Is Dollywood Educational (and some things about Pigeon Forge)
Recently, we went to a placed called Pigeon Forge, which is actually on my bucket list. Everyone here in southwest(ern) Virginia talks about and then GOES to visit Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. This glitzy little mountain town got its name from the passenger pigeons, I’m told (and too bad they are now extinct and gone forever), and the fact that there was an iron forge there as part of the town’s early history.
But it’s become more than a gateway to the Smoky Mountains. It’s now its own destination, with distinctive features, like the touristy dinner theaters. Ours was the very family oriented (for a murder mystery) version of the ol’ “Dukes of Hazzard” TV show, very hillbillyish with exaggerated acting. And my spouse even got to wear a policeman’s hat and read lines like he was a “Cletus type” character.
There was also a place in Pigeon Forge (before we mention Dollywood) called “the island,” because it “is” just that! It’s bit of an amusement park, also with a water show, and is surrounded by the Little Pigeon River, so there was a little flooding from the recent Hurricane Helene coming through. It didn’t see the destruction of Asheville , Tennessee to the north and east, though.
Now Dollywood, also in Pigeon Forge, is one tourist attraction that didn’t seem affected by hurricane flooding at all. And you may wonder, why go to just another amusement park, with rollercoasters and such?
Dollywood is a little different. There are some educational bits to it, like the eagle sanctuary. They are in a very high netted in area where they can fly and are (I’m sure) fed eat by a trainer, near a stage where you see a few other birds of prey on a trainer’s arm. And October, when we went, there were pumpkins of all sizes everywhere, one bunch stacked 30 feet high! (I am betting some were not actually the kind you eat but plastic or ceramic based.) All seemed to have a design carved in them, from faces to floral designs to a smiling cat. I didn’t see a “class” on carving but they should have had one. They certainly gave ME ideas for what to draw on MY pumpkins back home!
And the Dollywood museum (see photo above) had costumes and pictures and videos of Dolly Parton’s early career, an education if you want to get into the country music biz, I guess.
OR — you can just get scared out of your wits riding upside down in a rollercoaster. Or you can relax on the train ride going all the way around the perimeter of the park. The arcade section is also fun.
C.T.A. (call to action) Read about Dolly in her own words:
Dolly Parton: In Her Own Words by Suzanne Sonnier, Paperback | Barnes & Noble® and also see the latest book of mine at my home page — www.writerdjmathews.com
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