Sevierville, the east Tennessee town where Dolly Parton grew up, is turning her early years into a walkable route through downtown. Next month the local Chamber of Commerce will launch In Dolly's Footsteps, a free self-guided tour linking nine spots that shaped the singer long before she became a global star.
The route starts near the town's bronze Dolly statue on Court Avenue, where you pick up a complimentary brochure. Each of the nine stops gets a granite-and-bronze marker, and QR codes along the way unlock extra photos, video and audio — including Dolly herself recalling her first visit to Red's Café. Other stops trace her first paying gig at the old Pines Theater, plus former shops from her childhood such as the Easy Way Five and Dime, Carr Dry Goods, Raymond's Shoe Store, Kilpatrick's Drug Store, the Temple Milling Company and the old post office. Some of the buildings are long gone, but the markers and multimedia are designed to conjure the downtown as young Dolly would have known it.
The project has real backing from the top: it began in 2023, was developed with Sevier County historian Carroll McMahan, and Dollywood worked closely with the Chamber to make sure the locations and the storytelling had Dolly's own approval. "We are honored to share Dolly's hometown story with the world," says Amanda Marr, the Chamber's marketing and communications director.
For travellers, this slots neatly into a Smoky Mountains trip. Sevierville sits just north of Pigeon Forge, home of Dollywood, and a few miles from the national park's busier gateways — so the tour is an easy half-day addition, and a quieter one. It's a good excuse to see the part of Dolly country that isn't a theme park: a small courthouse town of cafés and general stores that produced the most famous storyteller in country music. Exact opening date is still to be announced; details will appear at InDollysFootsteps.com, with more Dolly-themed activities listed at VisitSevierville.com.
