We Have a Secret Golden Mountain. So Where Do the Locals Actually Live in the Smokies?

I realize there are many answers to real estate questions, and I value everyone's opinion. I'm sure many of those answers come from valuable research and facts. I try very hard to include that information, too.

But I want you to understand something. The best answers I can give you won't always come from statistics, although I'll share those with you as well.

You see, I'm not just answering these questions. I've lived a lot of them. I've watched them play out over more than 30 years in real estate.

And although I may change the names, my stories are real. The people who lived them with me are real, too.

My hope is that when you read my answers, you're not just getting facts and figures. You're getting something a little different. You're getting a living, breathing answer from someone who was actually there.

Where Do the Locals Actually Live in Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, and Sevierville?

Well, I'm not really supposed to tell you the answer to this question.

You see, we've got ourselves a secret place here in the Smoky Mountains.

A golden mountain, hidden away where nobody can find it.

I believe it's where Adam and Eve lived. That's right. Paradise!

Milk and honey flowing through the streams. The valleys light up like gold at night. The air is so clean you don't even need to sleep.

And the people? Good gracious, they're wonderful.

Wait a minute.

That sounds an awful lot like where we already live. Lol.

Now, I'm having a little fun with you, but I understand why somebody visiting Gatlinburg or Pigeon Forge might wonder whether anybody actually lives here.

You drive down the Parkway and see hotels, attractions, restaurants, shops, and thousands of vacation cabins tucked into the mountains.

And you start wondering, where in the world are all the people who work here living?

Well, we're here.

We're woven in and out of these mountains, tucked into valleys, up little roads, and around the bends, held together like one of those beautiful old quilts you see advertised on television.

And I'm going to tell you something.

I can't think of many places I'd rather call home.

Yes, people actually live in Pigeon Forge. I raised my family there.

I spent a good part of my life in Pigeon Forge.

Raised my family there. Made wonderful friends. Coached football. Watched children grow up and become parents themselves.

And I love that community.

But I'll admit something.

When I first came to Pigeon Forge, it seemed a little unusual to me, too.

Everywhere I looked there were tourists.

Restaurants, attractions, traffic, and folks coming and going from all over the country.

I might have even wondered myself where everybody actually lived. Lol.

But the longer I stayed, the more I discovered there was a whole other Pigeon Forge that visitors didn't necessarily see.

There were neighborhoods, schools, ball fields, churches, and families who had lived here for generations.

There were people helping their neighbors, raising children, working hard, and enjoying life.

And somewhere along the way, that community became my community.

Let me tell you how a football changed a big part of my life.

The day somebody handed me six-year-olds and made me a coach

I've always been a football fan.

I played a great deal of football growing up in a nearby town, and we had a really good program with some great coaches.

Football was a big part of my childhood.

So when my son Trey was little, I couldn't wait for him to get old enough to play.

I held off until he was around eight years old, then took him over to the local Pigeon Forge park and signed him up for the youth football program.

And I started hanging around.

A lot.

Lol.

I'd be out there throwing footballs, running up and down the sidelines, hollering at Trey, watching practice, and probably giving more advice than anybody asked for.

Well, one day one of the head coaches looked over at me.

He said, "Son, you hang around here all the time. Why don't you just come help us?"

And just like that, I was coaching football.

He handed me a bunch of six-year-old kids and said, "Do what you can with them."

Lol.

Now, if you've never tried to teach six-year-old boys how to play football, you ought to give that a try sometime.

Half of them are looking for their momma, somebody's chasing a butterfly, and there's always one little fellow running the wrong direction.

Good gracious, what a wonderful time.

What started out as helping with a few kids turned into about ten years of coaching. I've even picked it up again over the years.

And you know something?

I discovered that coaching those children was something I truly loved. In a lot of ways, I believe it was one of my callings.

But here's what I want you to understand.

Those weren't tourists' children.

Those were our children.

