Dollywood, Tenn

[huntsman53]

Frank you are correct. I was talking about just Dollywood itself. Also I don't consider 1960's old enough. Personally I don't hunt sites unless they are 1940's or older. And Sevierville area actually dates back to the 1700's. We have permission to hunt a site where a log cabin used to sit that was owned by John Sevier in the 1700's. The cabin has been moved to a historical site but the original site is on private property and the landowner will take us out and show us exactly where it once stood. Just waiting for some nice weather maybe this fall. I know a lot of people like to find clad so there are plenty of parks and schools they can go to in that area. Just don't hunt in the National Park.

treasurehound,

If considering metal detecting for coins, rings and other lost precious or non-precious items, I look at the bigger picture! I am 60 years old and I know that many folks were still using Silver Dollars in 1961 when Railroad Junction came into being. Therefore, it is a good possibility that there could be Silver Dollars as well as Silver Quarters and Dimes and even Buffalo Nickels and Wheat Cents lost there. All of these were still in high quantities in chump change back then and not to mention the possibility of finding some Gold and Silver rings, necklaces and bracelets.

I hope that your prospecting trip to the old Cabin site really pays off! As you know, with the influx of out-of-towners buying up land and building nice homes, it has become extremely difficult to get permission from a landowner around here to hunt for Ginseng and other herbs, hunt for Deer, turkey and other animals in season or even metal detect. You can't blame some of them since some come from areas where owning a decent piece of land is practically impossible and unheard of but others take ownership to an extreme. They think that they own everything above and below their' land including the Heavens all the way to China and you dare not venture on any of it!


Frank

 

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[huntsman53]

You need to be very careful walking down some of the back roads around there...
no telling who you'll meet!?

... if you're lucky!

View attachment 812322

Number9,

It is funny that you posted the statement and picture of Dolly! I went to school with almost half the Parton kids (Randy, Butch (ooops, don't call him that now!), Stella, Rachel and I believe there was one or two more) while attending Pittman Center Elementary School (not the new one or the real old school which I believe was just a High School). I went on to Gatlinburg Pittman High School and Randy attended there for awhile but quit about mid-late in the school year. In all those years and since, I met her Dad and most of the Owens side of the family but I have never met Dolly! She had an old Uncle that me and a friend used to visit just off the Old Mountain Road which was further up the road from the Owens' place but not very far from where she built the home for her parents. I believe his name was John and he was well in his 80's but could really play some tunes on the Banjo that he had and which was much older than he was. Once he soaked his' arthritic hands in hot water with some type of liniment oil in it, he could really get down to some picking! We also used to go fishing with one of her other Uncles, Sammy Owens (now I could tell you some stories there).

By the way, I may be wrong but I believe that that picture of Dolly was taken on a section of the Old Birds Creek Road!


Frank

 

[Number9]

Number9,

It is funny that you posted the statement and picture of Dolly! I went to school with almost half the Parton kids (Randy, Butch (ooops, don't call him that now!), Stella, Rachel and I believe there was one or two more) while attending Pittman Center Elementary School (not the new one or the real old school which I believe was just a High School). I went on to Gatlinburg Pittman High School and Randy attended there for awhile but quit about mid-late in the school year. In all those years and since, I met her Dad and most of the Owens side of the family but I have never met Dolly! She had an old Uncle that me and a friend used to visit just off the Old Mountain Road which was not far from where she built the home for her parents. I believe his name was John and he was well in his 80's but could really play some tunes on the Banjo that he had and which was much older than he was. Once he soaked his' arthritic hands in hot water with some type of liniment oil in it, he could really get down to some picking!


Frank

Great story, Frank!

We have had, and still do, many who play music in East Tennessee and the Southern Appalachians. So many will never be known like Dolly!

 

[Atomic Ed]

Because you said the woods that ....... according to others here "off-limits", looked good for detecting. And it occurred to me that "how would someone know that (that they looked good for detecting), if they weren't there to look at them, to begin with? And how could they "look at them", if they were "off-limits" ?

