Inside Pigeon Forge TN

I have lived in Pigeon Forge, TN all of my life and have seen it grow into a massive tourist attraction over the last couple of decades. People literally come from all over the world to visit Pigeon Forge, Tennessee and the surrounding Smoky Mountains and areas. I have heard Pigeon Forge pronounced in ways that have simply made me chuckle. Some of the wildest are:

• Piggin’ Forge
• Piggin’ Forg
• Pig eon Forge
• Pig Eon Forgay

I kid you not…people often do not understand that Pigeon is like the bird and Forge sounds like what you did with your parents’ signature when you got a bad grade-card from school!

People not only pronounce it funny, they often spell it weird as well. Here are some popular misspellings.

• Pidgeon Forge
• Pidgeon Forg
• Pidgin Forge
• Pidgin Forg
• Pigin Forge
• Pigin Forg
• Pidgen Forge
• Pidgen Forg

There are probably many others, but I see it spelled incorrectly a lot! It’s also funny to be talking on the phone with a telemarketer and hear them try to pronounce it or spell it!

So where did this odd name for a city come from? The city’s website states:

In 1820, Isaac Love established a furnace and iron forge, the community’s first business. The name Pigeon Forge is a combination of the iron works and the Little Pigeon River that flows through the town.

In the 1700s and early 1800s the river’s banks were lined with beech trees. Beechnuts were a mainstay in the diet of Passenger Pigeons, which made the river a natural stopping point for huge flocks of the now-extinct species.

So to make a long story short, the Little Pigeon River was named after the pigeons (or maybe just one little pigeon?) that flocked to its banks. The town was established around the river and an iron forge became the trademark of the area…hence the name “Pigeon Forge”.

But wait! There’s more! The city of Pigeon Forge is located in Sevier County. Far too many people mispronounce Sevier and Sevierville (the city beside Pigeon Forge) as well! I often hear people call it “Seever” when it actually sounds like “Severe”. It is named after John Sevier who was the first governor of Tennessee and happened to be from this area.

So there you have it. You now know how to pronounce Pigeon Forge, Sevier County, and Sevierville! You even know where these names came from now! So if you get laughed at by the locals for anything you pronounce, at least it won’t be because of any of those words. ;)