Thinking about coming back to Sevier County area

[Guest OMCHamlin]

I left Sevierville for the Navy in 1983, and have been back to see the folks and on vacation several times since. It was a great place to grow up, ducking out to Ellisons to grab a burger when I was in high school, checking out the guns that were so far beyond my reach at Wynns, 'cruising Johnsons Drive In and then up to the "Burg on a Saturday night...  Anyhow, I finally am "retired" retired, and the wife will soon be (1 Jan 2020), and am really thinking that if I have one more move left in me (you move around a LOT, working for Uncle Sam), I'd like to try and move back to the area.

With all that said; I could use some help in figuring things out. Ideally, I'd like to find a patch of land about 2-5 acres far enough out where I could shoot in my back yard, if I were so inclined. Is that even possible in Sevier County? How are local ordinances regards shooting on your own property there? Where I live now, if you're not in town limits (or in a sub division, I suppose), you can shoot and not expect to run afoul of the law.

Now I know about the incredible traffic, and I remember there were ways around a lot of it, I'll have to rediscover those though, it's been a looong time!

What kind of organized shooting or clubs are in the area? Is there any High Power or IDPA? Bullseye? I'm not  a big hunter anymore, but how's the deer population and season?

When I saw move back to the area, that could include other places nearby, are there any you'd suggest? Demographics matter as well.

They say you can't go home, but I'd like to try...

Thanks to anyone from that area that can give me any advice!

[peejman]

It will look completely different from what you remember. 

You can shoot on your own property outside the city limits. Your issue will be neighbors and noise. 

ORSA is the go-to place for high power, IDPA, etc. 

[Guest OMCHamlin]

3 minutes ago, peejman said:

It will look completely different from what you remember. 

You can shoot on your own property outside the city limits. Your issue will be neighbors and noise. 

ORSA is the go-to place for high power, IDPA, etc. 

Oh yeah, NO DOUBT there! I stopped in last October, on our way back from Arkansas, and rode through town before hitting the hotel. So much has changed. I remember when Smokey Mountain Knife Works was 4-5 glass display cabinets in an Antique Barn along Rt 66.

[AKVAT]

We host a monthly 2nd Thursday of the month Sevier County Gun Club Virtual Shoot at AK Virtual Arms Training LLC 2662 Wears Valley Road Sevierville.  There 1000+ members in Sevier County who may have helpful information for you.  The next event is 6:00p.m. tonight. 

https://akvat.com

 

[Guest OMCHamlin]

Thanks AKVAT, that's good to know. Are there any outdoor ranges in the county?

[DaveTN]

Welcome. I don’t have answers to your questions, I’m not from that area.  But what did you do in the Navy? Chief Opticalman would be my guess? I was an MR onboard the USS PONCE LPD-15 and the USS HOLLAND AS-32, both decommissioned now.

[bubbiesdad]

The ways around the traffic are pretty much gone. They are now the main route.

[Guest OMCHamlin]

40 minutes ago, DaveTN said:

Welcome. I don’t have answers to your questions, I’m not from that area.  But what did you do in the Navy? Chief Opticalman would be my guess? I was an MR onboard the USS PONCE LPD-15 and the USS HOLLAND AS-32, both decommissioned now.

You would be exactly right, shipmate! And I can say that, because my first ship was the USS Holland out of Site 4, NWS Goose Creek, SC!  And we were part of R2 Division to boot! That was a little while back, like about 1986 to 1990. I got to see her one more time, while I was on AS40, USS Frank Cable, and we closed out Charleston in'96 (last major unit afloat to bail outta there) and moseyed over to Guam to relieve Holland, so I got to see my first and second ships moored along side. (Holland sat WAY up because of the offloading of "stuff")...

[DaveTN]

29 minutes ago, OMCHamlin said:

You would be exactly right, shipmate! And I can say that, because my first ship was the USS Holland out of Site 4, NWS Goose Creek, SC!  And we were part of R2 Division to boot! That was a little while back, like about 1986 to 1990. I got to see her one more time, while I was on AS40, USS Frank Cable, and we closed out Charleston in'96 (last major unit afloat to bail outta there) and moseyed over to Guam to relieve Holland, so I got to see my first and second ships moored along side. (Holland sat WAY up because of the offloading of "stuff")...

Cool. I was only on the Holland in Goose Creek for a little while when it went to Bremerton to the ship yards in august of 74 to change the Polaris Missile Magazine to Poseidon. I got out of the navy in 75 while it was there.

 I loved Norfolk while I was there on the Ponce. I went back a few years ago and could not believe the changes.

I went through boot in San Diego (in august) and then to MR class "A" school. We had a good time in San Diego (after boot camp).

[Ronald_55]

1 hour ago, OMCHamlin said:

I left Sevierville for the Navy in 1983, and have been back to see the folks and on vacation several times since. It was a great place to grow up, ducking out to Ellisons to grab a burger when I was in high school, checking out the guns that were so far beyond my reach at Wynns, 'cruising Johnsons Drive In and then up to the "Burg on a Saturday night...  Anyhow, I finally am "retired" retired, and the wife will soon be (1 Jan 2020), and am really thinking that if I have one more move left in me (you move around a LOT, working for Uncle Sam), I'd like to try and move back to the area.

