down home table settings for the Queen as a gift from the American people. And other than a gasoline station, that was all that there was in Pigeon Forge. It was a beautiful place then, where it was easy to see the sudden change from mountain culture to flatland culture. Those days are long gone and now the same Wendy's is there just like all the other Wendy's across the interstate studded plains of America.

[@StoriesofAppalachia]

Thank you for watching and thanks for your comment, which is a great story about the history of that part of the Smokeys all in itself!

[@nickroberts-xf7oq]

Those who visit obviously DON'T know about Gatlinburg, Radford Gatlin, White Oak Flats, the White Oak Flats Cemetery, etc. 😉

[@conniesmith3544]

Nice!

[@brent197422]

Love this video. Thanks for making it

[@StoriesofAppalachia]

You are welcome. We're glad you liked our story!

[@beckylaney5123]

Love this story, y'all orta get together with Donnie Laws on his KZbin site called Appalachia ,Keeping it Real. He does the same sorta stuff about the history of our great Appalachian area..

[@StoriesofAppalachia]

Donnie Laws has a great channel, and you can't beat him for authenticity. Thanks for taking the time to watch our story!

[@RLReagan]

I am a descendent of the first white child born in the Gatlinburg area (a Reagan). It’s a long story but there are 5 main families in the area. Reagan, Ogle, Whaley, Maples and Parton. This story is not exactly inaccurate - and it wasn’t cattle he was whipping. It’s much worse. Gatlin was a store owner who owned a slave. He treated her terribly (the whipping) and the townspeople loathed him. They finally said that if he would leave they would name the town after him. So, this may be the “official” history but the truth is much more disturbing. Also, the postmaster referenced and another Reagan, John H., became the official ones of the confederacy. Finally, us Reagans from TN are related to the Reagans of California. I live in CA now.

[@StoriesofAppalachia]

Thanks so much for the clarification and that version of the story.

[@RLReagan]

@@StoriesofAppalachia You had a much better story than others I’ve heard. The one involving slavery is not one many are willing to tell but I hope it doesn’t get lost to those who write it. I’ve heard East TN and especially the Smokies rather sided with the North being mostly small poor farmers. They did not much care for the practice but also had no need for farmhands. Possibly because they too had once been in some type of servitude situation. All I heard thru many tales was Gatlin as a store owner with a female in servitude to him. How strange to us today the idea of owning another person, No matter the race it is certainly a stain throughout human history.

[@billballoo7881]

Sounds like Radford Gatlin was kind of an a$$