Pigeon Forge History
The name "Pigeon Forge" comes from an iron forge built by Isaac Love
The name of this forge referred to its location along the Little Pigeon River. The name of the river comes from the flocks of Passenger Pigeons that used to frequent the river.
Prior to the early white settlers, the Cheroke Indians used the valley where Pigeon Forge is located, as a hunting ground. In the early 18th century, the first Europeans crossed through the Indian Gap Trail, along with hunters, trappers and traders from North Carolina and Virginia.
The first permanent euro-American settler was Colonel Samuel Wear, a veteran of the American Revolution. He erected a small fort near the Walden Creek, Little Pigeon River confluence.
Long before the Great Smoky Mountains National Park or Dollywood, the first tourists to visit the Pigeon Forge area came for the extended revivals that were held in the Middle Creek area.
In the early 1800's iron was scarce. The Tennessee state legislature passed a law that allowed for land that was unfit for cultivation to be purchased tax free, as long as it was used for iron works. Around 1820, Isaac Love took advantage of that law and purchased 70,000 acres of land in this area and shortly thereafter erected the iron forge that would become the towns namesake.
In 1830 Isaac's son erected the large grist mill now known as the Old Mill, which still stands today.