Pigeon Forge, Tennessee: Rebel Railroad - Goldrush Junction - Silver Dollar City (Closed)

I grew up in Knoxville, TN (about 1/2 hour from Pigeon Forge ) in the Seventies and early Eighties. This Rebel Railroad is actually what is at Dollywood right now. In the Seventies ( maybe the Sixties but I am too young to know ) the park expanded to include a mountain town with various rides, attractions, and stores and they had a train depot where you took a ride on a Steam Engine train into the mountains ( I.E. Rebel Railroad ) that performed the show described by the previous person.

They changed the name of the place to Silver Dollar City as it was at that time a small amusement park. In 1985, when I left Knoxville, I remember hearing that Dolly Parton [later a corporation licensed her name] had purchased Silver Dollar City. In 1986, I heard that [they] changed the name to DOLLYWOOD and had added new attractions and buildings. I have not returned there to see this latest incarnation, but I have seen a few commercials for the place on cable and the train is there in the commercial. So I assume Rebel Railroad is still there, but it just has more added to the place and has changed names several times.

Where Dollywood is built now, in the '60s was a tourist attraction called Rebel Railroad. All the kids were handed toy guns while boarding the railroad cars. Then the train began a ride back into the mountains. At certain stops on the trip, Yankees (actors dressed up in Civil War uniforms) would attack the train, firing blanks from real guns. The kids were all supposed to shoot the Yankees from inside the train. Finally the train was stopped at a sort of road block and the bad Yankee soldiers would actually board the train.

Right when it looked like all was lost, the Confederate cavalry rode up, and retook the train with shootouts in the aisle! One of the retreating Yankees had his pants shot off, exposing bright red long underwear as he ran off into the woods.

Even though historically the region was sympathetic to the Union side of the Civil War, I bet that tourists from Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, etc, got a wonderful impression of the Smoky Mtns from this outstanding attraction. They don't make 'em like Rebel Railroad anymore.