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- [S106] The Mountain Press, 10 Jul 2010.
Picture book: Photographs show history of Pigeon Forge
by GAIL CRUTCHFIELD
PIGEON FORGE — Six months of research and old-fashioned scrounging have paid off with a 128-page book filled with pictures that detail the history of Pigeon Forge.
The city that next year celebrates 50 years of incorporation has been an important part of the Smoky Mountains area for much longer, which is illustrated in the book compiled by Pigeon Forge Library historian Veta Wilson King for Arcadia Publishing.
“Images of America — Pigeon Forge,” is part of their series of books spotlighting communities across the United States. When the publishing house called the Pigeon Forge Library looking for someone to head up the project, King was the natural choice.
“I’ve always been interested in history, from the days of hearing grandparents tell stories,” said King, 54, who grew up in Oldham’s Creek and graduated from Gatlinburg-Pittman High School.
This is not King’s first book. When she left her job as director of tourism for the city to be a stay-at-home mom, she started writing again to earn some extra income.
“I had written for The Mountain Press before and when I left tourism I looked for a way to make an extra dollar,” she said. “I started writing stories about people living in the mountains.” King compiled those stories into “Mountain Folks of Old Smoky.”
The process for that first, self-published book was a lot different from the one for her newest effort.
“I thought, ‘Hey, I could do that,’” she said when she first heard about the book proposal. “I had no idea how much work it would be.”
With a need for about 250 pictures, King thought she could contact about 20 families and get about 10 pictures from each.
“I’d call one and they’d say they may have one photo that would work,” she said. That led to King widen her search and dig a little deeper to find photos that would tell the story of Pigeon Forge.
It was a little like being a detective, she said. She would call one person and that would lead to another person in another state or county.
“It was enjoyable, though, just to piece the stories together and then try to get them in some order and make it fit well.”
The photos are chronological, starting with the town’s beginnings as a farming community with an ironworks that produced iron bars. The ironworks is how the town got its name, combining forge with pigeon after the Little Pigeon River — named by the Cherokee after the flock of birds that would rest in the valley during migration.
The formation of Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the second part of the book, followed by the changes the town underwent as tourism became its main focus.
Most of the pictures she used came from individuals whose families have links to early settlers. They date to 1917 and as recent as the early 1960s.
“I was fortunate to find some pictures from the Butler family,” she said. “The family owned a couple hundred acres. They had pictures of horse-drawn buggies, farm houses,” King said.
“Pigeon Forge Pottery, before Ruth Ferguson passed way (earlier this year), she was able to provide some excellent pictures.”
During her research, King was able to learn more about the Old Mill and found pictures of the mill without its wheel. The wheel in place now is for decoration since the mill eventually changed to a water turbine process, with the working parts submerged.
“One picture I’d never seen, even in collection at the library, is when they’d have to open the flood gates at the dam so they could drain the water down for repairs to the mill,” she said. There’s a picture of an almost-dry river bed with Herbert and Herman Adams standing on top of the dam.
One of the more surprising things she discovered is how the preconception that mountain folks wear overall and bare feet and living in small cabins.
“Then you see some of those pictures and there were some pretty nice old farmhouses,” King said.
“The most fun thing was just seeing the pictures themselves,” she said, and getting the stories behind the people and places in them.
The book will be available on Monday at area chain stores and gift shops. A copy is also available at Pigeon Forge Library. Copies can also be found at www.arcadiapublishing.com or by calling (888) 313-2665.
King will hold a book signing at 4:30 p.m. July 24 at the Old Mill gazebo by Pottery House Cafe.
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1955 - (68 years)
, d. 1 May 2009 (Age 87 years) 