Questions worth answering before you book

Enter your dates on the booking page. You will see an exact quote with taxes and fees included, and you can complete the reservation and payment right there. Your booking is made through our reservation platform, and the card payment is processed by Stripe, which handles payments for millions of businesses worldwide.

We book direct only. You are dealing with the two people who own the cabin, and the price you see is the price.

Yes, and it is worth knowing exactly why. Card payments are processed by Stripe — the same processor behind millions of businesses worldwide. Your card number is typed straight into Stripe's own secure field: it does not pass through this website, and it is never stored by us. What we see is a confirmation that the payment went through, and nothing more.

Half up front to confirm the dates. The balance is collected automatically 30 days before you arrive, on the card you booked with — you do not have to remember it.

Credit or debit card through the secure checkout, which is the simplest way. We can also take a check, Zelle or Venmo; for a check the arrival date has to be at least 15 days out. Bookings paid by anything other than a card stay pending for 14 days until the payment lands, and cancel automatically if it does not.

Yes. The quote you get after entering dates includes lodging taxes and all required fees. Nothing is added at the end.

$225. Three floors and three bathrooms is a genuine turnover, and we would rather you saw the number than met it at checkout.

12.75% in total, which is what Tennessee and Sevier County require: 7% state sales tax, 3% county lodging tax and 2.75% county business tax. It is all in the quote.

Not up to ten. Two people or ten, the nightly rate is the same. Guests eleven and twelve add $50 per guest, per night — those two are the ones on the sofas, and the fee covers the extra linen, water and wear rather than being a penalty.

Weekly and monthly rates are built into the calendar, so a longer stay prices better per night automatically. Enter your dates and the quote does the arithmetic.

A $400 hold is placed on your card two days before you arrive and released up to five days after your stay. It is a hold, not a charge — nothing is taken unless something is genuinely damaged. There is also a $27 accidental damage waiver in the quote, which covers up to $1,500 of the honest kind of accident.

Cancel 60 days or more before arrival and you get everything back. Between 30 and 60 days, half. Inside 30 days there is no refund, because at that point the dates are very unlikely to rebook. The full terms are on the cancellation policy page.

Yes — four nights. A house this size takes a full day to turn around properly, and a shorter stay is not enough time to settle in anyway. Most groups book a week. If your dates are unusual, ask us rather than assuming.

It is offered during checkout and it is worth a look if you are booking far ahead, traveling in winter, or building a trip around people who might not all be able to come. Whether it is right for you is your call — the policy terms come from the insurer, not from us.

Ten in real beds — two kings, two queens and a queen sleeper sofa. That is the number the house is genuinely comfortable for and the number we price and describe it as. Every one of those ten gets a queen-or-larger bed: no bunks, no air mattresses.

The cabin is permitted for twelve and we will take a booking for twelve, but we would rather you knew what that actually looks like first. Guests eleven and twelve sleep on the living room sofas and cost $50 per guest, per night. It works, and families who want everyone under one roof do it happily — but it is tighter, and the bathroom line at eight in the morning is real. Ten is the honest number. Twelve is the possible one.

25. The person who books must be part of the group actually staying.

No. Acorn Ridge is booked for the guests on the reservation. Events, parties and gatherings that bring additional people to the property are not permitted — the community is residential and gated.

Not inside, and not on the decks. The driveway is the smoking area. Take the ends with you and make sure they are properly out — dry leaf litter and a live cigarette end are a bad combination in a wooded community.

No dogs or other animals, indoors or out. We would rather say so plainly than have you find out at the gate. It is what keeps the cabin workable for guests with allergies.

It is a family cabin and there are children's books, games and space for kids to be kids. It is also a three-story house with open stair rails and a loft that is open to the floor below. Parents of very young children should plan accordingly.

Both — there is a pack-n-play travel crib and a high chair here. We do not have stair gates, so bring your own if you use them. With three floors and a loft open to the room below, that is worth planning for.

Check in from 4pm, check out by 11am. Check-in is self-service with a door code — nobody needs to meet you, whatever time you land.

Shagbark has a staffed security gate, twenty-four hours a day — a person, not a keypad. We register your party with the association before you travel and the guard issues your pass when you arrive, so you just give your name. Send us the guest names and the number of cars when you book. The exact address and directions go out with your confirmation.