With all that said; I could use some help in figuring things out. Ideally, I'd like to find a patch of land about 2-5 acres far enough out where I could shoot in my back yard, if I were so inclined. Is that even possible in Sevier County? How are local ordinances regards shooting on your own property there? Where I live now, if you're not in town limits (or in a sub division, I suppose), you can shoot and not expect to run afoul of the law.

Now I know about the incredible traffic, and I remember there were ways around a lot of it, I'll have to rediscover those though, it's been a looong time!

What kind of organized shooting or clubs are in the area? Is there any High Power or IDPA? Bullseye? I'm not  a big hunter anymore, but how's the deer population and season?

When I saw move back to the area, that could include other places nearby, are there any you'd suggest? Demographics matter as well.

They say you can't go home, but I'd like to try...

Thanks to anyone from that area that can give me any advice!

Ahhh... Ellisons hamburger steak dinner. It was one of the few places in the area you could get great food, groceries, bait, and a fishing license. 

I grew up down there, though a few years after you. I have been gone since 1999. My parents still live in Seymour. 

I would not move back myself. Those hidden back roads are published in every tourist paper. Rental cabin communities are in the most unlikely backroad places. The traffic to and from them is outrageous. Plus since they ate up a lot of land,  acreage is not cheap.

If you plan to work any type of small job just to supplement be sure you can deal with service work like sales or the food industry. One of the reasons I left. There is not much there that pays good enough to raise a family. 

My Dad says the deer on his property are back in a decline after growth in the last decade. He hunts WMAs closer to Middle TN mostly. 

That is just my $0.02

[Guest OMCHamlin]

Ronald 55, that's good info, thanks. When I say "Sevierville" I suspect that may end up more being "around" Sevierville, like one of the neighboring towns, instead of right smack in the tourist zones, so to speak. Since we'll be retiring, I thought about a part time job in the service industry, just for something to do, definitely not a "feed the family" gig. I'm done with those... (I hope!). What are some nearby locations that have not been totally over run yet?

[A.J. Holst]

Blount County may be an option. 

[Guest OMCHamlin]

Yeah, that actually could be an option, thanks!  Funny, with all of this new technology, I brought up Blount County map, then followed it in to Sevierville, then out Allensville Rd and up to where we used to live. Then went to Street View. It seems the oak tree where a young sailor home on leave buried his Shepherd-Beagle is still there, right at the end of the driveway.  Pretty cool...

[10-Ring]

I lived in Blount County for a few years and loved it.  Spent a lot of time camping and fishing in the Citico area just down the road.  Maryville has about everything that you need, yet you can be in some pretty remote areas within a 20 minute drive from town.  We could still go over to highly commercialised Gatlinburg, Sevierville, Pigeon Forge area if my wife wanted to, but I preferred to stear clear.  IMO the deer hunting is pretty terrible in that part of the state, as an avid outdoorsman it was a trade off to have a bunch of other outdoor opportunities. 

[peejman]

1 hour ago, 10-Ring said:

I lived in Blount County for a few years and loved it.  Spent a lot of time camping and fishing in the Citico area just down the road.  Maryville has about everything that you need, yet you can be in some pretty remote areas within a 20 minute drive from town.  We could still go over to highly commercialised Gatlinburg, Sevierville, Pigeon Forge area if my wife wanted to, but I preferred to stear clear.  IMO the deer hunting is pretty terrible in that part of the state, as an avid outdoorsman it was a trade off to have a bunch of other outdoor opportunities. 

Yep. 

All the areas surrounding knoxville have grown tremendously in the past decade. We have a saying that all these other areas (Maryville, Sevierville, etc.) were great places to live 150,000 people ago.  They're not small towns anymore and have outgrown the infrastructure. Rush hour traffic in all these places is bad now... it's become normal to take 2-3 cycles to get through traffic lights at major intersections.  

[10-Ring]

On 5/11/2019 at 8:08 AM, peejman said:

Yep. 

All the areas surrounding knoxville have grown tremendously in the past decade. We have a saying that all these other areas (Maryville, Sevierville, etc.) were great places to live 150,000 people ago.  They're not small towns anymore and have outgrown the infrastructure. Rush hour traffic in all these places is bad now... it's become normal to take 2-3 cycles to get through traffic lights 

I moved away from Maryville back to middle Tennessee in 2015.  I haven't been back since, but I could see that it was starting to get that way.  The difference in middle and east Tennessee is that I'm 40 miles out from town now.  And although I'm in a rural area, it's quickly growing.  It will be a long time before anyone is desperate enough to develop mountainous areas like they have developed what idea to be farm land here.  As much as I hate the thought of a state income tax, had we put it in like they attempted back in 2000, we likely wouldn't be having these problems.  

