Cades Cove Loop Road And Peaceful Side Social

Cades Cove Loop Road

One of our desires for the Townsend trip was to drive around the Loop Road in Cades Cove and hopefully see some wildlife but since the girls didn’t want to get up early, we got there a little after 10am rather than my hoped for little after 8am – when the animals are more likely to be out and about.  When I first moved to TN, we could go around the loop and see 100 deer grazing among the cattle but the park no longer leases the bottom land to farmers for that purpose and the green pastures have been allowed to grow up into original habitat. 

As a result, the lush grass that the deer loved has been replaced with what I would call weeds and they are so tall, you likely couldn’t see a deer anyway.

So, for wildlife we saw 8-10 female wild turkeys, two crows and a squirrel.  Going back to a natural state may be the right thing to do but has made driving the loop road pretty useless for wildlife viewing.

We saw more than a dozen wild turkey hens and a gobbler in our yard the other day, we have squirrels everywhere and see deer every few weeks along our roads making the Loop Road a drive I never need to make again.  

And to top it off we spent nearly the whole drive behind this guy poking along at under 10 mph and never pulling over to let others by.

When we got back to the cabin, we watched the river flow by from the deck for a little while then the girls took a short nap and went off to see what shopping opportunities there were in Townsend.

For supper, Bev and I had to give the popular Peaceful Side Social a try and it is obviously set up for tourists.  When you walk in, the counter for order taking is in front of you then to the left is a bar serving beer from their brewery and there is a big room with lots of industrial looking seating.

We ordered and shared a “CHOPPED SALAD - Baby Greens, Blue Cheese Crumbles, Bacon, Heirloom Grape Tomato, Pickled Red Onion, Cucumber, Shaved Radish, Blue Cheese Vinaigrette”

and a “SMOKED TURKEY BLT - Smoked Turkey, Benton's Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato, Green Goddess Dressing, Sourdough Bread”

We enjoyed both dishes and while I wouldn't drive to Townsend just to eat at the Social, I would eat there again if in the area at mealtime.

The Peaceful Side Social is owned by the same folks that own Dancing Bear Lodge as well as the Apple Valley Village, Peaceful Side Brewery (located in Maryville) and two other businesses in the same small strip mall as the Social – Peaceful Side Creamery and Sharon’s Half Day Café.

The next morning, we headed home after a stop at Apple Valley Café for a breakfast that was included with our cabin rental.  We all had biscuits and gravy which was the usual sausage gravy for these parts - white paste with a very little sausage in in.

I was hoping it would be more like my sausage gravy.

Photos can be slightly enlarged by clicking on them and the blue words are links.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

9/14/26 event date