New Photos of Smoky Mountain Tower

We are so blessed! Thirteen years ago, Bob Ward sold Smoky Mountain Tower to us. In the process, we found out that Bob lives right next door to Smoky Mountain Tower. We've become good friends and we are very thankful he is there. It's wonderful to have good neighbors!

Bob is retired from a successful career in photography and visual communications. A couple of weeks ago, we were talking about various things going on in Gatlinburg. Since we had to leave last month before Mark Kalinowski had finished the new walkway to the Main Level Deck, I asked Bob if he would take a few pictures to show us what it looked like.

I just got them and I am blown away! So I have to share them with you.

Here's your first view as you drive into Smoky Mountain Tower:


Now, here's the new walkway:


Here's a view from the Main Level Deck:


And this shows how the walkway runs right along the wall of the house:


There's even a set of steps that lead down to the yard.


Isn't that great photography?! Thank you, Bob! And thanks to Mark for a great job on this project. If you'd like to find out more, check the "What's New" page on our Web site. Or, better yet, come and see it in person!

The chemical bottle lamp

We have some pretty unusual things in our two Gatlinburg cabins - Smoky Mountain Tower and All Decked Out. So we're going to start telling you about them.

The first one is the big chemical bottle lamp in the Queen Bonus Room at Smoky Mountain Tower. When you enter that room, this is what you see.


On the left side of the bed is a very different lamp. Here's a close-up view:


This lamp was made by my father more than 75 years ago. He spent almost all his working life at Monsanto (then Monsanto Chemical Company). In the first half of the 20th century, chemicals were shipped in these large hand-blown glass bottles that were packed in special wooden crates. My dad was able to get one of the bottles and had it made into a lamp.

The lamp was in my folks' living room for many years, until they moved into a retirement home. We had it in our home for awhile. But when we bought Smoky Mountain Tower, we decided more people would enjoy it there. So it has been in the Queen Bonus Room for more than 13 years. Here's what the room looked like when we first bought Smoky Mountain Tower (with the lamp added to the room).


And here's a closer picture of the lamp.


I wish I knew more about this bottle. Can anybody tell me more? Better yet, you can stay at Smoky Mountain Tower and inspect it for yourself.