The first time we visited Pigeon Forge back in the late ’80s, there was a small carnival style amusement park against a hill on one side of the road and tons of tourist shops on both sides. Dollywood was fairly new and many motels were still Mom and Pop establishments as were most of the restaurants. There were a couple of outlet malls, but there was no Titanic attraction, no Wonderworks, or Dixie Stampede, Splash Country or Hollywood Wax Museum, etc.
The Christmas Place was the demarcation of the west end of Pigeon Forge. Seemed like there were miles of private land between Sevierville and Pigeon Forge in those days. So what was there to do besides Dollywood? Glad you asked.
The road going to Dollywood was somewhat narrow, congested, and at that time, the only way in. On one side of the two-lane road was a putt-putt golf course called Bunny Land Golf. Believe me, there were a ton of peewee golf courses in Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, so to stand out, there had to be a gimmick of some kind. We tried several—some of them are still around, others long gone. All were fun, but despite the controversy the one that we liked the most was Bunny Land.
The gimmick? They had live rabbits on the course. It wasn’t a difficult course, except for the bunnies, a fact that sometimes irritated my son. He was very competitive. At times you’d either have to buy pellets to entice the bunnies out of the way or wait for them to hop away on their own.
While my son was sometimes annoyed, my daughter was delighted. She often stopped playing to check out a bunny, many of which were quite docile. By the time we started visiting Pigeon Forge and Dollywood, Bunny Land was falling on hard times.
Dollywood’s access made it hard to get to Bunny Land, and the lure of something more up-to-date and new like Dolly Parton’s amusement park further dropped the golf course’s attraction.
Then in the mid-nineties the enclosure was invaded one night and bunnies killed. We heard about it on local news outlets, and the wantonness saddened us. Whether you liked the idea of peewee golf with live animals or not, it was a sad end to a quirky institution in Pigeon Forge.
The little side-of-the-road amusement park was torn down and new hotels and outlets built on the site. I think there might have been a new peewee golf course, too. One constant? There were several, like The Trac, the large go-cart amusement on 321. Another was the Old Mill on the Pigeon River and the row of shops that radiate out from it. Delicious fudge, lots of leather goods, and a shop with the fun name of Smoky Mountain Cat House. The cat house has been there for 30-plus years and still going strong.
Like Bunny Land had real rabbits, this one has real cats. The owners are friendly, most of the time the cats will let you love on them, and the store is unique. Every time we have traveled to Pigeon Forge, we visit the cat house.
Susan Kite is the author of five published books for young adults and several other books in the pre-publication phase. Find more information at www.bookscape.net or https://www.amazon.com/author/bookscape