[bersaguy]

I live in Gallatin just about 25 miles northeast of Nashville and when I moved here 20 years ago there were still a lot of big farms operating here. Now all those big farms are housing subdivisions, strip Malls and Apartment complexes and Nsshville has about reached here. I will be moving in mid June and going out about 50 miles farther out away from Gallatin. Going east to Gordonsville and moving into Father in Law house behind my daughter and son in laws house. He has about 5.5 acres and has a small range set up behind my future house so I can do more shooting. There is a great berm behind the house where he built the pistol range. He has been shooting quite a bit and no complaints at all from neighbors. I was dreading the move in the beginning but looking forward to it now. Ready to get out of this rat race that has developed since I moved here.

[AKVAT]

On 5/9/2019 at 10:14 AM, OMCHamlin said:

Thanks AKVAT, that's good to know. Are there any outdoor ranges in the county?

I belong to Gatlinburg Sportsmans Club.  It is a nice, private outdoors range.

[AKVAT]

BTW, I should give the business another plug here.  If you are wanting a TN Carry Permit, we give the official class too ; )   Contact us when you are ready!

[Guest OMCHamlin]

2 hours ago, AKVAT said:

BTW, I should give the business another plug here.  If you are wanting a TN Carry Permit, we give the official class too ; )   Contact us when you are ready!

I'll do that, thanks! I really hope I can find what I'm looking for at a price I can afford to live in that area, but I know I've got to just carry my butt down there and start looking and talking to realtors. I think I'll be lucky to find an agent that actually understands what I mean when I say "I want to have a place where I can shoot in my back yard and not get complaints" (or return fire!)  I mean, I'm not talking about a 600 yard range, just maybe 50 yards would be enough for the wife and I, we can go to a real range if we need distance. That's actually easy enough to do here, outside of town limits or sub divisions.

[hornett22]

Id look elsewhere. We're in Sevier County in Seymour. I don't go near Sevierville,PF or Gatlinburg if I can help it. Seymour is getting nuts as well. Only reason we're still here is the kid has one more year of HS and he plays football. After he graduates, we're outta Sevier County. 

 

[bubbiesdad]

Memories of Sevier County. Pigeon Forge had about three restaurants, two gift shops, three hotels, Jungle Cargo, the car museum and corn fields.

They moved the river in Sevierville, all the stores closed on Sunday, one gas station open on Sunday and they took turns. One lane bridge at Ownby's hardware store, and a mill dam.

A.J. King landing his plane in a field by the lumber yard.

[Guest OMCHamlin]

37 minutes ago, bubbiesdad said:

Memories of Sevier County. Pigeon Forge had about three restaurants, two gift shops, three hotels, Jungle Cargo, the car museum and corn fields.

They moved the river in Sevierville, all the stores closed on Sunday, one gas station open on Sunday and they took turns. One lane bridge at Ownby's hardware store, and a mill dam.

A.J. King landing his plane in a field by the lumber yard.

Yeah... The Fred C Atchley Bridge, I remember when it was one lane, and 66 ended in a pile of dirt several miles out of town. And the King I knew was Ronald King, my Voc Tec Teacher, carried a derringer in his boot top. I knew this because we found out early on that we were BOTH gun heads...

Lathams IGA and Cas Walkers have been gone so long, I doubt most folks remember. Or a time BEFORE the Sevierville bypass.

Damn. I guess you really CAN'T go home, can you?

[bubbiesdad]

5 hours ago, OMCHamlin said:

Yeah... The Fred C Atchley Bridge, I remember when it was one lane, and 66 ended in a pile of dirt several miles out of town. And the King I knew was Ronald King, my Voc Tec Teacher, carried a derringer in his boot top. I knew this because we found out early on that we were BOTH gun heads...

Lathams IGA and Cas Walkers have been gone so long, I doubt most folks remember. Or a time BEFORE the Sevierville bypass.

Damn. I guess you really CAN'T go home, can you?

Bologna and cheese, guns, fireworks and fish bait at Yetts market . Train tracks down the middle of Bruce street. On certain holidays, flags in front of every business in town. Pigeon shoots at the courthouse on Thanksgiving and Christmas. The posters in the stores when Timmy Martin was missing in the Smokies. Looking at wrecked cars at Glenn Fox's or Mouse's gas station.  The Indian mound which was dug by archaeologists prior to the bypass. The floods which hit Love Addition, the reason for taking out the mill dam and moving the river.

The old Newport Highway, before the wide straight path from Ingle corner to Hodson bridge. We used the old highway for driver's ed.

 

 

Jimmy Temple's  corn meal and flour. He had drawings and gave away cash at Christmas time. He was a Justice of the peace and married people in his store.

 

 

 

Edited May 14, 2019 by bubbiesdad

[Guest OMCHamlin]

I've had those thick slabs of bologna and American cheese from Yetts, my God! I remember the Temple Mill fire, we lived out Allensville Road, and I could see the flames (not the glow, the flames), when it burnt.  Love Addition? Was another name for that "Frog Alley"?  Nights after work, hanging out at Mouses Texaco in town, sneaking beers in our Mustangs, Chevelles, GTOs... Wait, maybe that wasn't Mouses, it was right on the main drag through town, before they finished the bypass, what gas station was that???  And Johnsons Drive In...