The Other Side of Gatlinburg: A Guide to the Great Smoky Arts & Crafts Community

Enjoy the 8 mile loop road with over 80 artists & craftsmen including eateries, bed & breakfasts and more just minutes away from Wildmere.

The Other Side of Gatlinburg: A Guide to the Great Smoky Arts & Crafts Community

There is a side of Gatlinburg that feels a little different.

A little quieter. A little slower. A place where you can still pull off the road because you spotted a hand-painted sign, walk into a working studio, and meet the person who made the piece you are about to take home.

This is the Great Smoky Arts & Crafts Community, and it is also the neighborhood Wildmere calls home.

A Different Kind of Gatlinburg

Just a few miles from downtown, the Arts & Crafts Community winds through the hills along an eight-mile loop that has been home to generations of makers.

Potters, painters, woodworkers, weavers, leatherworkers, jewelers, broom makers, glass artists and craftspeople have built their lives and businesses here. Some shops have been passed through families. Others belong to newer artists carrying old Appalachian traditions into another generation.

That mixture is part of what makes the community special.

It isn't a recreated historic village or a collection of souvenir shops designed to look old. These are real studios, workshops, galleries and small businesses tucked into the same mountains where people have been making things by hand for generations.

You might see smoke coming from a pottery kiln, wood shavings covering the floor of a workshop or an artist sitting behind the counter working on the next piece.

There is something wonderfully unpolished about it.

Why Craft Matters Here

In the Smokies, making things by hand was never originally about decoration.

People quilted because families needed blankets. They worked wood because they needed furniture. They wove baskets because they needed something to carry what they grew and gathered. Blacksmiths, weavers, woodworkers and potters made useful things for everyday life.

Over time, necessity became artistry.

That tradition is still deeply woven into this part of East Tennessee, and the Arts & Crafts Community is one of the places where you can see it continuing in real time.

It is also one of the reasons we chose to build Wildmere here.

Wildmere and the Arts & Crafts Community

When we began imagining Wildmere, we knew we didn't want to create something that could exist anywhere.

We wanted it to feel like it belonged here.

The Framery itself began as an artist's framing shed. When we had the opportunity to purchase it from the artist's family, we loved the idea that the little building could remain part of the creative life of this community, even as its purpose changed.

That history shaped the way we approached the entire property.

Much of the wood used throughout Wildmere was milled by my father. We chose pieces made by local craftspeople whenever we could. We filled the spaces with old things, handmade things and pieces that carry a little evidence of the person who made them.

Perfect has never been the goal.

Character is.

And living among the artists and craftspeople of this community constantly reminds us why.

Take Your Time on the Loop

The best way to experience the Arts & Crafts Loop is not to rush it.

There are plenty of maps and lists telling you where to stop, but some of our favorite discoveries happen when you simply drive until something catches your eye.

Turn into the pottery studio.

Walk into the tiny shop.

Ask the artist how something was made.

Buy the mug that isn't perfectly identical to the other five on the shelf.

Stop for lunch. Get a coffee. Wander a little farther than you planned.

This is one part of Gatlinburg where having no particular schedule is often the best schedule.

Bring Home Something With a Story

There are plenty of places in the Smokies to buy a souvenir.

But there is something different about bringing home an object you watched someone make, or a piece you bought directly from the hands that created it.

Years later, that bowl or painting or piece of pottery doesn't just remind you of Gatlinburg.

It reminds you of the afternoon you spent winding through the mountains, stopping at little studios and talking to people who still make beautiful things for a living.

That is the Gatlinburg we love.

And if you're staying with us at Wildmere, it's right outside your door.