Join Us for the Storyteller's Festival

The festival, now in its 37th year is acclaimed as one of the Top 100 Events for groups in North America.  This is an invitation for you to attend this gala along with a host of interested folks inclined toward the extremes of fanciful imagination and colorful humor.  The Storytellers come from all over the world to display their talents in tiny Jonesborough (population 3,000), the oldest town in historic northeastern Tennessee.

Premiere attractions in 2009 will include Donald Davis, Shelia Kay Adams, Kathryn Windham, Bill Harley, Bill Lepp, Carmen Deedy and a host of others.  We must admit that we find the local Appalachian tall tales from the backwoods the most interesting of all.

A day-pass walking tour of this small historic town permits entrance into multiple very large tents each seating about 1,000 people where the storytellers perform.  The acoustics are very good and speakers from all over the world are filled with talent and good humor.  There is even a children’s tent where the performances are uninhibited and filled with insight and fun.  The whole event is very well organized and you will surely enjoy meeting everyone in attendance.

Sugar Hollow Retreat would surely like to invite you to this year’s Jonesborough Storytellers Festival from Thursday, Oct. 1 through Sunday, Oct. 4.  There are now 26 rooms in the Lodge and four guest houses.  All of our guest houses have full kitchens, laundries, TVs, HV/AC and decks.

We will once again have E.C. Miller and his “Gold Rush Review” on Saturday afternoon, either in the conference center or at the amphitheater with the seats providing panoramic views of Stone Mountain and fall colors in the distance.

We now have an automatic deer feeder near the Lodge and you can expect daily visits by both whitetail deer and wild turkeys.  If you wish to do other things besides listening to homespun yarns, we would suggest antiquing, hiking, fly fishing, photography, painting, bird watching, or enjoying the finest in mountain cuisine.  For those with a yearning for history, there are the Sycamore Shoals Historic Sites and Museum, the John Carter Mansion (earliest clapboard house in Tennessee), the Over Mountain Trail and a host of other venues.

Please visit our website at www.sugarhollowretreat.com.

We do heartily recommend that you make your reservations early.  Charges will be $395 per couple for 3 nights, including country family breakfast on Friday and Saturday along with 1 lunch.  Also included will be bluegrass music on Saturday followed by a cocktail hour and perhaps Shirley’s Restaurant in the evening. Please bring your own choice of wine and spirits.  Cereal and fruit will be provided Sunday morning in the Lodge.

Admission to the Festival will be around $100 per person per day.  We recommend arriving at Sugar Hollow in the early evening after supper on Thursday, visiting the Storytellers on Friday, enjoying Sugar Hollow or surrounding attractions on Saturday morning, with Bluegrass in the afternoon, and departing anytime Sunday.  A van ride to Jonesborough driven by Mike Fischesser of the American Adventure Service Corps, can be arranged for those who make their reservations early.

Welcome to Sugar Hollow Retreat.  Our innkeepers are Marty Plummer and Jim Gresch. Telephone: 423-768-3105 or 800-957-1776. E-mail: info@SugarHollowRetreat.com.

The Bluegrass music will be lively. It is time for a rendezvous with adventure!