Gatlinburg Real Estate Blog

Visitors from less topographically challenging (flatter) parts of the country are often amazed by our road system here in the Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee. Roads go in anything but straight lines and can be downright challenging for flatlanders. Pretty much the opposite of the orderly, systematic way that the streets of Washington DC were planned, Gatlinburg area roads seem to be imagined by a drunken or deranged person with an intent to harm the innocent travelers who aren't familiar with our Sevier County community. More on the DC comparison in a moment... The reasons that Gatlinburg's roads are so crooked is quite interesting. The modern day roads often follow the original settler's wagon trails from days gone by. Those wagon trails followed the Cherokee Indian trails used by the earliest inhabitants of the mountains which were named Shaconage, which means "place of the blue smoke". The Indian's footpaths often followed the animal paths which were crea...

Visitors from less topographically challenging (flatter) parts of the country are often amazed by our road system here in the Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee. Roads go in anything but straight lines and can be downright challenging for flatlanders. Pretty much the opposite of the orderly, systematic way that the streets of Washington DC were planned, Gatlinburg area roads seem to be imagined by a drunken or deranged person with an intent to harm the innocent travelers who aren't familiar with our Sevier County community. More on the DC comparison in a moment... The reasons that Gatlinburg's roads are so crooked is quite interesting. The modern day roads often follow the original settler's wagon trails from days gone by. Those wagon trails followed the Cherokee Indian trails used by the earliest inhabitants of the mountains which were named Shaconage, which means "place of the blue smoke". The Indian's footpaths often followed the animal paths which were crea...