For a nostalgic getaway near Dollywood, try this adorable vintage camper 'Glampground'

Theresa ‘Tree’ Griffin and her husband, Brad, bought their first travel trailer to fix up around 12 years ago. “I love everything vintage and thought this would be a great way to vacation and bring our dog along,” said Griffin about the 1976 Skyline they call The Beatnik.

“It has been a daydream for several years to open a glampground. I have seen similar campgrounds on the west coast and didn’t know of anything like that around here,” Griffin said.

“When it came to our daydream, we became serious in 2020. Younger people aren’t collecting like we did; they don’t want material things. They want experiences.”

The couple made the move from South Knoxville to their Sevierville lake house a few years ago and started to search for the perfect property for their glampground. It turns out they did not have to look much farther than the abandoned property next door.

“We contacted the people who had inherited it but live out of state and made them an offer,” said Griffin. “We spent a good year on the infrastructure of the property, tearing down the old house, replacing sewer and water lines and adding a bathhouse. It was a lot of work and money, and we did as much of it as we could do ourselves.”

“For the travel trailers you really should have flat land, but everything around here is so hilly, so the real clincher is that it is on the lake,” said Griffin. “We dug out a trail so you have complete lake access, and we bought a dock and put it in.”

Along with The Beatnik, the couple added a 1972 Shasta called The Flower Child and decorated it with “hippie flower stuff.” Next, they added a 1968 Shasta called The Tangerine Dream because of the tangerine stripe across the front and orange decor.

“Our second one was in pretty good condition and needed a little bit of work, but not as much as our original travel trailer,” said Griffin. “The third one was in much better condition because we were busy at the time working on the property and building the bathhouse for the two campers that do not have any water or a bathroom.”

Griffin has had a passion for midcentury modern and atomic styles from the ’50s and ’60s and has been a big fan of ’70s Mod for as long as she can remember. “I started a vintage booth, then opened Living Vintage from 2007-10 and had Retrospect (in the Happy Holler) from 2014 until I sold it in January 2022,” she said.

Naturally Griffin’s favorite part is decorating the retro travel trailers. “I seek out vintage dishes, silverware, sheets, pillows and quilts and I am constantly changing them out,” she said. “I have added vintage board games and a DVD player with mostly vintage movies if the weather is rainy outside.”

Treehouse Glampground is open from April 1 and closes in December when the weather gets too cold. The three travel trailers or the whole glampground are available to book on Airbnb via links on Instagram @treehouse_glampground.

“Our first year was fantastic. We have had mostly couples, but a lot of kids,” said Griffin. “Families, girl groups or a bunch of friends will get together and rent the whole thing. We have had people from the U.K., California, a couple from China – people from all over the place. People travelling through to go to Dollywood or families with season passes wanting somewhere more unique to stay than a hotel. A teenage girl brought her bestie and they played in the water and never looked at their phones.”

Treehouse Glampground provides boats, a canoe and a kayak for guests to use, and each camper has its own grill and fire pit. “The favorite is our paddle boat; people love cruising around in it,” Griffin said.

“I think we will be slammed this year; a lot of people already said last year that they will be back,” said Griffin. “The lake is seasonal and it went down in September, then October was the busiest month we had because people like to camp when it is cooler.” Weekends book up first at the Treehouse Glampground, so weekday bookings have become increasingly popular.

The property is roughly three acres, much of it wooded, and one day the Griffins hope to build a treehouse there.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Cute vintage campers are for rent for Smokies vacations near Dollywood