Paved all the way to the cabin, and paved for most of the twenty-two miles the association maintains — a few of the back roads in the community are gravel, but you will not be on them. They climb and turn, because it is a mountain. A normal car is fine in ordinary weather, and the association plows and salts in winter — but ice on a steep grade is still ice. If there is snow or ice on the ground, all-wheel drive is the only choice — two-wheel drive will not make the grade.

The driveway is private, paved and level with the ground-floor entry, and holds six, so nobody is carrying bags up a hill. Bring as many as your group needs — but do tell us how many when you book, because the association charges a per-car fee at the gate and we handle that for you.

Yes, between all three floors, and there is no elevator. But there are only minimal stairs between the entry and the lower-level bedroom, and its bathroom is on that same level — which is why we point it out.

Not quite. It has its own queen bed and its own smart TV, but it is open to the living room below with a railing rather than a full wall and a door. below rather than a full wall and a door. You are out of sight, not out of earshot. Kids and teenagers usually claim it first. If your group needs four rooms that each close properly, this is the detail that matters.

Yes. It sits on the covered lower deck, so weather does not shut it down — a soak in the cold with the mountains in front of you is arguably the best version of it. It is cleaned and chemically balanced between every stay, and it seats six at a time. Children under 13 need an adult with them, no glass on the deck, and nothing that foams goes in the water. The full rules are on the house rules page and posted at the tub.

Shagbark has AT&T fiber run to the houses, so the connection up here is better than people expect from a mountain cabin. Ours runs at 1,000 Mbps — a full gigabit, which is more than the whole group will use at once, and enough to work or stream in 4K from anywhere in the house. Cell service is a different story and we would rather you knew before you set off: you will most likely lose signal on the drive in, on Waldens Creek Road, before you reach Clear Fork Road. Download your directions before you leave. At the cabin, turn Wi-Fi calling on and calls and texts work normally on any carrier — that is what the fiber is really for.

Yes, in the house.

Bag it and put it in the bear-proof bin outside. Not beside the bin, not on the deck, and not in the back of the car overnight — in the bin, with the latch shut. We cover up to five bags per stay, which is plenty for a week with a full house. There is no curbside collection anywhere in Shagbark, so this is how it works at every cabin here.

Yes, and you will probably see one. Shagbark is home to a lot of black bears and sightings here are common rather than rare — for most families it ends up being the story they tell when they get home. Watch from the deck or a window and enjoy it.

Four things, and they are the whole list. Keep the trash in the bear-proof bin with the latch shut. Never leave a cooler outside — not on the deck, not by the door, not in the truck bed. Do not leave food, drinks or scented trash out on the decks or around the hot tub. And never feed or approach one, however calm it looks. A bear that finds food at a cabin comes back, brings company, and eventually has to be dealt with — which is the real reason these rules exist.

Yes. Shagbark keeps a common area with a pool, tennis and pickleball courts, a basketball court, a playground, a picnic pavilion, cornhole, a dog park and a disc golf course laid out along the creek. It is a short drive from the cabin.

The association charges a common-area fee for guests — $10 per booking plus $10 per car — and it is already in your quote. That is why we ask how many cars you are bringing when you book. Nothing is collected at the gate.

9am to 9pm, Memorial Day through Labor Day. It is an outdoor pool, so that is the season.

There is a park along the creek with a fitness trail and a dog park, and the disc golf course runs through the same stretch of grass. The community roads themselves are quiet enough to walk, though they are steep in places.

In the gated Shagbark community off Highway 321, in the Waldens Creek area west of Pigeon Forge. The exact street address goes out after booking. Drive times to everything are on the location page.

Thirty-one minutes to Metcalf Bottoms in Wears Valley, which is the closest and quietest way in. Downtown Gatlinburg is thirty-six minutes and the Cades Cove entrance is fifty-one. All of the drive times on the location page were measured door to door rather than from the front gate.

The Kroger on Wears Valley Road in Pigeon Forge, twenty minutes and eight miles from the cabin. It is more or less on your way in, so most guests stop there before they come up the mountain. There is a Food City on Teaster Lane too, a little further.