Luxury glamping tents opening soon at Appalachia Ridge
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Work is nearing completion on new “glamping tents” at the Appalachia Ridge RV Park next to the Museum of Appalachia in Norris. - G. Chambers Williams III
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This rendering shows the interior of one of the luxury “glamping” tents that will be opening at the Appalachia Ridge RV Park in Norris this coming Memorial Day weekend. - G. Chambers Williams III
In time for the Memorial Day weekend in late May, the new Appalachia Ridge RV Park next door to the Museum of Appalachia in Norris plans to open five “glamping” tents, which offer a luxury experience to the camping scene.
Reservations are now being taken on the park’s website (appalachiaridge.com) for stays beginning May 25 in the tents, which rent for $89.99 per night.
Completion of the glamping tents – which sit on concrete floors, but have canvas walls and roofs -- is the second phase of the construction of the key facilities at Appalachia Ridge, which opened last fall with 24 of its planned 106 RV campsites. Since then, 29 more campsites have been opened, bringing the total to 53.
Park Manager Zach Davis said Friday that construction is nearing completion on the glamping tents – whose name comes from a combination of “glamour” and “camping” – on the hillside behind the regular campsites.
The tents sit on concrete floors, but have canvas roofs and sides. Inside, they look like luxury hotel rooms, though – not anything like what someone might expect of a tent.
An Appalachia Ridge glamping tent is described this way on the park’s website:
“Experience the perfect blend of comfort and nature in our spacious canvas tent, designed for a luxurious glamping getaway.
“Sleeping up to six guests, it features a cozy queen bed and additional accommodations for a restful stay.
“Enjoy the convenience of a kitchenette and private full bathroom, providing all the essentials of home. Step onto the porch and unwind by the gas firepit, where you can take in the serene surroundings and relax under the stars.”
Still to be built are three “tiny homes” and two treehouses, which possibly will be ready by fall, Davis said. The treehouses will be done last, he added.
“We’re focusing now on the glamping tents and getting the rest of the campground open,” Davis said.
Full hook-up “signature” campsites rent for $65 a night, while regular sites are $50 a night.
As for the campsites, “Reservations have been starting to flow in more regularly,” Davis said. “We knew it would be slow starting out.”
While RV trailers and motorhomes are permitted, no tent camping is allowed in Appalachia Ridge.
Also, stays are limited to 28 days at a time, so no permanent residents are allowed, Davis said.
“We get a lot of inquiries about long-term, though,” he said.
Norris city zoning regulations for the site, which is just to the west of the museum on land owned by the museum’s founding family, limits campers to 28 days.
That’s in contrast to an illegal RV park that was operated nearby for about four years by the Covenant Life Church, at the rear and side of its main church building, which was ordered shut down by a federal court order last spring.
The city of Norris fought the church in court to get the shutdown order, after the church built the RV park without first obtaining the required zoning and building permits. The church operated its “Solid Rock RV Park” mostly as a long-term trailer park, with some residents living there in RVs for three years or more. They were charged $800 a month for their RV parking spots, which sometimes included water, but not always.
Appalachia Ridge, which is owned by people in the Sevierville area, obtained the necessary rezoning and building permits from the city of Norris before beginning construction in 2021.
