Fans of the game Oregon Trail and others who want a unique glamping experience can get a taste of pioneer life with a stay at Welcome Valley Village, which recently added three Conestoga covered wagons to its accommodations. Located on 17 wooded acres near Cherokee National Forest and the small town of Benton, Tennessee, Welcome Valley Village boasts more than 900 feet of waterfront property on the Ocoee River.
“I wanted to achieve a camping experience that provided as many creature comforts as possible, so that one’s overriding characteristic to the experience was not one of discomfort but one of comfort,” says Chattanooga resident Frank May, who recently purchased the property. “If you go out into the woods and you go tent camping, part of the story that you’re talking about for the next 20 years is how the bear took your food or you couldn’t sleep the entire night or you were shivering and spooning with someone insignificant. I wanted to create a magical environment.”
He envisions the wagons as ideal for an immersive experience for multiple families or a get-together with old friends from college who also have kids.
The village’s three wagons surround a fire pit, and each wagon has a separate bathroom with its own shower, toilet and sink within a communal bathhouse. Inside each wagon is a king-size bed, two twin beds and a sink.
When they aren’t sleeping like a pioneer or roasting marshmallows over a crackling fire, guests have access to a riverside pavilion and dock for tubing, swimming and fishing on the Ocoee River. Tubers can start at Parksville Lake and float the calm waters downstream directly to the resort dock, which takes about an hour and 20 minutes, May says.