About Starkeytown Sisters

Welcome to historic Starkeytown, Tennessee from Regina and Elaine! We’re the Starkey sisters, born and raised in the little holler called Starkeytown, located in the mountains of Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg. Starkeytown is a two mile stretch of mountain road in the middle of the woods with a hand-full of local residents and three beautiful vacation rentals. Let us help you find the perfect small family or honeymoon vacation stay off the beaten path. (Maybe even get married while you’re here, too!) While only 15 to 20 minutes from the main parkway in Pigeon Forge, Starkeytown (at least for the moment) remains one of the last secluded areas in our ever-growing tourist town. That said, I plead with you to experience our little neck of the woods at least once in your lifetime. It’s a true Smoky Mountain experience for nature lovers, outdoor adventurers, and even historians.

When Elaine and I were in high school in the mid 1980’s, the drive through Pigeon Forge was A LOT different than it is today. Five Oaks mall, Wal-Mart, and Governor’s Crossing was just a huge, grassy field. When the cabin resorts started popping up all over the hillsides, Elaine and I used to laugh our butts off, thinking, “there’s no way we’d book a mountain getaway at a cabin so close to another one we could hear our neighbors fart!” The opposite couldn’t have been more true. The more cabin resorts they build here, the more great people like you travel to Pigeon Forge. We can’t lie, though. Tourism has brought survival opportunities to us locals that sure beat sweating in a tobacco field. At the same time, however, it’s heart-breaking to watch the beautiful mountain landscapes disappear at an ever-increasing rate. While we sure do appreciate all of you who visit our mountains, it’s a bittersweet thing.

Elaine and I have decided to use our little slice of the Smoky Mountain pie a little differently, preserving what’s left among the encroaching commercialism. None of the rentals in Starkeytown were built specifically to rent to visitors. They were once a real home that experienced Christmas dinners, births, deaths, good times, hard times, and all the things that make life beautiful. While some may not be the original structure, they are on the original home site. And while one of the rentals is not ours specifically, Elaine and I would proudly claim the property managers as our brother and sister-in-law because we grew up together all the same. Each of the three vacation rentals on this site are managed separately, but with easy links to book directly. If you need help, reach out any time! We’d love to answer your questions.

Oh! And don’t forget. If you end up falling in love while you’re here, we can get you married, too!