Townsend may be best known as the closest entrance of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park that is closest to Cades Cove. Serene and beautiful, Townsend has much to offer the Smokies visitor who just wants to get away. In fact, Townsend is promoted as the quiet side of the Smokies. Near the beginning of the last century, Townsend was once named Tuckaleechee Cove, but was renamed for Col. W B. Townsend who was the president of the Little River Lumber Company and the Little River Railroad. That is little wonder as the logging industry was once the principal industry in the Great Smoky Mountain vicinity. Thankfully, all that is changed and what was once clear cut forest is now perhaps the most beautiful of all the national parks.
Today, Townsend is a quiet, but growing area of the Smokies. Though it is still a sleepy area of the Great Smoky Mountains compared to Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, Townsend has a growing number of businesses catering to the Great Smoky Mountain visitor. As in every town near an important entrance into the park, there are gift and specialty shops offering vacationers everything from art to candy and picnic supplies, to gear fishermen and hikers.
Cabin, chalet and bed and breakfast lodging is available in Townsend. Expect also to see in Townsend a number of hotels , motor inns and campgrounds. For the most part, these are set back from the highway and often have large green lawns with beautifully landscaped flower beds. There are also hundreds of rental cabins, cottages and chalets in the Townsend area along with outfitters with equipment ranging from inner tubes to kayaks. There restaurants and bed and breakfasts , attractions, and in short just about everything you can find in any of the towns surrounding the park--just less of it. But in the case of Townsend, less is more.
