Top 8 Shops for Unique Ice Cream Experiences in the Great Smoky Mountains
Creamy, yummy ice cream is on the menu all throughout the Great Smoky Mountains. Here are eight of our favorite spots to get unique ice cream any-time-of-year treat.
Meet Me in the Mountains is the signature shake here. Smokey (sic) Mountain Crunch ice cream in a vanilla frosted Custom Designed Gatlinburg Jar with chocolate Teddy Grahams and topped with a Smokey Mountain top Rice Krispy Treat, whipped icing, cookie dirt and a Moon Pie – that’s right a Moon Pie!
They even offer non-dairy, dairy free and gluten free flavors.
Located next to Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Museum, the Crazy Mason was started by husband-and-wife team Bo and Sherri Steele who “built a life and a family together with dreams of doing something big and just a little crazy.”
Bo brings years of experience in business, working in the food industry and as a distributor, while Sherri’s marketing background, creativity and design skills help put a unique touch on everything they do together, the couple say on their website.
Where This Unique Ice Cream Began
“As locals in the tourist-friendly town of Myrtle Beach, S.C., the idea for The Crazy Mason came out of a desire to start something new the area has never seen before. Sparked by a love of all things sweet and a flair for creating unique, picture-worthy treats the Steeles developed a concept that has become an immediate hit with locals and visitors alike.”
“Using more than 100 ingredients, including locally grown produce and toppings sourced from partnerships with local bakeries and businesses, the family remains focused on keeping things local and giving back to their communities even as they expand into new markets.”
Find the Crazy Mason at 812 Parkway, Suite 106, Gatlinburg
Want ice cream but you also want a cocktail? You can have both at Buzzed Bull Creamery in Pigeon Forge. All its specialties can be made into an ice cream or milkshakes and can be made buzzed (21+ alcohol infused) or non-buzzed!
What’s on the menu? Death By Chocolate – a creamy concoction made with chocolate, brownies, chocolate chips, chocolate sauce on top. The suggested buzz is chocolate vodka.
Honey Bourbon Pecan is a honey, pecan, whipped cream dream with bourbon as the buzz suggestion, of course!
The Buzz Suggestion
Bonfire is a smore’s lover’s dream with marshmallow syrup, graham cracker, chocolate chips and cinnamon. The buzz suggestion is cinnamon whiskey!
There are many more specialties from which to choose or create your own! Pick your base – you can choose from cream, non-dairy/vegan, or sorbet. Pick a flavor and then your mix-ins. Finally, choose your buzz if you’re over 21.
Find Buzzed Bull Creamery at 3239 Parkway, Pigeon Forge
Maddi Mae’s Café & Creamery
Maddi Mae’s Café & Creamery – locally famous in Athens, Tennessee – bought The Village Café & Creamery in July 2021 in Galinburg and that same year partnered with Appalachian Bear Rescue in town. A portion of all sales go to the Appalachian Bear Rescue helping orphaned cubs get back to the wild. Appalachian Bear Rescue is a non-contact rehabilitation center that allows the cubs to grow with no human contact which allows the bears to return to the wild.
Maddi Mae’s offers specialty coffees, soft serve, hand-dipped and rolled ice cream in lots of fun flavors with topping offerings and lots of ways to eat it – from a scoop to a float or a milkshake or a frappe.
Get a milkshake in a traditional flavor or try an espresso shake, a chai-latte shake or a pumpkin spiced shake.
Find Maddi Mae’s at 634 Parkway Suite #17 Gatlinburg.
Mad Dog’s Creamery
https://youtube.com/watch?v=v2KwH9Hnxqo%3Ffeature%3Doembed
Mad Dog’s Creamery & Donuts calls itself your one-stop sweet shop with hand-dipped premium ice cream, soft-serve ice cream, sundaes, banana splits, milkshakes, and funnel cakes (oh delicious fried dough!). Oh, and let’s not forget the doughnuts – added to the menu in 2016.
With Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg locations, Mad Dog’s motto is “Unleash the Sweet.” And does it ever.
Unique Ice Cream Flavors For Everybody
Along with traditional – but also delicious – vanilla, chocolate and strawberry, Mad Dog’s offers unique hand-dipped ice cream flavors including Yellow Brick Road, White Chocolate Raspberry, Orange Pineapple, Strawberry Cheesecake and Sea Salt Caramel Cheesecake.
