by Tesa Nauman© 2007, All Rights Reserved

The city with the odd-sounding name got its name from a river and a forge.

Around 1820, Isaac Love built an iron forge along the Little Pigeon River and from that came the name Pigeon Forge. The forge was located close to where the historic Old Mill stands today. Love bought the property where he would build his forge without having to pay tax on it. Tennessee had passed a law allowing land “unfit for cultivation” to be bought tax free only if the land was used for iron works. At that time, iron was scarce in Tennessee and usually had to be imported from other states. Love bought 70,000 acres of the tax-free land.

Love’s son, William, built the large gristmill that today we call the Old Mill. The Old Mill is located on Old Mill Road, just off the Parkway, Pigeon Forge’s main street.

The first Europeans came to Pigeon Forge in the early 1700s by following the Indian Gap Trail. The trail, a Cherokee footpath, ran from North Carolina through what today is Sevierville and along towns along the Tennessee River.

Pigeon Forge remained a sleepy little mountain town until tourism came to Pigeon Forge in the 1960s, in the form of an attraction named Rebel Railroad. The railroad gave riders a thrill by simulating a Union attack on a Confederate railroad and also featured a replica of a frontier town. In 1964, the attraction was renamed Goldrush Junction and the Civil War theme was changed to an Old West one.

The owner of the Cleveland Browns football team, Art Modell, bought Goldrush Junction in 1969. Seven years later he sold it to two brothers from Branson, Missouri, who named it Silver Dollar City after their Branson amusement park.

Hoping to cash in on the popularity of the 1982 Knoxville World’s Fair, Pigeon Forge saw the era of the outlet malls begin. The malls were a successful source of revenue for the city and proved to be the No. 1 reason why visitors were visiting the area, claiming that title for the first time from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

In 1985, the Herschends brothers contacted Dolly Parton (who was born in nearby Sevierville, Tennessee) and proposed a deal where Parton would become a partner in the amusement park’s operation and promotion. Parton agreed and the park was renamed Dollywood.

Pigeon Forge continues to offer a large variety of attractions to its visitors each year.

The Little Pigeon River that runs through Pigeon Forge got its name from the many Passenger Pigeons that used to visit the river.