Those were our families, our neighbors, and our community.

And that little football field was one of the places where I really began to understand what it meant to live in Pigeon Forge.

It wasn't just the place with all the attractions anymore.

It was home.

And then there was Gatlinburg. Lol.

Now, if you know anything about high school football around here, you know Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg-Pittman have had themselves a pretty good rivalry over the years.

I'm a Pigeon Forge Tiger.

And unfortunately, every once in a while, we had to play those boys from Gatlinburg.

Lol.

And I'll tell you what, sometimes they put a pretty good whooping on us.

Of course, we returned the favor a time or two.

I'd like to tell you we won every game, but I don't think anybody from Gatlinburg would let me get away with that.

The important part is that both places have wonderful communities.

People are proud of their schools, their children, their teams, and their hometowns.

And there's something pretty special about that.

When you visit Gatlinburg, you might see all those shops, restaurants, hotels, and attractions downtown.

But what you don't necessarily see are the families who have called those mountains home for generations.

They're up around the Glades, out toward Pittman Center, and in the residential areas tucked around the mountains.

And some of the people working in Gatlinburg travel in from Sevierville, Pigeon Forge, Seymour, and other nearby communities.

So yes, people actually live here.

We just don't all live on the Parkway. Lol.

So where do people who work in Gatlinburg actually live?

Now, let's talk about the practical side of your question.

A lot of people who work in Gatlinburg don't necessarily live inside the Gatlinburg city limits.

And there are good reasons for that.

Property can be expensive, especially in areas popular with vacation rental investors. And finding a traditional residential home or long-term rental can be difficult in some locations.

So people spread out.

Some live in Pigeon Forge.

Some live in Sevierville.

Others live around Pittman Center, Wears Valley, Seymour, and the surrounding communities.

And some folks commute considerably farther.

That's just part of how our area has developed.

We have a very busy tourist corridor running through these mountains, but the full-time residential communities stretch far beyond it.

And that's something I'd tell anybody thinking about moving here.

You don't necessarily have to live in the middle of the tourist activity to enjoy everything this area has to offer.

Sometimes it's nice to be able to visit the excitement, then drive home to a little peace and quiet.

I live in the Sevierville area now, and I love it.

These days I live in the Sevierville area, out toward the Bush's Beans Cannery along Dolly Parton Parkway.

And I'm going to tell you, it's a wonderful place to live.

We're a little farther away from the busiest tourist areas, and it has much more of that everyday residential community feeling.

You've got neighbors, families, churches, schools, and all the things that make a place feel like home.

And I'm still close enough to enjoy Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg, and Sevierville whenever I want.

Depending on traffic and where I'm headed, I can generally get to much of the area without too much trouble.

Now, I'm not going to promise you a 15-minute trip to Gatlinburg during a Rod Run weekend.

Good gracious, I don't think anybody can promise you that. Lol.

But that's part of knowing the area.

And it's one reason I encourage buyers who are moving here full-time to look beyond just the places they visited on vacation.

A home that works beautifully for a family visiting the mountains for one week might not be the best location for somebody who needs to get to work, school, and the grocery store every day.

Those are two different ways of living.

There are wonderful communities all around these mountains

Sevierville has many established residential neighborhoods, subdivisions, and areas where people live year-round.

Pigeon Forge has residential communities tucked away from the Parkway, where you'd hardly know you're so close to all the attractions.

Gatlinburg has its own residential areas, although finding a full-time home there can take a little more searching, especially if you're competing with vacation rental buyers.

Then there's Seymour.

Seymour is a wonderful community, too, and offers a different kind of setting for people who want to be within reach of Sevierville and Knoxville.

You've also got Wears Valley, Pittman Center, and plenty of smaller communities where the roads wind through the hills and valleys.

Each has a personality of its own.

Some folks want a neighborhood with other families nearby.

Some want a little acreage.

