A HEAVENLY VIEW in the Smokies for your Retreat or Reunion-10 bedrooms!

Welcome to Elk Lodge - our largest of our cabins on our 100-acre Smoky Mountain property. Our 7 cabins are collectively called Tuckaleechee Retreat Center (TRC).

Having a church retreat? Elk Lodge is perfect for women's, men's, family, and couple's retreats. For larger retreats, add 2 or more of our other cabins to your booking, and host up to 100 people. Churches nationwide have been calling our property "home away from home" for their retreats for decades.

Family Reunion? Our property is located in the ideal central location of east TN, only 35 minutes from the Knoxville airport (TYS). Families have returned to our property for decades to enjoy spending that annual quality time together in our peaceful and beautiful mountainside location.

Your stay here matters!
We are a Christian non-profit. Each and every stay supports the work of CBM (Children's Bible Ministries), which we are owned by. Revenue from TRC helps support our missions internship program, our pastor/missionary specials program, and so much more.

CBM's workers manage this property while also serving daily in the mission work of CBM. Most live on property, which makes customer service natural and available!

While at Elk Lodge, you will enjoy plenty of parking (10-12 vehicles or passenger vans), a shared 3-foot-deep saltwater pool (non-heated, so open Memorial Day through Labor Day), and the kitchen of your dreams - fully-equipped with everything you need for meal prep and service. All you need to bring is food and someone to cook it! (Plus, some basics like plastic wrap and foil.)

The fire pit with a circle-swing (handcrafted by one of our CBM volunteers) is able to be reserved at no cost to you - we highly recommend it!

Other Elk Lodge amenities:
-10 bedrooms, each with two Queen beds and its own PRIVATE bathroom. Your stay includes ALL bedrooms.
-Free WIFI
-Private Game Room - pool table, ping pong table, and air hockey.
-Private Meeting Space (same room as Game Room) with tables and chairs you can set up as you wish.
-Enormous private dining room with 5 extra-long, hand-crafted, farmhouse wood tables, seating 10 people at each table!
-Access off of dining room to beautiful, private porch overlooking the pool and Smoky Mountains. The porch is everyone's favorite place to gather and enjoy the rockers and swing.
-Large, private living room with Roku TV/DVD downstairs, and second living room area upstairs in the Game Room/Meeting Room with second Roku TV/DVD on rolling cart/stand
-Hot tub on pool deck open year-round, prepared and heated for each arrival!
-All BED & BATH linens provided
-Beautiful stone, dual-sided, gas fireplace (lit October-April) between dining room & living room
-Cornhole
-The beautiful Prayer Garden with lovely landscaping is just outside your gate

Kitchen specifics:
-3 total sinks
-Large island for food prep, featuring two dishwashers
-2 microwaves
-2 refrigerator/freezers
-2 convection ovens (cook in almost double-time)
-"Commercial"-style gas burner stove with built-in flat-top griddle
-Large stainless-steel island for serving
-Pots, pans, silverware, cooking-ware, bakeware, service ware, cups, mugs, glasses, pitchers, roasters, cookie sheets, cutting boards, crockpot, and so much more!
-Bunn (industrial-style) coffee maker with pots (+ Keurig in dining room)

Game/Meeting/Common Space specifics:
-1,500 square feet
-Setup tables/chairs for meetings, crafts, chapel, or worship
-Many books on the bookshelves, including the Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys collection
-Games in the chest in the seating area
-Full bathroom (also where washer/dryer is)
-Deck with AMAZING views!

Privacy:
When we travel, we like to know what's shared and what's all ours!
-At Elk Lodge, everything is ALL YOURS except for the pool/hot tub, which are shared with 5 of our other cabins.
-In the kitchen, you will find hard keys for every bedroom, if you desire to use them.
-There are 2 apartments upstairs with completely separate access. One is occupied by a Staff member, and one is occupied (except in summer) by our missions interns. You will not see them unless you need them!

