The women who built Pigeon Forge
Circa late 1960s
In recognition of Women’s History Month, we would like to highlight some ways that women have been pivotal, not just in The Old Mill, but in building Pigeon Forge to what it is today. We all know that women make most of the decisions in a household on where they go on vacation and where they will eat while they’re there. So, it’s no surprise that women have played such a vital role in our history here.
Polly’s Influence: The Forge and the Mill
When the iron forge was established in 1817, which Pigeon Forge partly got its name from, it was because Isaac Love was married to Mary “Polly” Lewis, the sixth child, and oldest daughter of Mordecai Lewis. Mordecai followed John Sevier down from the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia after the Revolutionary War, when families first started settling in what we know of now as Tennessee, and in particular, East Tennessee. He began acquiring land, eventually amassing 151 acres along the river. When he passed in 1817, his son-in-law was the only one interested in the land, so they bought out the other siblings and he built his iron forge. Eventually they grew their holdings to about 400 acres across the area. Their son, William, along with his brothers built the mill next to the iron forge in 1830 and William became the first miller.
When the first post office for the town was set up inside the mill and William became the first postmaster, he got to help name the town. Had it not been for Polly, who knows if the iron forge or mill would have ever been built or what the town’s name would be today.
Kathy Stout Simmons and the birth of mill tours
In 1933, the mill fell into the hands of the Bank of Sevierville when the investors at that time could not keep up the payments. Fred Walter Stout was at a football game one Saturday at the University of Tennessee when he struck up a conversation with the man next to him. That perchance meeting with a bank officer would lead to Mr. Stout going to Sevierville on Monday morning and buying the mill. Mr. Stout, however, did not intend on leaving his job as a Civil and Mining Engineer. A Mr. Kite continued to run the mill and eventually Mrs. Stout would drive from Knoxville to Pigeon Forge each day to run it while he continued to run the stones.
Kathy Stout Simmons in front of The Old Mill
When Mr. Stout passed away, their daughter, Kathy Stout Simmons, began to run the mill and the General Store they had opened. She said Mr. Kite stayed with them until he was in his 80’s. When Kathy was just a teenager, she decided one day to charge for tours of the mill. She said “If these tourists are going to keep asking me questions all day, I might as well get paid for it!” She said her brother laughed for 30 minutes at the idea that anyone would pay .50 cents to listen to someone tell them about an old mill. She gave him the first dollar she ever made, and guided tours have been going since 1953. Our tour guide today was first hired by Kathy when he was a teenager himself, just playing in the mill pond and getting up to mischief. He was hired to help the miller but learned so much from her about the mill and her tours, which he now recounts to his guests.
Ruth Ferguson and the first tourist business in Pigeon Forge
When the pottery first opened in 1946, Douglas Ferguson and his wife, Ruth, had purchased a 100-year-old tobacco barn. It was the first tourist-based business to open in Pigeon Forge. Mr. Ferguson was also an engineer by trade, and it was his wife’s family that made pottery when they met. He came to the career that would be his legacy because of her.
Douglas and Ruth Ferguson
At one time there was a horse that he’d purchased to pug the clay in a shed outside the studio. They named him Cyclone Jim because he walked in a circle, around a vat that the clay was tossed into. As he made his rounds, he pulled the gears to the pug machine, and it would clean the clay by passing it through a series of screens. This would remove any pebbles, sticks, and any objects so the potters would have smooth clay to throw with.
Pigeon Forge Pottery Postcard; Cyclone Jim provides the horse power for the clay grinding mill outside the pottery. Postcard by W.M. Cline
Over the years there would be more than one Cyclone Jim. The last one however, overstayed his welcome. It seems one day Ruth found him in her flower beds again, eating up anything he could. She took after him with her broom to shoo him away, but this time he shoo’ed her. That broom was literally her last straw. She told Doug it was time for him to go. By that time they already had a machine inside that did all the pugging and Cyclone had become a tourist attraction. Perhaps he was fed too many sugar cubes by too many tourists and was a bit wound up and ended up in retirement for good.
Women at the heart of pottery production
A craftswoman in October, 1973
Pigeon Forge Pottery staff 1971
Inside the studio, it was a mostly female staff that Mr. Ferguson employed to clean, paint, and glaze the pottery he sold on the sales floor. When he passed away in 1999, his family decided to let us purchase the building, but not the business. With the help of a few of the employees that came back to work for us, we opened our first business across from the mill. One of those employees was Doris, who was a thrower and would demonstrate on the wheel for guests as she worked. Another was Pearl who cleaned pottery. She did this for 46 years before retiring. Today, our pottery production staff is rarely less than 50% female.
Earlene Teaster: Pioneering leadership in Pigeon Forge
When it comes to Pigeon Forge, one woman stands out as probably the most influential in its growth. That would be Earlene Teaster.
Erlene Teaster (photo courtesy Mountain Press)
She began her career with the City Of Pigeon Forge many years before becoming the City Manager in 1981, making her the first female city manager in Tennessee. The city saw major changes in the early 80s because of the World’s Fair opening in Knoxville in 1982. Since Pigeon Forge is just a 30-minute drive, many visitors to the fair stayed, and then played, in Pigeon Forge. In 2000 she was named City Manager of the Year.
Women Leading The Old Mill Today
As for The Old Mill today, all our retail stores are currently managed by women, and women make up the majority of our upper management. It’s through their guidance, determination, and hard work that we continue to grow and hope to be here for generations to come. We honor the women who got us here and support the women who will take us into the future.