Some want to be close to work, while others would rather drive a few extra miles to get away from the traffic.

And some folks want to be so far up a mountain that the only neighbor they see is a black bear.

Lol.

Now, I might rethink that last one if the bear starts showing up every evening looking for supper.

But you get my point.

There's a whole lot more to living in the Smoky Mountains than what you see driving through downtown Gatlinburg or Pigeon Forge.

Here's what I'd tell somebody moving here full-time

I've been selling real estate in this area for more than 30 years, and I think one of the biggest mistakes somebody can make is choosing a home based entirely on what they enjoyed while vacationing here.

Now, don't get me wrong.

I love our attractions, restaurants, and everything tourism brings to this area.

But when you live here, your life changes.

You've got to get to work. You've got kids going to school. You've got appointments, errands, groceries, and all those things that don't disappear just because you moved to the mountains.

So I'd want to know a few things before helping somebody choose a home.

Where are you going to work?

How much driving are you comfortable with?

Do you want to be in a neighborhood, or would you rather have a little privacy?

Do you want mountain views, a level yard, or somewhere the grandchildren can come play?

And what about the roads?

Because I'll tell you something. A driveway that looks absolutely beautiful in October might look a whole lot different when it has ice on it in January.

Lol.

And if you're planning to live here year-round, I'd also pay attention to whether the surrounding homes are primarily full-time residences or vacation rentals.

There's nothing wrong with either one.

But if you want to know your neighbors and enjoy a quiet residential neighborhood, that's something worth checking before you buy.

I'd also tell you to visit the area more than once.

Come on a busy weekend.

Come when things are quieter.

Drive the roads.

Stop at a local restaurant.

And if you see some folks talking, don't be afraid to say hello.

You might learn more about a community from a ten-minute conversation than you will from looking at pictures of houses all afternoon.

What makes a community isn't the buildings

You know, when I think back on all those years coaching football, I don't remember every game we won.

I don't remember every play we ran.

And Lord knows I probably don't remember every time one of those little fellows ran the wrong direction.

Lol.

But I remember the people.

I remember the children.

I remember the parents standing along the fence, cheering for their kids.

I remember the other coaches, the friendships, and the feeling of being part of something.

That's what I think people sometimes miss when they're visiting these mountains.

They're looking at the attractions and wondering where everybody lives.

But what makes this place special isn't just where we live.

It's how we live together.

And there's a difference.

We're woven into these mountains, into our churches, schools, businesses, ball fields, and neighborhoods.

We're scattered through these valleys like the pieces of one of those beautiful quilts.

Different people, different places, different stories.

But somehow, when you put us all together, it makes a pretty beautiful picture.

The bottom line

So, where do the locals actually live in Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, and Sevierville?

Well, just about everywhere you look once you get off those busy tourist roads.

Some live right in the towns. Others live in the smaller communities and valleys surrounding them.

And yes, people really do live in Pigeon Forge.

I raised my family there, coached football there, made lifelong friends there, and loved being part of that community.

I'm proud of those Pigeon Forge Tigers.

And I suppose I'll give those Gatlinburg-Pittman boys a little credit, too.

Just a little. Lol.

But if you're considering moving here, I'd encourage you to look beyond the tourist attractions.

Find the community that fits the life you want to live.

Because buying a house and finding a home aren't always the same thing.

And if you're fortunate enough to find both here in the Smoky Mountains, well, I think you've done pretty good.

As for that secret golden mountain I told you about at the beginning?

I guess I've given away the secret.

It's not one mountain.

It's this whole beautiful place we get to call home.

And if you decide to move here, I sure hope I'll get to meet you.

Maybe we'll be neighbors.

Better yet, maybe we'll become friends.

"Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!" (Psalm 133:1)

Hope that helps. God bless.

Will Cupp

Sevierville Realtor and Real Estate Broker

Realty Executives Associates, (865) 983-0011

865-654-9807

willcupp.com