I love, love, love Dolly Parton. I saw this today and I had to write a post:  Drunk History of Dolly Parton and Porter Wagner

I already knew the story about Porter Wagner, one of her earliest mentors and I’m glad that the History channel decided to make that video about it. Imagine, having your own mentor sue you and then you help him out over and over the rest of his life anyway? Amazing, just amazing.

I can remember watching the movie, 9 to 5 when I was a little kid, when I was really too young to be watching. But it was so fun. Then came the other movies including Steel Magnolias. Dolly Parton is an amazing actor and funny too!

My hometown is just about an hour from Gatlinburg and even closer to Pigeon Forge. So we visited the area often when I was a child. We went to Silver Dollar City and then in 1986, it became Dollywood after the First Lady of the Smoky Mountains. It was a popular place to go for school field trips and family trips too. Dolly Parton has added onto Dollywood each year and it’s contributed to the growth of the surrounding area. The growth of Pigeon Forge has been tremendous!

You can read more about the history of Silver Dollar City and Dollywood here

Dolly Parton has done so much for the area. She created the Imagination Library which has given millions of books to children in this area and across the country. And in the aftermath of the Gatlinburg fires, she pledged money to the families affected. Watch this video here to see her giving out checks for $5000, which was a big surprise to the recipients. That warms my heart so very much.

I know a lot of people out there think that Dolly Parton is “fake” and that she should be doing more. I read a blog about this a few months ago:  https://amyrawe.com/2016/12/08/an-open-apology-to-dolly-parton/  Now even though this person is apologizing here, it still bugs me.

To any naysayers out there, just stop and think before you cast judgment. Dolly Parton is one of the most genuine, real people out there. She is my hero and she is the Queen of these Hills.