Take Home a Piece of the Smoky Mountains - Top 5 Souvenir Picks

Own a bit of the beautiful Smoky Mountains forever, when you find–or make–the perfect souvenir. Here are five ideal items to keep your vacation memories fresh.

1. Handmade Pottery

Appalachian pottery is a treasure you’ll use for a lifetime. Watch potters at work in the same potteries where you can buy their wares. From dishes, bowls and bakeware you’ll use daily, to one-of-a-kind art, pottery is a labor of love, fashioned from Smokies clay. Explore Alewine Pottery, Pigeon River Pottery, Buie Pottery or any of Gatlinburg or Pigeon Forge’s many pottery studios.

2. Moonshine

No souvenir says “Smokies history” better than moonshine. The days of illegal backwoods stills are long gone. Today, distilleries compete to create new flavors of “white lightning.” Go for a moonshine tasting while you’re here and pick your favorites to take home. Classic unflavored, fruit or berry flavors, coffee or chocolate–this is one versatile drink. See our distillery guide for ideas. 

3. Local Treats from The Old Mill

Pigeon Forge’s Old Mill grinds locally grown grains the same way it has since 1830, on water-powered millstones. For a taste of history, take home the mill’s flour, pancake and waffle mixes, and mixes for Southern biscuits, cakes and more. Old Mill Farmhouse Kitchen is packed full of other local favorites, too! How about loaves of bread, corn chowder or baked potato soup, peach pancake syrup, or honey from mountain hives? Don’t forget to pick up fresh, homemade candy from Old Mill Candy Kitchen, too.

4. Souvenirs You Make Yourself

When you make your own crafts, you’re blessed with both a memorable experience and a unique souvenir. At the Great Smoky Arts and Crafts Community, artisans guide you in creating glass art, watercolor paintings, soaps, jewelry, wood carvings and more. Dollywood’s Craftsmen’s Valley offers hands-on experiences dipping colorful candles, tooling leather and forging your own knives. 

5. Black Bears On…Everything

Mascot. Symbol. Icon. Whatever you call the Smoky Mountains black bear, it’s the region’s most famous image. You can’t carry home that precious cub you spotted in the woods but you can take home black bears in every other form. Shakers from the Salt and Pepper Shaker Museum. Christmas ornaments from Black Bear Crafts. T-shirts from The Soft Shirt Place. Don’t go home without your bear! 

Home base for your mountain memories is your Pigeon Forge or Gatlinburg cabin. Reserve your Smokies cabin today.