Local Info

Why Live in Sevier County?

Attractions/Shows
Dollywood
Numerous restaurants
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
NO State Income Tax (Investments are taxable income in Tennessee)
Titanic Exhibit: United States Largest Display of recovered Titanic artifacts
Shopping
OUTSTANDING school system with 75% of High School graduates attending college
CLEAN air
Change of Seasons
Less than 12 inches of annual snow
Diverse wildlife ranging from Elk, wild turkeys to Coyotes
Local Craftsmen
Scottish Highland History
Extremely Low Property Taxes
Utilities lower than National Average
23 miles from Knoxville
20 Miles from North Carolina
3.5 Hours from Atlanta
4.5 hours from Cincinnati

Tourist Attractions (Top 4)

The tourism industry drives the county's economy. The following destinations are among the most lucrative for the area:

Great Smoky Mountains National Park, southern Sevier County: Established in 1936 and propelling the tourism industry in Sevier County ever since, the National Park is the most visited in the entire system, welcoming over 10 million nature enthusiasts every year, most of which arrive through Sevier County.

Dollywood, Pigeon Forge: The theme park named for part-owner Dolly Parton admits 2.2 million guests a year, making it both the most popular theme park and most frequented attraction (after the Great Smoky Mountains National Park) in Tennessee.

Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies, Gatlinburg: Opened in 2000 and designated the most visited aquarium in the United States in 2001, when over 2 million tourists passed through its galleries, Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies is the largest single tourist draw in Gatlinburg.

Ober Gatlinburg, Gatlinburg: The Ober Gatlinburg ski resort sits above Gatlinburg, offering numerous attractions for visitors unique to the county, including winter ski slopes and an indoor ice skating rink. The tramway that takes visitors to and from the Gatlinburg Parkway is touted as "America's Largest Aerial Tramway".

History of Sevier County

Sevier County was founded September 28, 1794 from Jefferson County. It is bordered on the west by Blount County, with Knox to the northwest, Jefferson on the north and Cocke County on the east. The south and southeast borders of Sevier County are bordered by Swain County, North Carolina.
Sevier County was named in honor of John Sevier, state senator and first governor of Tennessee.
The public records of Sevier County were almost completely destroyed by fire on March 25, 1856. In tracing the early residents of the County it is advisable to search the records of the adjoining counties of Blount, Cocke, Jefferson, and Knox. As of the year 2000, Sevier County had a land area of 592 square miles and the population was estimated in 2002 at 74,456.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 1,548 km² (598 mi²). 1,534 km² (592 mi²) of it is land and 14 km² (5 mi²) of it (0.91%) is water.

As one of the largest counties in Tennessee, Sevier County's terrain varies from one of the most rugged portions of the Appalachian Mountains to the river valley of the French Broad River and Douglas Lake. Inasmuch, the maximum elevation differential in Sevier County is the greatest in Tennessee, ranging from a high of 6,643 feet (2,025 meters) at Clingmans Dome (the highest point in the entire state), to 850 feet (259 meters) at the French Broad River.

Economy of Sevier County

From its beginnings as a traditional subsistence-based farming society, Sevier County has grown into a major tourist destination since the establishment of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which dominates the southern portion of the county. One of the very reasons for the park's creation, however, was also one of the county's first major economic engines: the lumber industry. Establishments in what is now the National Park felled large amounts of timber in the early 1900's. Though the park effectively killed the then-lagging industry in the late 1930's, it spurred the development of one of the largest tourist resorts in the United States of America, as the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is now the most visited National Park in the country. In recent years the tourism bubble has expanded beyond the city of Gatlinburg, which borders the northwestern segment of the National Park, and into the nearby cities of Pigeon Forge and Sevierville.