Sources |
- [S74] Atchley Funeral Home Records, Volume IV, 1987-1999, Larry D. Fox, (Smoky Mountain Historical Society), 18 Dec 1997.
Norma Jean Burnett Conner obiutary
- [S106] The Mountain Press, 3 Apr 2016.
Upland Chronicles: Conners’ Norma Dan Motel a Pigeon Forge landmark
By JO HARRIS
For nearly seven decades, Dan Conner has lived on the Parkway in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. From his modest, 1940s brick home, and his nearby businesses, Dan watched Pigeon Forge evolve from the isolated community through which his grandfather drove cattle from the high ranges in the Smokies to markets in Knoxville, into a bustling resort town, and he played a significant role in that evolution.
Dan Bryson Conner was born in Swain County, North Carolina, on June 12, 1927, the youngest of three children of Jehu and Nellie Bradley Conner. Dan was named after a peddler who frequented the general store Dan’s parents operated in Smokemont, North Carolina, from 1921 to 1948. Dan said, “My mother didn’t think too highly of that peddler, so she called me ‘Baby’ for the longest time.”
Dan thought he was in trouble when a North Carolina state trooper called him out of class one day. “You got a driver’s license?” the trooper asked. Dan answered yes, and the trooper had him demonstrate his ability to drive. Dan immediately became the school bus driver. In 1945, Dan graduated from the high school for which he’d driven that “school bus,” crudely built from a 1934 Ford truck.
He joined the Navy after graduation, but received an early discharge due to a family illness. On Oct. 6, 1946, he married his high school sweetheart, Norma Jean Burnett. Norma graduated in 1944 and was attending Western Carolina University. Revealing his playful disposition, Dan said, “She tricked me into marrying her! She said, ‘I can’t go back to school if we’re going to get married,’ so we did!” Their one-night honeymoon was spent in a log cabin in Asheville.
Dan and Norma moved to Pigeon Forge with his parents in 1948 and built their home in 1949. Three years later, on the Conners’ farmland near where the Dixie Stampede is today, they opened a Gulf station that remained in operation for over 40 years. In 1954, Dan enlisted in the Army and completed the military service cut short by the earlier deferment.
Dan and Norma built an eight-unit motel – the Norma Dan – across the road from their service station in 1958. When the Norma Dan opened on July 4 weekend, local tourism was still in its infancy.
“In the early days, it was rough,” Dan said of the motel business. “When we first opened, we spent many long nights hoping tourists who found no lodging in Gatlinburg would come back and stay with us.”
In 1960 they added a dozen rooms and a swimming pool, but not because business had picked up significantly. Dan said, “I was at the Bank of Sevierville one day and President Roy Cox called to me saying he wanted to see me. Roy told me that a motel needed at least 20 units to make a go of it, so we borrowed the money to add on.” Norma and her mother, Ollie, did much of the work around the motel, but Dan recalled two of their earliest housekeeping employees were Kate Huskey and Ruby McCarter.
When Pigeon Forge was considering incorporation, the state required a census. Norma and another resident, Julia Householder, assembled the census information without ever leaving their homes. There were 974 residents and 52 businesses in 1961, when Pigeon Forge was incorporated by a margin of eight votes.
Dan hadn’t planned on becoming an official in the newly incorporated city. “I was either greasing an engine or changing someone’s oil at the Gulf station,” he said, “when Mayor Xan Davenport came by to ask if I’d serve as the first city manager. I told him I didn’t know anything about cities, but I’d see what I could learn and try to help.”
Of his three-year term in office, Dan said, “There wasn’t much money to do anything with: trash collection, hiring our first police officer – Fred Pierce, who used his personal vehicle for city business – and buying our first fire engine. It was a 1930s Ford. Eugene Large and I went to Anderson, Indiana, to get it. We drove it back that night and couldn’t resist blowing the whistle as we came through town.”
While Dan and Norma were busy running the motel and service station, they were trying to accept their inability to have children. Dan finally told Norma, “Let’s just quit worrying about it. If we decide to, we can adopt.” After 13 years of marriage, however, Norma gave birth to their only child, a daughter, Danette, who today manages the family-owned, 85-room motel. The Norma Dan has the distinction of being the oldest motel to continuously operate with its original owners.
Dan Conner’s Smoky Mountain roots run deep. His ancestors were living in North Carolina by the early 1700s. His great-grandfather, Rev. William Henry Conner (1827-1887), pastored the Oconaluftee Baptist Church, and as a missionary and evangelist he established three churches for Cherokee Indians, and at least two dozen additional churches in East Tennessee and Western North Carolina. Before the Civil War, Rev. Conner bought 300 acres in Smokemont along the banks of the Oconaluftee River, land that stayed in the Conner family until appropriated for Great Smoky Mountains National Park in the late 1920s.
Dan’s grandfather, Dock Conner (1855-1948), also farmed and raised cattle on the Oconaluftee property. In 1926, he paid $17,000 for 115 acres in the south end of Pigeon Forge, the same land on which his livestock had grazed while resting after over-mountain trips.
In 1936, when Dan’s parents made their first trip from the North Carolina side of the Smokies to Pigeon Forge, they purchased approximately 75 acres adjoining Dock Conner’s property. Since they continued to operate their general store in Smokemont on a year-to-year lease after their property became part of the national park, Dan’s family delayed their move to Pigeon Forge until December 1948. When the state bought rights-of-way for a four-lane highway through Pigeon Forge, the Conner farmland was divided. Farming on two sides of the four-lane proved problematic, and in 1956 three dozen lots with highly desirable road frontage were sold at auction.
Dan always seemed to have his finger on the pulse of Pigeon Forge. He said, “When they were looking for a city manager in 1980, I told them the best candidate already worked for the city.” That was Earlene McClure Teaster, the city clerk Dan had hired in 1961. Teaster still serves as city manager.
Along with valuable Parkway property, Dan Conner’s forebears bequeathed a good-natured, gritty and God-fearing character. Dan’s civic involvement has been curtailed, but he attends Gumstand Baptist Church, and at almost 89 years old, he is often found in the Norma Dan lobby, greeting visitors as he’s done for over half a century. “I’ve seen a lot of changes in Pigeon Forge since 1948,” Dan says, “but I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.”
The Conners will be remembered in Pigeon Forge place names such as Conner Heights, Conner Lane, Nellie Street and Jehu Street.
Jo Harris is a freelance writer residing in Jonesborough, Tennessee.
The Upland Chronicles series celebrates the heritage and past of Sevier County. If you have suggestions for future topics, would like to submit a column or have comments, contact Carroll McMahan at 453-6411 or cmcmahan@scoc.org; or Ron Rader at 604-9161 or ron@ronraderproperties.com.
- [S147] Find a Grave, (Memorial: 13712206).
- [S58] Marriage Certificate.
Name J. S. Conner
Birth Date 1890
Age 26
Spouse's Name Nellie Bradley
Spouse's Birth Date 1898
Spouse's Age 18
Event Date 09 Jan 1916
Event Place Ocono Lufta Twp., Swain, North Carolina
Race White
Marital Status Unknown
Spouse's Race White
Spouse's Marital Status Unknown
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