Firefly mating in the Smokies
Crowds of visitors flock to Elkmont Campground in Great Smoky Mountains National Park outside Gatlinburg on Wednesday, June 4, 2014, to witness the fireflies’ annual mating ritual.
Knoxville News Sentinel
Adventurers visiting the Great Smoky Mountains will have to wait even longer to witness the “spectacular immersive show” that would form part of “The 407: Gateway to Adventure” project along Interstate 40 in Sevier County.
Cherokee Rose, the immersive theme park inspired by the tribe’s history of service in World War I, has been postponed indefinitely. The theme park would be the main component of Smoky Gap, the planned entertainment district on the 407 named after the exit that welcomes travelers to Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg.
Kituwah LLC, the development arm of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, is behind Project 407. There is already a Buc-ee’s convenience store there and a Courtyard by Marriott hotel will open there in the fall.
East Tennessee-based development and consulting firm OE Experiences is partnering with Kituwah on the project, and OE CEO Matthew Cross told Knox News they are prioritizing resorts first before turning to the theme park.
The resorts, he said, “will provide the critical mass needed to support neighboring businesses.”
“This change should lead to a positive net result in the long term,” Cross said.
One resort is currently in the planning phase, Kituwah CEO Samuel Owl said on August 7, and another is being discussed with a potential partner.
About the Cherokee Rose theme park planned for Smoky Gapy
The 30-45 minute theme park show puts visitors in the middle of the action by seeing Cherokee who fought on European soil despite not having American citizenship. The developers worked with Puy du Fou, a French theme park company that specializes in storytelling.
“We don’t want to bring a French vision,” Nicolas de Villiers, chairman and artistic director of Puy du Fou, told Knox News in 2022. “We want to bring a Cherokee vision and an American vision through the eyes of the Cherokee on U.S. soil.”
Like the rest of The 407, the theme park is difficult to put into words, but Cross summed it up best when describing an early concept for Cherokee Rose to Knox News in August 2023:
“The Cherokee Rose is the story of tribal people who went overseas as volunteers in World War I — this was before they became American citizens — and then realized that their language could be an integral part of the code language. This was before the Navajo in World War II, which everyone knows about. And so this is really an untold but amazingly patriotic story. So when you go through the Cherokee Rose, you get your orders and you train in camp. You go overseas on a boat, you go to Europe … and then you learn about life in trenches, experience trench warfare. And then you have a very emotional moment that brings you back to the Smokies.”
Owl declined to confirm a report that Sports Illustrated Resort is involved in the project. North Carolina’s Smoky Mountain News reported that Kituwah has signed a $324 million deal to bring the resort to the Smokies.
A Sports Illustrated Resort has opened in the Dominican Republic and another is being built in Orlando, Florida.
Allie Feinberg covers politics for Knox News. You can email her at [email protected] and follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter: @alliefeinberg
