The catchphrase “What would Dolly Do” flashes through my mind during my Dolly Parton pilgrimage to her hometown of Sevierville, Tennessee, as a plate of frog legs is unexpectedly brought to my table at The Appalachian restaurant.
I’m a pescatarian, but one could technically argue frogs are somewhat of an aquatic species. Still, I find myself in a conundrum of not wanting a first frog eating experience but also not wanting to offend the chef.
Apparently this isn’t just any Appalachian appetizer but one of the restaurant’s signature dishes — Buffalo frog legs, soaked in buttermilk for 48 hours, then rolled in flour and tossed in house-made buffalo sauce before being cooked with a top layer of melted blue cheese.
Reluctant to even try a bite, I remember a Times article where Parton says she and her 11 siblings grew up eating mostly “frog legs, river fish, and catfish.”
So I did what I think Dolly would have done. I took a bite and discovered frogs legs taste like chicken, from what I recall of my pre-pescatarian days.
“The Buffalo frog legs are delicious but they are always a conversation starter and sometimes a little bit of challenge for people,” says executive Chef David Rule.
“We always joke these are frog legs with training wheels. It’s like buffalo wings almost.”
Rule says the restaurant tries to bring a modern approach to Appalachian cuisine and while it’s known for its steaks, cooked on a wood-burning hearth to create a smoky flavour, they also serve seasonal vegetable dishes and southern classics, like biscuits, corn bread and chicken.
Rule says many of those southern favourites are a nod to his 93-year-old “meemaw” (grandmother), adding “it’s not so much about a family recipe but a family technique and style.”
The Maryville, Tennessee-born Rule says while he’s travelled extensively he would never want to leave the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee and the people who live here.
“There’s something to be said for southern hospitality. People are kind and we’re known as the volunteer state. …I don’t know if you get that everywhere but I know you get that very strongly here.”
During my four-day road trip through Parton’s beloved Smoky Mountains, I found folks were always kind, welcoming and helpful.
My road trip began in Nashville, where I stayed overnight at the comfortable and centrally located Bobby Nashville Hotel before heading out the next day to the Dolly Parton mecca of Dollywood. This family amusement park, in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains, was opened in 1986 and last May was revamped to include a section called The Dolly Parton Experience providing more exhibits on the country music legend.
But before leaving Nashville it seemed fitting to start my Parton pilgrimage with dinner at a Dolly Parton-inspired restaurant and bar called White Limozeen, atop the Graduate Hotel.
Although not run by Parton, the Nashville restaurant is named after her 1989 solo studio album and song and feels like a place where Parton would be at home. From the pink bar stools, pink chaises, pink walls and drapery to the massive, pink chicken wire Dolly statue on the outdoor patio, the White Limozeen shimmers. The food is a southern take of French inspired cuisine, like crab fritters with a creole hollandaise sauce, wild salmon with a shallot-dill cream sauce and goat cheese croquette, a restaurant favourite.
The next day, after driving 3.5 hours to Pigeon Forge, I met local Donna Huffacre at The Old Mill Restaurant, which has a mill dating back to 1830 that still works and is on the National Register of Historic Places.
While eating a southern-style lunch of fried catfish, mac and cheese, green beans and hush puppies (deep fried cornmeal batter) at the Old Mill, which gets about a million visitors annually, I had a chance to chat with Huffacre, who was also raised in Sevierville, about her childhood memories of Parton.
Although Parton, now 78 years old, was seven years older than Huffacre they were both in the Sevier County High School marching band at the same time. Parton played the snare drum and Huffacre was a champion baton twirler, who at age eight was discovered by the high school band director.
“He saw me at a talent show and said I could twirl with the big girls. Dolly was just so kind to me, to let this little kid sit beside her on the bus. She’d look out the window and sing,” says Huffacre, who adds she has seen Parton many times since at Dollywood, where Parton goes every spring on opening day.
“My family makes fun of me because I love Dollywood so much. They say I love Dollywood more than Disney World and I do because it’s more about who we are,” she says.
In 2024, Dollywood beat out the Disney Parks when it was voted by TripAdvisor’s Travellers Choice Awards as the best theme park in the United States. It also made its top-10 list for best theme parks internationally.
Visiting Dollywood later that day, I was pleasantly surprised the theme park is not just about its amusement rides. Roller coasters aren’t exactly my thing but the Dollywood Express train, a coal train built in 1938 was a treat, especially as it travelled pass Christmas lights and displays put up during Dollywood’s annual Smoky Mountain Christmas, which happens Nov. 1 through Jan. 5.
Another Dollywood highlight was the 35-minute performance by Parton’s niece Heidi Parton and nine other musicians in a show called A Christmas to Remember, that culminates with a duet between Heidi on the stage and her aunt, singing her part on film behind her. The show is held in the performance venue of the new Dolly Parton Experience, that has different buildings in it showcasing Parton’s career and her life. My favourite was the museum dedicated to Parton’s fabulous performance wardrobe, wigs and footwear (where I learned Dolly’s tiny shoe size is 5.5.)
Besides Dollywood, there are plenty of places in Parton’s hometown of Sevierville that are worth visiting on a Parton pilgrimage, beginning with the life-size, bronze statue of a young Dolly Parton. The statue sits outside the city’s historic county courthouse.
It’s said Parton’s father was so proud of the statue, erected in 1987, he would drop by and clean bird poop off it.
A walk around downtown Sevierville also brings Parton fans past other Dolly Parton tributes like the mural on the Pines Theatre, where Parton is featured as a child among other country music artists who performed there. (Parton had her first paid gig in 1956 when she was 10 years old at the theatre now converted into a community gathering place.)
There are other murals of Parton around town, like one of Parton as a child at Red’s Cafe, which was one of her favourite childhood destinations (it’s located across the street from The Appalachian restaurant), as well as a butterfly mural inspired by Parton’s love of butterflies.
But perhaps the best stop to get a sense of Dolly Parton is the local moonshine distillery in Sevierville called Shine Girl Distillery, owned by Dolly’s niece Danielle Parton.
The combat veteran, airline pilot and entrepreneur splits her time between Nashville and Sevierville so chances are good you might run into Parton’s niece at the two-year-old distillery.
“I used to come up here [Sevierville] to get away from life and now that I have a business here I go back home [Nashville] to get away from life,” she says.
Danielle and her famous aunt are actually neighbours in Sevierville, living in the same neighbourhood where Danielle grew up.
“I have a house on one end and she has a house on the other end, so we book end the neighbourhood. It’s nothing fancy, I assure you. She has just a regular middle class house. She can afford, of course, anything she wants but she just prefers regular stuff,” she says.
My last brush with Dolly Parton before ending my Parton pilgrimage happened the next night in Pigeon Forge at the Dolly Parton Stampede, which she co-owns along with a privately-owned entertainment organization.
The four-course dinner show provides arena-style seating around a horse arena and features performers on 32 horses, as well as other animal acts, including pig races, and a nativity scene featuring camels during the Christmas season. One of the show highlights is the Ring of Fire, when a rider with one foot on the back of two horses leaps through a fiery hoop.
If you go: Dollywood has two resorts located just around the corner from the park. DreamMore Resort and Spa, which opened in July, 2015 and HeartSong Lodge and Resort, which opened in November, 2023. Both provide shuttles to Dollywood and are surrounded by the Smoky Mountains.
Kim Pemberton was hosted by Tennessee State Tourism, Visit Sevierville and Visit Pigeon Falls, which did not review or approve this article.
