A fully renovated bungalow on a wooded lot in South Knoxville, five minutes south of the river.
Two kings, two full baths, one level, and a screened porch you will not want to leave.
The lot runs 8,276 square feet — about 0.19 of an acre — and most of the back half is trees.
Rocky Top Retreat is a fully renovated, single-level 2 bedroom / 2 bath home for up to four people, five minutes south of the river in Old Sevier. The whole back half of the house is open — kitchen and living room run together, with the laundry room off the kitchen — so nobody is cooking alone while everyone else is in another room. Two king bedrooms sit on the east side, and a screened porch spans the full 28-foot front.
The lot is the part people don't expect. It runs 165 feet back from the street — paved drive up the left side, parking pad behind the house, then wooded and private the rest of the way. You can hear the neighborhood but you can't see much of it.
You're a short walk from the Sevier Avenue strip — coffee, pizza, dumplings, three breweries — and a longer, genuinely pleasant one across the bridge to Gay Street. Ijams, the quarries, and the Urban Wilderness trailheads are all a few minutes' drive. On football Saturdays, Neyland is about forty-five minutes on foot, and most people walk it.
One level, no interior stairs, and an open back half where the kitchen and living room run together.
Schematic, not to survey. The dimensions are real; the walls are drawn as single lines and the interior partitions are simplified onto one axis.
Rear of the house at the top — the way you come in from the parking pad. The tinted rooms open into one another; Bath 2 is reached through the laundry.
Open to the kitchen through a wide cased opening. TV, seating for four.
Open to the living room, with a generous island for cooking or eating. The laundry room is right off it.
King bed, private en-suite bath with walk-in shower, TV.
King bed and a large desk for anyone working a day of the trip.
En-suite to Bedroom 1. Walk-in shower.
Bathtub. Entered through the laundry room, not off a hallway.
Off the kitchen, and the hinge of the house: washer and dryer, the door to the back parking pad, and the way into Bath 2.
Full width of the house, with a TV. The reason people book again.
Everything here is in the house. If it isn't on this list, assume it isn't, and ask us.
South of the river in Old Sevier — close enough to walk downtown, far enough that you can hear the birds.
The map is approximate on purpose. You’ll get the exact address, the gate code and our phone numbers as soon as the dates are confirmed.
Not to scale. Old Sevier, Knoxville 37920.
Pick your nights and send them to us. Nothing is charged until we’ve written back.
These weekends book first and price higher. The Friday night counts as part of the weekend — nobody drives in on Saturday morning for a noon kickoff.
No security deposit. We ask for a card on file and that's it.
Free cancellation up to 14 days before check-in for a full refund. Inside 14 days, we refund whatever we can rebook.
South Knoxville got good fast. This is the list we text people, in the order we'd send them.
An orange mark is what we’d pick if you only had one night. Times are from the front porch and rounded generously.
Both are on Sevier Avenue, both are a walk, and both are better than what you'd get downtown.
Espresso and a real bakery case, across from the food truck park. Opens at 7 on weekdays, 8 on weekends.1014 Sevier Ave
10 min walkKnoxville roaster, big windows, easy place to sit with a laptop for an hour.700 Sevier Ave
12 min walkThe first four are all within a few hundred feet of each other on Sevier Ave. The rest are worth the drive.
The neighborhood default. Thin crust, good beer list, loud in the best way on a Friday.1103 Sevier Ave SE
11 min walkDumplings, noodles, and boba two doors down. Order the pan-fried.1119 Sevier Ave, Suite A
11 min walkWhere to go for brunch. Get there before 10:30 on a Saturday or plan to wait.906 Sevier Ave
12 min walkTacos and a big patio. Reliable on a warm night when you don't want to think about it.3701 Sevier Ave
6 min driveSevier Heights. Biscuits and breakfast plates, and locals filling every table.3726 Sevier Heights Rd, Suite 200
8 min driveDairy-farm ice cream on Gay Street, in the red-and-white checked shop. Worth the walk across the bridge.445 S Gay St
27 min walkOld City. Wood-fired, sourdough crust, the best pizza in Knoxville and most people here will tell you so.516 Williams St
9 min driveJewish deli at the north end of Gay Street. Pastrami, latkes, very good bread.617 N Gay St
10 min driveHalf restaurant, half bar, all day. Good stop either side of dinner.
8 min driveThree breweries and a food truck park inside a ten-minute walk. This is why people move to Old Sevier.
The anchor of the street. Dog-friendly patio, rotating taps, cyclists everywhere on a Saturday.1130 Sevier Ave
11 min walkBig warehouse taproom off Barber Street. Games, space to spread out, easy with a group.2020 Barber St
14 min walkFood truck park and bottle shop in an old service station. Rotating trucks, wide-open lot.Sevier Ave, across from Mia Piccola
10 min walkSeventies-themed cocktail bar. Dim, strange, extremely fun. Best nightcap on this side of the river.
7 min driveSouth Knoxville is the outdoor side of the city — fifty miles of trail and three flooded marble quarries, all within a few minutes of the house.
Riverfront green space and a paved walking path along the water. The closest thing to a front yard for the whole neighborhood.1001 Waterfront Dr
8 min walk300 acres of trails, boardwalk along the river, climbing, and paddleboard rental in summer. Free to enter.2915 Island Home Ave
7 min driveInside Ijams. Swim, rent a board, or just walk the loop around the water.1927 Island Home Ave
7 min driveCivil War earthworks above a 350-foot-deep turquoise quarry. The overlook is the photograph everyone takes of Knoxville.3000 Fort Dickerson Rd
5 min driveMountain bike park with downhill runs and a beginner skills area, plus hiking trails up the ridge.5915 Lancaster Dr
8 min driveA sister and a brother, one house, and a family that has been coming to this city since our parents met here.
Our parents met at the University of Tennessee, which is the short version of why this family is the way it is. Taylor went to UTK too, graduated, and stayed — she has lived and worked in this community for years and knows which block floods and which barbecue place is worth the wait.
We bought this house together and renovated it in 2022. We kept the footprint and the screened porch, opened up the back half so the kitchen and living room work as one room, put in two full baths, and tried very hard not to make it look like every other flip on the internet.
We're not a management company. When you write, one of us answers — usually within a couple of hours, and usually with more restaurant opinions than you asked for.
— Taylor & Ryan
Ask about Saturdays. One more thing, quietly: we're a Tennessee family and we hold seats for most home games. They aren't always ours to use. If your dates land on a home Saturday, mention it when you write — sometimes we can help, and we'd rather you ask us than a stranger outside Gate 21.
Nothing here yet — and we'd rather show you an empty page than someone else's words.
We opened the house after the renovation and we’re still early. When guests write something worth reading, it goes here word for word.
In the meantime, ask us anything you’d normally look for in a review — we’ll answer it straight.
Check the calendar