Huskeys of Sugarlands and the Sky-Uka Inn

This story was shared with Gatlinburg Roots by Jerry Huskey, grandson of Sam and Alice Huskey, who owned and operated the Sky-Uka Inn in the Sugarlands so the story of his grandparents’ store would not be lost.

Most people who hike Huskey’s Gap Trail today don’t realize the name belongs to a family, not just a mountain. Long before it was printed on a trail sign, it was a homeplace in the Sugarlands.

Near the river along the West Fork of the Little Pigeon River stood the Sky-Uka Inn, owned by Sam and Alice Huskey. They operated the hotel as a store — a stopping place for food, rest, and supplies in a valley where making a living was never easy.

Sam Huskey was the son of James Miller Huskey. His wife was Alice Newman Huskey, daughter of David Newman and Nancy Elizabeth Ogle, a descendant of Martha Huskey Ogle and granddaughter of Vance Newman. Together they raised eight children — four girls and four boys.

Sam wasn’t highly educated, so when customers charged items from the store, he kept his records in drawings. A hoop of cheese became a circle in his ledger. A wagon wheel looked much the same. One man later came in to settle his account and insisted he had never purchased cheese. Sam studied the drawing carefully and realized the mistake — it wasn’t cheese at all. It was a wagon wheel.

In 1932, Sam died and was buried in the Burton Ogle Cemetery along Old Sugarlands Trail, one of the last buried there before it closed. When the National Park Service informed the family the land was being purchased for what would become the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the Huskeys had to leave. Friends warned them they feared White Oak Flats property might be taken as well, so the family chose Middle Creek near Pigeon Forge. They dismantled their buildings in the Sugarlands and rebuilt there. The house stood for decades, until the property was purchased by Dollywood in the late 1980s.

Alice never remarried and lived to be 104 years old.

Sam also had a previous marriage to Mary Ellen Huskey. Their daughter, Pearl Marinda Parton, married Joe Parton and originally owned the building that later became Parton’s Deli. She was the aunt of Henry Parton, former owner of the deli.

The inn is gone. The homeplace is gone. But the name remains — Huskey’s Gap Trail and Huskey Branch Falls — named for Sam and Alice Huskey.

Photos courtesy of Jerry Huskey.

Originally published on the Gatlinburg Roots Facebook page — March 12, 2026.