Full at http://blog.cheapmotelsandahotplate.org/2011/08/28/no-place-is-so-beautiful-that-the-magic-of-the-marketplace-cant-ruin-it/ Here is the final paragraph: Places like Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg represent capitalism run amok. A beautiful area naturally attracts visitors--Rocky Mountain gets nearly three million and Great Smoky Mountains nine million a year. This tells local landowners that money can be made. So land is sold, and entrepreneurs open any business they think will turn a profit. A few families own most of the property in Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, including the Partons (whose most famous famous member, Dolly opened the Dollywood theme park: adult general admission is $57.25; the national park is free). Local politicians are only too happy to accommodate. Eventually Native American villages, ranches, and agriculture, and their attendant crafts and folkways disappear, replaced at best by ersatz Indian exhibitions and "craft villages" and at worst by the horrors of Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg. The natural wonders nearby become a sideshow to the main attractions of mindless consumption and rustic nostalgia. Fortunately, Estes Park is not Gatlinburg. I hope it never is, but recent developments don't make me optimistic.