Wears Valley, also known as Wear Cove, is a beautiful, peaceful, long and relatively narrow valley that sits between the towns of Pigeon Forge, Tennessee and Townsend TN. Its length runs next to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and also has a little-known entrance to the Park near Metcalf Bottoms, which consists of a picnic area that sits between the Little River and Little River Road. Little River Road runs parallel to the river on its way to Cades Cove loop road, the most visited part of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Wears Valley has grown commercially over the past few years and now includes a fine selection of restaurants (including one gourmet restaurant), antiques, souvenier and gift shops. Lodging accommodations consist almost exclusively of smoky mountain cabin rentals (though there is one luxury bed and breakfast inn called Gracehill at the Townsend end of the valley) that range from the rustic to the ultimate luxury mountain cabins at The Preserve Resort – Tennessee Cabins.
There are no stop lights in Wears Valley. From the last light in Pigeon Forge to the first light on the parkway in Townsend, you get a nice smooth ride, though traffic might slow a bit during the beautiful fall season when Wears Valley comes alive with brilliant color. One of the favorite appeals of Wears Valley is the fact that it lags a little in development behind its sister towns of Pigeon Forge and Townsend. The pace of life and commercial development is more reminiscent of Pigeon Forge TN way back in the 60s and early 70s.
So, for those looking for a quieter, easier place from which to base your Smoky Mountain vacation, Wears Valley is a pleasant choice, and it’s even convenient to everything Pigeon Forge and Townsend have to offer the traveler–which are only a few minutes away.