Frontier Town
Today's "Anything Goes Saturday" post features scans of some mid-1950's slides with pictures of a western-themed park called "Frontier Town". In one of the photos a sign indicating the Pigeon River helps place this park somewhere near Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, but I can find no information about it at all. Part of the problem is the very generic name of the place.
It's not the most detailed Western Town I've ever seen; many of the buildings appear to be a continuous flat façade, presumably disguising something more ordinary. Metal industrial sheds? Who knows!
A single postcard on Pinterest is all I could find, and the back wasn't scanned, so it wasn't much help, even though I was glad to see it.
This man reminds me of actor Mark Rylance in the Spielberg movie, "Bridge of Spies". I suspect that old Frontier Town wasn't open this day, considering the absence of other people, and the presence of only two automobiles.
The arrow-shaped sign says "Pigeon River Court" - one of the few useful clues. The larger sign advertises "Homespun Valley Mountaineer Village" (in Gatlinburg, only a mile south of Pigeon Forge), which, according to author Tim Hollis, "...opened in 1951 as arguably the town's first true tourist attraction outside of the craft shops and candy stores".
I would imagine that this place was busy with happy crowds during the summer vacation season; but it looks so gloomy and sad in these pictures.
The buildings appear to be so unsubstantial that I am not 100% certain that people could actually go inside. You'd think that the Dodge House would be the place to get a nice ham sandwich or some lemonade. Ditto the Silver Slipper Saloon, although that looks rather small and kind of chintzy.
Yes, yes, Dodge House, I've already mentioned you. I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings, you're probably the best Dodge House that ever dodged. And I appreciate the random wagon wheels. These days, Frontier Town would make for an excellent Halloween Haunt location. It makes me think of Scooby Doo, glowing green ghosts (the old caretaker in disguise!), and those meddling kids.
Over 200 miles west of Pigeon Forge is a town called Madison; they had their own Frontier Town. Completely unrelated to our town, of course.
I hope you have enjoyed your visit to Frontier Town, Tennessee. If you have any information about it, please chime in!
12 comments:
Major-
Undoubtedly, this place was built with a bit of love, but not too much in the way of class. That gentleman is standing beside a 1953 Chevrolet: Startlingly New! Wonderfully Different! or perhaps:
Entirely New - Through and Through Take your pick.
Thanks, Major.
You gotta walk that homespun valley,
You gotta walk it by yourself...
Smith Bros. Undertakers: If our cough drops don't cure you, we'll give you ten percent off on your funeral!
Dodge House: Come in on Wednesday night for Spaghetti and Dodgeballs!
Nice attempt at forced perspective on the teepees and "cabin"?
The large traps on the 2nd floor patio of the Dodge House certainly give off a Sooby Doo vibe.
Tarps.....
Some of these old lost attractions bring out a longing in me to go back in time and visit them. This isn't one of them. The "town" looks like a fence to me. I get the impression that the whole thing was a photo backdrop. The random wagon wheels just make everything stranger. I think I'll just keep on driving...
I suspect this was little more than a souvenir stand, possibly with an attached restaurant. Before the 1960s, I don't believe there was much in the way of tourism in Piegon Forge – Rebel Railroad, which would eventually become Dollywood, only opened in 1961. Other attractions began opening after that. When I was a child in the 1970s, my parents always hurried past the roadside tourist traps of Pigeon Forge (much to my chagrin) on the way to Gatlinburg which sits at the entrance to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Hillbilly-themed souvenir shops and country-style restaurants were the norm along that stretch of highway back then. By the late-1970s the mini-amusement parks had taken off and before long Pigeon Forge became a destination in itself. Madison, by the way, is essentially a suburb of Nashville. I've never heard of the Frontier Town from the card – it was presumably long gone by the time I was growing up on the other side of the city.
I would love to go back in time and travel the highways of America, checking out all the roadside attractions of the day. It looks like the guy in the photo is doing just that. I guess even wise guys need gas. He does look a little like Vito Genevese. I would bring back souvenirs of course, cork pistols, cedar boxes, and dashboard hula dancers. I would say things like "filler up" and "here's a five, keep the change." When do I leave? Hey Major, great stuff today.
That man definitely looks like Mark Rylance in Bridge of Spies". I liked that movie. Love roadside attractions like this. Thanks, Major.
I like the old fashioned box fan in the window of said Dodge House.
Most likely to air out the aromas generated by spaghetti bloated Dodge ballers.
Probably a live in family ran the place just like our Rockin R Ranch here in Gilbert that is alas being torn down as we speak.
Such a sad depressing place .... with or without visitors. As a kid anything themed place would get me excited , but I’m grateful I grew up with higher quality attractions.
Major, this is great stuff. I love the little local parks, however maladroit.
Those wheels on the roof are not random They are to enable rolling the building back into place after a heavy wind blows it over. It's architecture.
Thank you, Pegleg Pete for info about the area, hoping Gatlinburg is recovering from the recent fires? These sounded devastating and heartbreaking.
The closest we have come to this area was Nashville, but there were similar attractions on the road to the Mammoth Caves in KY. I recall the souvenir stands in New Mexico and Arizona with the concrete teepees, this seems like a natural extension of those.
@Melissa, your comments caused me to snort beer out my nose laughing. Thank you! I will be singing that now the rest of the day, while looking for my can of Dapper Dan.
JG
Nanook, yeah, Frontier Town lacks much of the charm that other small western-themed parks have. And I choose “Entirely new - through and through”.
Melissa, I used to eat cherry Smith Bros. cough drops like candy. I don’t believe they had any “medicine” in them at all. “Spaghetti and Dodgeballs” is the title of my opera.
Gnometrek, ha ha, yeah, but then again, it’s not much worse than some of the forced perspective at Rainbow Ridge. It’s just that RR had a better design overall.
Gnometrek II, I knew what you meant!
stu29573, I truly wish I could find out more about the history of this place, but there is almost nothing. It was definitely built “on the cheap”, but in those days the people from that area were probably thrilled to have even the most modest of attractions.
Pegleg Pete, It certainly doesn’t appear to have that much to offer in the way of amusements; there were probably gunfights, and maybe some musicians, or some sort of animal acts. Maybe there were saloon girls! I’ve never been in that part of the country at all, it would be fascinating to see it. As usual I wish I could have seen it in the 1950’s or 60’s!
Jonathan, oh man, the idea of taking a vintage road trip is SO appealing. Just imagine all the weirdness and wonderfulness! I would want to go to gas stations and call men “Bub”. Is that too much to ask?
K. Martinez, I’m glad you liked these! I love extinct roadside attractions.
Alonzo, box fans were invented by Doc Holiday. Didn’t you know that? The man was a genius. And I wouldn’t be surprised if you are right, the family that owned this place might have lived on property.
Mike Cozart, it’s too bad it wasn’t a nice sunny day, the photos would have been less sad. Even photos of Disneyland lose a lot when it is gray and cloudy.
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