Ice cream flavors aren’t the only unique treats. Among Mad Dog’s fun creations are an ice cream stuffed cotton candy burrito, a banana pudding funnel cake and ice cream on a cloud. That’s ice cream on cotton candy served in a cone. What fun! Visitors also will find soft, fluffy doughnuts, and you know the offerings are anything but ordinary. Maple bacon, dreamcicle, banana pudding, chocolate chip cake are among the flavors.
Have your 4-legged best friend with you? Mad Dog’s has doggie treats and toys for them too. You can sit outside with your dog where there are picnic tables and water bowls. Their treats come in ice cream and doughnut form as well.
Find Mad Dog’s at two locations:
3048 Parkway, Pigeon Forge and 731 East Parkway, Gatlinburg
The Old Mill Creamery
Located in Pigeon Forge’s Old Mill – an actual working grist mill –The Old Mill Creamery “makes ice cream the old-fashioned way, churning rich custard to scoop into bowls or sugar cones, whirl into thick shakes, or sculpt into eye-popping sundaes.”
The shop adds treats from The Old Mill Candy Kitchen, the bakery, spirits from the Old Forge Distillery and fresh fruits and nuts to create interesting and tasty ice creams. Among its signature flavors are Whiskey Ribbon, Salted Caramel, Vanilla Bean, Banana Pudding and Oat Mill Cream Pie.
The Old Mill Creamery will serve you a Sundae Bowl that you design, and it comes in a handmade keepsake bowl from Pigeon River Pottery Company.
The Old-Fashioned Way
The Old Mill Creamery makes ice cream the old-fashioned way, to scoop into bowls or sugar cones, whirl into thick shakes, or sculpt into eye-popping sundaes. Our signature flavors include treats from The Old Mill Candy Kitchen, the bakery, spirits from the Old Forge Distillery, and fresh fruits and nuts that change with the seasons. Sweet!
Stop in and grab ice cream for the whole family to enjoy back at home, the cabin or campground! Call The Old Mill Creamery at 865-453-4301 to place your order.
Traditional But Unique
Traditional but still unique flavors include Simply Sweet Vanilla, Black Lantern Chocolate, Smoky Mountain Strawberry, Rocky Road, Southern Butter Pecan, Rocky Road, Cookies & Cream, and Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough.
Signature flavors include Oat Mill Cream Pie, Salted Caramel Candy, Biscuits and Honey, Whiskey Ribbon, Bear Claws and more!
Get your ice cream in a cup, a cake or sugar cone, as a shake, a malt or a float – the choice is yours!
The Old Mill partners with Friends of the Smokies to help protect this national park. For every scoop of its signature Bear Paw ice cream sold The Old Mill donates 25% of the proceeds to Friends of the Smokies.
Friends of the Smokies is a non-profit organization that works to protect and preserve the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. They do this by funding research, education, and conservation programs.
Find the Old Mill at 171 Old Mill Ave., Pigeon Forge.
Curl De La Crème
Customize your own creation at this Pigeon Forge eatery and the curlers will make it beautiful and Instagram worthy!
Visitors choose an ice cream flavor – vanilla, chocolate, mint, and also vegan vanilla, vegan chocolate and sugar-free vanilla or chocolate. Then, each order is turned from liquid cream to ice cream as you watch. Choose from a selection of cookies, fruits, cereal, and nut-based pastes to mix in. Fruity Pebbles, peanut butter, Nutella, pecan pie, cherries, coffee and more to mix and add on top of your creation.
The ice cream curls are placed beautifully in a cup, waffle bowl, waffle taco or between 2 Krispy Kreme doughnuts! Seriously – doughnuts!
The sister owned and founded business, Curl de la Crème shares its seasonal creations on Facebook and Instagram.
Find Curl de la Crème at 2656 Parkway, Suite 6, Pigeon Forge.
Book Your Stay
Ready to get to the Mountains? You’ll need a place to stay!
Whether it’s your first visit to the Smokies or your fiftieth, American Patriot Getaways has a cabin for you. From studio-style economy cabins to 13-bedroom palatial chalets, any family or group can be accommodated in our cabins. There are movie theater cabins, cabins with swimming pools, secluded cabins, cabins with multiple kitchens and cabins with game rooms.
Book a cabin close to the Parkway and you won’t miss any Gatlinburg fun.
Book online using our website. Or give our Reservation staff a call at (800) 204-5169 to get started planning your trip to the Smoky Mountains.
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Published on Monday, September 25, 2023