But notice I suggested that perhaps you looked at them from afar, in my initial post (which turns out to have been the case).

I was only posting that in jest, to poke fun at the "you'll die as soon as you step foot there" type posts.

Ok sorry, I didn't realize you were poking fun. I'm a stickler for trying to always do the right thing so I took what you were saying literally.

No problem and thanks for the reply clarifying what you meant....

 

[DeepseekerADS]

I took my kids to Dollyworld once, but ZERO chance at going a second time. My kids and I agree on that. Narrow paths and super heavy ladies walking those paths, can't pass, and they walk SLOW.....

MD'ing there would NEVER cross my mind....

 

[Old as Dirt]

On the Dollywood Amusement Park properties and mainly owned by Silver Dollar Industries (they own the controlling interests), all properties outside of the amusement rides and venues are off-limits and subject to arrest and prosecution. You could try to ask for permission to metal detect but doubt that it would be granted. I used to work there after I got out of the U.S. Army and most of the properties outside of the amusement rides and venues and owned by Silver Dollar City Industries, were off-limits. If you look close enough, I am sure that you will find No Trespassing signs in these locations.

Frank

If you notice a lot of billboards sporting the name Blalock.....that would be relatives of mine. The Blalock and Maples family have a cemetery in Sevierville. Dolly's sister was married to a Blalock at one time. We haven't been down that way in years, but would love to detect the old homestead of my husbands grandfather.

 

[huntsman53]

If you notice a lot of billboards sporting the name Blalock.....that would be relatives of mine. The Blalock and Maples family have a cemetery in Sevierville. Dolly's sister was married to a Blalock at one time. We haven't been down that way in years, but would love to detect the old homestead of my husbands grandfather.

Old as Dirt,

Maybe you or your husband knew my brother-in-law, Clancy "C.T. or Hank" Watson! He married my oldest sister Shirley Watson, formerly Ferrell which is my last name. Clancy or Hank as I called him, retired from the Navy in 1968, became a Fireman with the Gatlinburg Fire Department, then bought into the C. & O. Cab Company in Gatlinburg (the only Cab company in Gatlinburg for many years) and went on to own it. Due to my mom and dad divorcing, I went to live with Clancy and Shirley when I was 13 years old. My immediate family came from the Knoxville area and after Clancy retired from the Navy and moved back home just outside of Gatlinburg, much of my family just sort of migrated to Sevier County. I quit school in 1972 and received my Draft Notice later that year but I signed up for the U.S. Army three days before I had to take my Draft Physical. Between the U.S. Army and then working for the National Weather Service until July 30, 2011, I was pretty much away from home for 22 years. We moved back to the area when I got a job at the National Weather Service Warning Forecast Office in Morristown. During the time that I lived away, I lost track of most of my school mates and friends which included Parton's, Owen's, Maples, Ogles', Owenby's, Ramsey's, King's, Bohannon's, McCarter's, Reagan's, Whaley's, Trentham's, Huskey's and Proffitt's. Most of these folks ancestors including my brother-in-law's family, the Watson's and one of my other brother-in-law's, (Larry J. "Buckwheat") Loveday, were some of the founding families of Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. I was only 5 or 6 years old when my' family first visited Gatlinburg and I can still remember the look and location of Gatlinburg's first store which was opened by Noah Ogle around 1850 and was still standing in 1958 or 1959. By the time we made the next visit in 1961 or 1962, the old store was gone and Gatlinburg was well on it's way to becoming a Tourist destination. It was on the same trip that we visited Railroad Junction and I shot (with a cap gun) a would-be Indian that jumped on the old train and was pretending to scalp us. For an 8 or 9 year old unaware that it was an act, I was scared sh#%less! LOL!!!! If I ever had the inkling to metal detect Dollywood properties, it would be where the train went over the mountain back behind the Amusement Park. Back in 1961 or 1962, there was an old home and barn still partially standing in a field no more than a hundred yards from the railroad tracks. This is where I would want to look!

Sorry but I don't think I ever knew any of the Blalocks as they settled mostly from the Pigeon Forge area to Sevierville!


Frank