В Гатлинберге продают исторический магазин «Gazebo», где хозяйка жила вместе с лавкой более двух десятилетий

GATLINBURG — When the Gazebo shop in Gatlinburg closes sometime soon, it will take a few pieces of the town’s history with it. The shop, located at 377 Parkway near Ripley’s Mountain Coaster, has been in that location for decades. It’s a rare type of store in town anymore, because owner Kay Morton lives in an apartment upstairs. That makes it a throwback to a different age for shops in town and a piece of history in its own right. “It’s a full two-bedroom, nice apartment," Morton said. “It’s grandfathered in. You can’t build now and do a living space over it.” The items she sells include some familiar names for longtime Gatlinburg visitors or residents, like Paul Murray paintings. Murray’s shop on Glades Road is closed, and the Gazebo is home to his new gallery. She’s offered unique blown glass items for years as well. Father and son Charles and David Lotton have been creating intricate designs for years, and Morton is proud to offer some of their works in a section of the shop that’s off limits to kids due to the delicate nature of the merchandise. But if you really want a piece of history, for the items or for Gatlinburg, talk to Morton herself. With her home steps away, if the shop is open she’s there. She can tell you about the story behind the items she sells, or about the town of Gatlinburg itself. Her parents, Louis and Alma Morton, were longtime fixtures in Gatlinburg business themselves. She’s the last of her siblings alive, still running the shop where she’s lived for years. Her nephew, Oliver Morton, runs Morton’s Antiques now. Selling antiques and collectibles is about creating a connection to the item, or its creator, or both, and there’s not many items in the Gazebo that Morton doesn't have a story about. Even the clothes they offer have embellishments added by Morton or her daughter, Carrie Ball. She hadn’t planned on going into that kind of work at first. She had plans for being a nurse or a doctor, but she moved back with her parents when her husband was drafted. Her dad started teaching her the ropes while she was at the store. “My dad would grill me,” she said. “He’d point at something and have me tell the name and history, what was behind it and all.” It turned into something she loved, and she stayed in the business the rest of her life, branching off on her own with her own shops. Over the years, she’s added other ideas. She helped open a gym and started a yoga class out of the Gazebo. She stopped offering classes there after COVID, but she kept a small exercise area for herself. With her spot in the entrance to Gatlinburg, she’s seen the town change over the years and sometimes been part of that change. She helped lead a downtown merchant’s association, which is now defunct, and said she pushed for more support for the north side of the town. That created some battles, she said, and with Carrie growing up she stepped away. “I felt like she needed me more than the city did,” she said. It’s Carrie who has been encouraging her to step back from the shop as well. “My daughter’s been trying to get me to retire for years, and I wasn't ready,” she said. Even after multiple back surgeries, she would be right back at it. But it’s harder to get around, and now she’s decided it’s time to take it easy. So the building she’s called home for more than two decades is for sale, a prime location as people enter on the Parkway. Even after it goes, she won’t be retiring completely. She’ll still be offering items at shows, and online. She remarried in March, and even when she moves to her new husband’s house, she’ll have her own space. “I’m one of these independent, modern women I guess," she said. “I like my own space.”