Crafting the future on Gatlinburg’s East Parkway

With nary a billboard to its name, the Great Smoky Mountains Arts and Crafts Community has been called Gatlinburg’s best-kept secret. But the eight-mile “crafts loop” also is one of the area’s oldest and largest attractions – and keeps growing every year. Read the full story- click here.

“Really, what we have out here is the future of Gatlinburg,” said Kevin Tierney, president of the crafts community. “People who come out to Glades Road are a little more adventurous, a little more willing to go off the beaten track to find something unique.”

Easily accessible from Stoplight #3-A on Gatlinburg’s East Parkway [the main turn-off to get to the Bear's Den], the crafts loop adds new artists and craftspeople every season alongside local institutions like Tierney’s own Lorelei Candles, which opened a quarter-century ago.

Visitors come to the crafts loop for a kind of intimacy – as well as the lure of unique artwork and crafts. Members of the arts and crafts community agree to keep at least part of their production process out in the open, which lets people see skills from pottery to Lucite carving to making the perfect cappuccino. “Basically, we’re a craft show going on 365 days a year,” Tierney said, adding that the area’s mountain folkways was a major draw for tourists even in the early days of the national park.

For details about the community’s craftspeople, directions to the crafts loop and other information on the Great Smoky Mountains Arts and Crafts Community, visit www.artsandcraftscommunity.com.

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