Dolly Parton: Hometown Hero
Before we delve into the story of the statue, it’s worth remembering what made Dolly Parton statue-worthy in the first place! Dolly Rebecca Parton was born on January 19, 1946 in a one-room cabin on the banks of the Little Pigeon River in Sevier County. The fourth of 12 children, Dolly grew up in a family that struggled financially but always had plenty of love to go around. Dolly showed musical ability from a young age and moved to Nashville the day after graduating high school in order to pursue her career.
Dolly eventually became one of the biggest stars on the planet, an icon of both country and pop music. Despite her tremendous success, Dolly never forgot where she came from. In 1986, Parton opened the Dollywood theme park in the Smoky Mountains, which is now the largest employer in Sevier County and the #1 ticketed attraction in Tennessee.
The Creation of the Statue
Soon after Dollywood was launched, the people of Sevier County started raising money for a statue of Dolly to display in downtown Sevierville. Local artist Jim Gray was chosen to create the statue, having submitted a 10-inch wax-over-metal maquette of the statue as a proposal.
Once Gray’s concept was approved, Dolly came down to pose for the statue, sitting on a stool, barefoot, with her arms wrapped around a guitar.
Next, Gray built a skeleton of Dolly from steel and brought her to life with 300 pounds of clay. In order to make sure that the statue would be able to sit comfortably on top of the rock outside the courthouse, Gray created a plaster cast of the top of the boulder. Finally, the statue was sent from Gray’s studio in Knoxville, TN to the Wagner Foundry in Fredericksburg, VA, where it was cast in bronze. Jim Gray spent over 2,000 hours creating the Dolly Parton statue in Sevierville.