Review: Blackberry Farm

Why book?

It has become legendary for a reason. Blackberry Farm offers an immaculately curated rendition of the very best the Great Smoky Mountains have to offer—from local cuisine prepared with seasonal ingredients and intimate live music performances featuring some of the biggest names in the South, to a wide range of outdoor experiences in one of the prettiest parts of America.

Set the scene

Blackberry is less than half an hour from Knoxville’s McGhee Tyson Airport, but it feels a world apart from city life. You approach through a landscape of rolling green dotted with farms and churches until elegant white split-rail fences (ubiquitous throughout the property) signal your arrival. The vast majority of the staff, from servers and sommeliers to porters and guides, hail from the surrounding area and evangelize for the Eastern Tennessee way of life.

The hotel is renowned throughout the South, and many guests come from the region’s urban meccas, like Dallas or Atlanta, but you’ll find yourself in conversation with folks from all over the U.S. and beyond; the easy flight from LaGuardia makes it popular with New Yorkers. Blackberry is an exceptionally family-friendly place, so large clans (often extended ones) are commonplace. But it’s super-romantic, too, and you’ll see your share of couples deep in conversation over a glass of wine or whiskey, with love in their eyes. Guests’ daytime attire tends toward active or golfwear, but you should plan to dress for dinner with a strappy dress or a seersucker jacket.

The backstory

Built in 1940, the Farm was later acquired by Sandy Beall, the founder of Ruby Tuesday, who with his wife Kreis opened it as an intimate country inn in 1976, the same year their son Sam was born. Its present-day incarnation owes much to Sam, a trained chef who worked at the French Laundry before returning home with a vision of turning the Farm into one of the preeminent showcases for the flavors of the South. Sam Beall also oversaw the creation of the property’s network of hiking and biking trails, the launch of its famed Lagotto Romagnolo dog-breeding program, the introduction of a variety of new accommodation styles, and numerous other improvements, as well as the development of the Farm’s sibling property, Blackberry Mountain, which opened in 2019, three years after Sam’s unexpected death. Today, Sam’s widow Mary Celeste Beall oversees both resorts, continuing to refine them as poster-children for world-class Southern living.

The rooms

The Farm offers 68 total guest accommodations in six different room types, ranging from the original Historic Rooms where the Blackberry story began to freestanding cottages and houses in a variety of configurations. The aesthetic mixes rustic country chic with bright, functional modernity, delivering floral wallpaper prints, stone chimneys, and overstuffed sofas without ever going overboard on the whole Kozy Kabin vibe. In the Singing Brook Cottage where I stayed, one of the best amenities was the generous porch stacked with firewood where I could relax with a drink as dusk fell over the land and the insects whirred.

Food and drink

The bartender at the Barn, the Farm’s fanciest restaurant, recommended a Paper Plane—a lovely cocktail made with equal parts Blanton’s bourbon, Amaro Nonino, Aperol, and lemon juice that feels a timeless classic but was actually invented less than two decades ago; in this way, it felt like a kind of avatar for Blackberry Farm itself, and made for ideal sipping in those environs. The Barn, a timber-frame structure which the Bealls moved, piece by piece, from its original location in Pennsylvania Dutch country, is unlike any other fine-dining space you’ve experienced, both comfortingly American and yet still quite innovative, and the food could be described the same way. A wonderful, warm sommelier encouraged me to try an off-menu rosé Champagne with my first course, a marinated watermelon dish with lime, spiced pistachios, foie gras, and honey, saying the effervescent acidity would be a nice complement, and boy, was he right. They can make those suggestions at the Barn because, nearby, lying just below ground, is the second largest wine cellar in America, containing more than 160,000 bottles.

In the Main House, which was the original hotel, are two more relaxed fine-dining restaurants: the Main House Dining Room (where you’ll also get breakfast and lunch) and the Dogwood, both of which are marvelous places to eat alfresco, admiring the views of the Chilhowee ridgeline. It’s worth mentioning that while the culinary programs at resorts of this ilk are often much ballyhooed but turn out to be good-not-great, Blackberry’s is in a class by itself; offering New American cuisine that is as thoughtfully conceived and impeccably executed as any big city hot spot.

The spa

Treatments in the Wellhouse are first-rate, and it’s a great spot to while away an afternoon. There’s a little cafe where you can order a tonic or a juice—or a cocktail, if you prefer—to take out to the pool. This is also where you’ll find the Farm’s top-notch yoga and movement classes.

The neighborhood/area

One of Blackberry Farm’s many appealing qualities is its next-door neighbor, Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Though this is the most-visited park in the entire system, it’s a lot quieter over here on the western end. Nearby Walland is a charming little mountain town, and Dollywood, Dolly Parton’s one-of-a-kind theme park, is less than an hour away. For those wanting to bake Blackberry into a larger itinerary, several Southern cities popular with travelers, including Asheville and Chattanooga, are within a few hours’ drive—and of course Knoxville is just a hop, skip, and a jump away.

The service

Southern hospitality is a real thing. Staffers are unfailingly warm and helpful, while never seeming stiff or stilted. Service is unfussy, but not too casual, either. The best part is how ready everyone is to have a conversation with you, and to share what they love about Blackberry Farm and this corner of Tennessee.

For families

The Farm is a children’s paradise, even when you leave out the resort’s specifically kid-focused activities. The basic stuff you do here—jetting around in a golf cart, poking around in the woods, petting the fleecy Lagotto Romagnolo Italian truffle dogs bred onsite—appeals to the young and the young at heart. There are also family adventure programs out in the Smokies with a guide, ceramics and painting classes, and Camp Blackberry where you can drop the little ones for a morning or afternoon while you partake in a grown-up activity. Also, over at Blackberry Mountain is the Valley, where there is a small lake with a waterslide, life-sized chess, table tennis, a family pool, and more.

Eco effort

Sustainable agriculture is one of the cornerstones of Blackberry Farm. This approach manifests itself in biodiverse gardens; a robust composting program that promotes soil health; the nurturing of habitats favorable to predators of pests, eliminating the need for chemical pesticides; the use of crop rotation and cover crops; pollinator population support; a seed-saving program; and a variety of preservation techniques which allows the property to purchase whole crops and avoid food waste. Half of the Farm’s 4,200 total acres is in conservation. Blackberry is also a member of CDP Worldwide (formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project), an international nonprofit that provides tools to measure and report emissions.

Accessibility

Guest House rooms Indian Paint, Holly Glade’s Bluebird, and the Carriage House’s Tim Whiskey are the resort’s most accessible rooms: All are located on the first floor, with roll-in showers and grab bars in the bathrooms.

Anything left to mention?

One of the signature features of Blackberry Farm is its breeding program for Lagotto Romagnolos, the fleecy and very intelligent Italian water dogs often used to hunt truffles. Be sure to make time to visit the kennels and hang out with the dogs. If you fall in love, there is an adoption program in place, but be forewarned: The waiting list is years long.