The
Peddler has not only become a Gatlinburg dining tradition, it
is literally built upon tradition. The building is the former
home of Charles “Earl” Ogle,
Sr., a fourth generation Gatlinburg merchant. In 1958, he and
wife Beth constructed their dream home here on the banks of the
Little Pigeon River from remnants of four old Sevier County cabins.
Earl’s great grandfather, Noah Ogle, established the city’s
first grocery store on the other end of town in 1850. That store
was moved to a site near the confluence of Baskins Creek and
the Little Pigeon River several years later by Earl’s grandfather
Ephraim E. Ogle. Ephraim passed the store down to his son Charles
A. Ogle and finally to Earl, who managed the landmark mercantile
until it, and its adjoining vacation cottages, were replaced
in the mid 1970s by the present Mountain Mall.
Steaks Sophisticated, Inc., the Tennessee franchisee for The
Peddler Steakhouse chain acquired the cabin, renovated it, and
opened it as a restaurant in 1976. In June 1978, Geoffrey Wolpert
came to work at The Peddler Steakhouse in Gatlinburg as a management
trainee. He became the general manager in January 1979 and acquired
the popular eatery in 1985. Since then he has expanded its services,
and continues to maintain its consistently unique quality. He
opened The Park Grill, his second restaurant in Gatlinburg in
July 1995.
The original Ogle cabin, constructed from squared timbers, cement
chinking, and native stone forms the core of the present restaurant,
and its rustic and weathered exterior logs are still visible
in portions of the building interior. The original facade of
the home is inside the front dining room, as evidenced by an
attractive Crab Orchard stone chimney. This chimney has a large
round millstone set in its center. This dining room was constructed
over, and raised above, a rock patio that once adorned the front
of the home. Stone steps originally lead down to a small patio
at river level – a kind of trout angler’s porch.
The bar, which is cantilevered over the river, was completed
in 1993.
The paneling within the restaurant foyer or lobby is pecky cypress,
a handsome, rustic wood, indigenous to swampy areas of the Southeastern
United States. It is said that, “a coffin made from bald
cypress will last a lifetime." Pockets and cavities that
have been naturally created in the living cypress wood by the
action of a fungus produces the unusual character marks in the
kiln dried boards.
Varieties of other woods including oak, maple, tulip poplar,
pine, and sycamore along with native rock were used in construction
of the original cabin as well as in the renovation.
The mural above the host desk in the lobby was painted by Knoxville
artist Ann Lorimer in 2006 to introduce the guest to the river
that runs behind The Peddler. Notice the Kingfisher on the rock
in the river and other wildlife native to this area.
The beveled glass and stained glass of dogwood blooms in the
front doors and entrance foyer were designed and installed by
local glass artist Chuck Ottolini when the restaurant was remodeled
in 1988.
The stream with a brook trout over the salad bar was designed
and installed by local stained glass artist Bill May in 2006.
He also designed and installed the stained glass in the bar during
its renovation.
The large circular stone set in the chimney in the front dining
room is a millstone once used to grind corn into meal and wheat
into flour. This stone would have had a companion stone above
or below it turned by the power of a water wheel. Earl Ogle collected
old millstones and several were once located about the property.
Two small millstones were incorporated into the Peddler sign
in front of the building.
The view of the West Prong of the Little Pigeon River is spectacular
from the back dining room, the bar, and from a streamside, covered
pavilion off the side parking lot. That pavilion was once an
enclosed playhouse, constructed for the Ogle’s daughter.
Arising in the high Smokies, the Little Pigeon River flows northwestward
almost 30 miles to its confluence with the French Broad River.
The French Broad flows into the Tennessee River just east of
Knoxville. Trout thrive in this pristine, cold mountain stream,
while mallards and other waterfowl are often seen maneuvering
its swift currents. In addition, don’t be surprised if
you see a bear or two rambling along the stream, especially in
the early evening from summer through late autumn. The stream
is named for the now extinct Passenger Pigeon, a bird that once
flourished here. It vanished from Tennessee in 1893 as a result
of over hunting.
The large tree that graces the front parking area of the restaurant
is practically a living fossil. This Dawn Redwood (Metasequoia
glyptostroboides), a relative of the giant California Redwood,
was once one of the most common trees on earth. It evolved during
the Tertiary period (starting about 65 million years ago) and
was thought to have become extinct during the last ice age (around
10,000 years ago). Only fossils of the species were known until
1946, when seven of these trees were discovered in a remote village
in Northwest China. Those gargantuan specimens stood about 150
feet tall and were up to seven feet in diameter! Under ideal
conditions, dawn redwoods can grow from four to six feet per
year for the first three or four years; after a decade, the annual
growth slows to about two feet per year. According to Beth Ogle,
a family friend brought six of these plants back from a visit
to Washington State in the late 1950s. He gave one to her and
she planted it in her front yard, right over a small spring.
That original two foot high sapling has grown to become an 80-foot-high
Peddler trademark.
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