The area surrounding Tennessee’s Smoky Mountains has a touristy reputation, but just 30 minutes from the tourist town of Gatlinburg, there’s a small town called Cosby that has a lot to offer. Here are a few things we discovered while we were camping near Cosby.

Our Place

Blink and you’ll miss it, but Our Place is definitely worth turning around for.

We stopped in for some coffee and books.

So many books! The selection was amazing. We bought a few field guides, a cookbook and some beautiful notecards from a local artist. It’s definitely worth a look around while you sip your coffee.

The Front Porch Restaurant

The owner of Our Place told us to stop into The Front Porch Restaurant for some great southern cooking. We decided to head over there on a Saturday night to hear the live music ( from 6-9 on Saturday nights).  After a long hike we were starving, and all the food was delicious.

I really liked their fried green tomatoes and Billy especially liked the cornbread. He said the cornbread was the best he’d ever had (sorry mom). We finished the meal off with some delicious pecan pie. We ordered a ton of food and our meal was only $30.

One woman we ran into said the restaurant sent food to her home when she was homebound for a period of time. Gotta love that.

The Front Porch Restaurant is a BYOB, so don’t forget to pick up a beer on the way there.

Camping

We camped in the beautiful but little-used Cosby Campground in Smoky Mountain National Park. I’ve heard that it’s a lot less busy than other campgrounds in the park, but I don’t know for sure because there was so much traffic on the road to Cade’s cove that we turned around! You can read my review of Cosby Campground here.

Hiking 

Here are three hikes near that I really liked. All of them start at Cosby Campground. You can see where each of these trails start on this map.

Hen Wallow Falls (4.4 miles roundtrip)

I really enjoyed this moderate hike through the forest and up to the falls.

Take Gabes Mountain Trail and watch for signs for Hen Wallow falls. More information here.

Sutton Ridge Overlook (3 miles roundtrip)

We took this short hike on the Lower Mount Cammerer Trail to a beautiful overlook.

{Sutton Ridge Overlook just before sunset}

To get to the overlook, hike for 1.4 miles on the Lower Mount Cammerer Trail. Turn right at the spur to hike up to the overlook.

Self Guided Nature Hike (1 mile roundtrip)

We went on the self guiding nature hike our last afternoon in Tennessee. It’s only a mile, but the guide (50 cents) was interesting and well written.

I will return, hopefully soon.