“Pie in the Sky” Offers Slice of Sewanee

by Kevin Cummings, Messenger Staff Writer

When the first “Pie in the Sky” sign appeared near the main Sewanee entrance around November, most people didn’t know what the moniker meant. Now two other Pie signs decorate the right-of-way of U.S. Highway 41A in Sewanee and the mystery is less, but it’s unclear if anyone is actually following the signs.

The Pie in the Sky Trail is a 363-mile trek for motorists that begins in Chattanooga and forms a loop through middle Tennessee, going as far north as Crossville. Sewanee is a little detour off that loop, with motorists directed from Monteagle to Sewanee and then back to Monteagle.

Patricia Gray, manager of research and sustainable tourism at the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development, said Pie in the Sky is designed to get tourists off the beaten path.

“There are things to do all over rural Tennessee,” Gray said. “Our rural partners really need assistance; there are some small shops and sometimes just one person working in there.”There are 129 sites listed on the trail, which starts at the Chattanooga Visitors Center and ends at the Moon Pie General Store in Chattanooga. The trail gets its name from the famous marshmallow cookie created at the Chattanooga Bakery in 1917.

The Sewanee sites listed on the Pie in the Sky Trail are the University of the South (No. 49), Lemon Fair (No. 50) and the Blue Chair Café & Tavern (No. 51). Merchants and officials at all three places said they aren’t aware of any visitors who have followed the trail to Sewanee.

Gray said the state doesn’t have any measurements as far as visitors go, but feedback from convention and visitors bureaus indicates people love the trail maps. 

Pie in the Sky is one of 16 tourist treks in the state’s Discover Tennessee Trails and Byways program. Gray noted that most of the signs for the Pie trail were installed during a six-week period late last year.

Like Sewanee merchants, other area shopkeepers aren’t aware of an impact from being a Pie in the Sky site. Shawnee Gibson, owner of Hallelujah Pottery in Monteagle, noted that several people were interested in taking a trail brochure, but she doesn’t know of any visitors related to the trail.

Lynn Drivett, who works as a cook and waitress at Dutch Maid Bakery in Tracy City, said she also isn’t aware of any trail travelers, but the bakery does see its share of people who saw Dutch Maid featured on PBS television programs.

Gray noted that there are smart phone apps for the trail, and there also needs to be more of an education campaign about Pie in the Sky.

“You don’t understand what’s available on that trail until you see it,” she said. “This type of program is fairly unique…”

Maps for the trail are available online, and at some tourist sites and many chambers of commerce and visitors’ bureaus in Tennessee. For more information, visit < http://tntrailsandbyways.com/trail/13/pie-in-the-sky>.