If you want to experience the serenity and natural beauty of the mountains without being far from restaurants, shops, and attractions, Old Hickory Lodge is for you. The three-story log home, which can sleep up to eighteen people, is located in the quiet, wooded Hemlock Hills community. You can gaze out at trees and the seemingly endless sky from the cabin’s two large decks, yet you’re less than fifteen minutes from downtown Gatlinburg.

With its wood-planked walls, floors, and ceilings, Old Hickory Lodge is rich with traditional charm. But it also offers plenty of modern luxuries. Generously cushioned seating makes the great room an inviting space for watching a favorite show on the 50” flat-screen TV or surfing the web via the free WiFi. In winter the stone-surround fireplace adds a golden warmth that only accentuates the rustic ambiance.

Likewise, the log-style dining table and the kitchen island are a cabin-perfect contrast to the gleaming stainless-steel appliances of the fully equipped kitchen. From the refrigerator/freezer with ice maker to the dishwasher, from the microwave to the blender, Old Hickory Lodge’s kitchen has just about everything you need. The cabin has a park-style charcoal grill outside as well, should you have a hankering for home-cooked barbecue.

The downstairs game room ensures that even if bad weather keeps you all indoors, you won’t be bored. You can shoot pool at the full-size billiard table or watch a movie on an oversize flat-screen TV in the home theater, which has nine cinema-style seats.

And when the weather clears, you’ll definitely want to hang out on Old Hickory Lodge’s two expansive covered decks. Kick back on one of the numerous rockers and listen to songbirds in the morning; enjoy nibbles and cocktails at the bistro table as the sun sets behind the trees. Best of all, luxuriate in the lower deck’s hot tub. For a memory you’ll long cherish, take a soak at night, while the moonlight casts its silver glow and the hooting of owls punctuates the serenade of the whip-poor-wills.

To get the most of a vacation, being well rested is a must. That’s easy at Old Hickory Lodge. The downstairs and the main floor each have a relaxing bedroom with a log-frame queen-size bed, a wall-mounted flat-screen TV, plenty of storage, and a ceiling fan to help lull you to sleep. The other two bedrooms are on the top floor. With its king-size bed, fireplace, private bathroom, and flat-screen TV, the spacious primary suite practically guarantees sweet dreams. The fourth bedroom can sleep up to eight people in its pair of queen-size bunk beds. It’s a perfect room for the kids in your group to make their own; it even has its own bathroom and flat-screen TV.

Have additional guests? The sofas in the great room and the game room each convert into queen-size beds. And as well as four bedrooms, Old Hickory Lodge has four full bathrooms: the two en-suite bathrooms on the top floor, another on the main floor, and the fourth downstairs.

While Old Hickory Lodge has just about everything you need for a laid-back, fun-filled stay with family and friends, you’ll definitely want to take advantage of its proximity to the area’s attractions. The cabin is only a half-mile from the Gatlinburg Arts & Crafts Loop, an eight-mile trail of more than a hundred galleries, studios, and craft shops. In less than fifteen minutes, you can drive to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park or to the attractions of downtown Gatlinburg, which include the Guinness World Records Museum, an aquarium, thrill rides, and a tram that heads up to Ober Gatlinburg Ski Area and Amusement Park.

Old Hickory Lodge just might be the site of your best vacation yet. So book your stay today… before someone else beats you to it!