Nearby area:
-Tuckaleechee Caverns is 1/4 mile from us - a very cool outing open March-November annually)
-Davy Crockett Riding Stables is 1/2 mile from us - take guided horseback rides
-Rent ATVs and more right in Townsend (1 mile from us)
-DON'T MISS tubing the Little River in the summer (Memorial Day to Labor Day)! It's busy, but so worth it. There are several tube rental locations, and they are all for the same river.
-There are plenty of river access spots down 321 that you can access on your own, any time!
-Check out the swinging bridge, across from Century 21 on 321.
-We also have the sweetest covered bridge, and you can fish in the river underneath! (Fishing passes available in town.)
-Plenty of places to buy souvenirs and fudge!
-Don't miss Townsend River Walk & Arboretum!
-Little River Railroad/Lumber Museum is FREE!
-If you enjoy history, the Heritage Museum is very cool.
-We are a festival town! Everything from Hot Air balloons to Bigfoot to Scottish Games...be sure to ask what's in town when you're planning to come!

Not Townsend, but still close, and worth the drive:
-The Island in Pigeon Forge is FREE admission and is awesome! Park & ride the free shuttle and enjoy sitting in the rockers around the dancing fountains, children's rides, high ropes course, mirror maze, great restaurants, Ferris Wheel, and so much more (activities have a la carte fees).
-Cherokee is about 1.5-hour drive away. You're sure to see elk grazing in the fields, especially on overcast, smoky days.
-Foothills Parkway is a beautiful drive! Access is available either heading towards Pigeon Forge (off Wears Valley Road) or heading towards Maryville (off 321).

Be sure to EXPLORE!
-Cades Cove, the beautiful, historic 11-mile driving loop filled with wildlife, hiking trails, awesome photo ops, old homesteads, churches, and cemeteries, is only a 15–20-minute drive from us. Cades Cove is part of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Parking passes are available once you arrive. Please note that on Wednesdays, Cades Cove is ONLY open to foot traffic and bicycles.
-We have so much hiking nearby! There is a small trail on property, which you can access right across from the Elk Lodge kitchen.
-Also check out Metcalf Bottoms for an awesome picnic area and river access.
-Elkmont, Laurel Falls, Sugarlands, Chimney Tops, and Alum Cave are about 30 minutes to an hour away as well.
-Kuwohi (formerly Clingmans Dome) is BEAUTIFUL, not only once you arrive and start hiking, but on the way there and back! Driving there takes about an hour.

Here on a Friday night?
Don't miss the local TN bluegrass culture at Rocky Branch Community Center, where locals get together and start pickin' at about 6:30pm and stop when they're done!

We LOVE our little town of Townsend, TN!
-Everything you need is on the main strip of 321/Lamar Alexander Parkway
-Our local grocer is IGA, located in the same plaza as Shell Gas Station
-Amoco has soft-serve ice cream, and great hot and cold lunch options you can purchase and enjoy eating on their deck overlooking Little River!
-Dollar General (of course we have one, are you a town if you don't?!) has all the rest of the basics.

Townsend restaurants we recommend:
-Peaceful Side Social is a favorite and has a play area for kids. Taco Truck there open seasonally. GREAT pizzas, bowls, half chicken, truffle fries, and sandwiches! They also have an attached Creamery, which is delicious.
-East Cuisine Cafe has awesome Asian food! Get your sushi fix or enjoy hibachi with a PITCHER of yum-yum sauce!
-Riverstone has good home-cooking.
-We love Apple Valley Cafe for breakfast and lunch, and there is shopping in the same plaza.
-We highly recommend TownsEnd for coffee, and there is also Dancing Bean, Artistic Bean, and others, all right in Townsend.

Other:
-Join hundreds of returning family reunions and groups, representing thousands of guests, who stay in Elk Lodge (and our other cabins!) every year!

-Schedule a tour before you book, if you'd like!

-Discounts for first time bookings for CHURCH AND NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS ARE AVAILABLE!

-Our policies do not allow us to host wedding ceremonies on our property.

-Exemptions for minimum-night stays are available if only one night is open between other groups. Please inquire with us if you see this and would like to book it!

-Guest will be required to sign Tuckaleechee Retreat Center's rental agreement after the booking is confirmed, which includes the rules and policies for our property, including our no pets and no alcohol policy.

THANK YOU! We look forward to hosting your group here!