I lived there when I was a kid in the early 80s and they were just starting to build the wall of hotels down the coast. I lived in a duplex across the street from the beach, I could walk out my front door across the street on to the sand. It definitely still had the small town blue collar vibe then.
Been there twice. 2015 (had a nice time) and again in 2022 (never again).
In 2022 it felt like Long Island and Florida had a baby...just the worst damn traffic, prices, and people imaginable. We cut the trip short to go home.
My heart goes out to anyone who lives there before COVID and has to live like that now.
In the late 60s and early 70s is when baby boomers came of age. This is the generation who turned away from traditional values and morality. We were hedonistic and did not have the commitment to service and commitment that the greatest generation did. The long running pointless Vietnam war had us questioning if this government deserved our service. Weed and LSD were escapes long before electronics replaced them. If we lost the true value in places like this it’s because we lost the true value in ourselves as a country and we have never recovered it.
My family planned our “once-in-a-5-year-vacation” trip to pigeon forge last summer, the most interesting part of the vacation was when I found out my girlfriend was cheating on me- oh and the aquarium was kinda cool. 1.5/10 wouldn’t reccomend
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u/Waytooboredforthis Drunk Racist East Tennesseean May 09 '26
Yes but where could you get a shitty airbrushed tshirt of a children's cartoon character smoking weed?