These New ‘Floating’ Treehouses Literally Bring Blackberry Mountain’s Luxe Resort to New Heights
Since opening in 2019, I have admired Blackberry Mountain from afar for its cozy cabins and multi-bedroom cottages outfitted with locally quarried slate roofs and stone facades to camouflage with the foliage of Three Sisters Mountain. So when I arrived at the Relais & Châteaux property for the first time, checking into their newest room category—14 floating treehouses—it was a delight.
Adorned with cozy comforts—like white oak paneling, an air-jet soaking tub and a wood-burning stove—my 561-square-foot space was a beautifully contemporary, cantilevered cube. Better still, it opened to a sprawling view of the seasonally changing landscape of Tennessee’s Great Smoky Mountains.
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The resort spans 5,200 acres with space for about 130 guests at once, so you aren’t likely to run into other guests. But its intimate treehouses are a still more perfect hideaway. In winter, bare trees reveal a perfect sunrise and in summer the lush growth offers unadulterated privacy for sunrise yoga on the deck (mats provided) or canoodling with your significant other.
The treehouses also come with king-size beds centered in front of a darling stove (which s’mores ingredients are artfully placed each night during turn down service) and floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the aforementioned vistas. Pre-chopped wood is provided both inside and outside the treehouses for self-start or guests can request for the stove to be lit as they savor their last bites at dinner to return to a romantic ambiance. Open the sliding doors in the summer and enjoy listening to nothing—silence. And on rainy days, stay in bed and appreciate doing nothing.
When guests aren’t cocooned in their wooded home away from home (the treehouses are named after butterflies and moths like Sleepy Orange), the lodge is a short golf cart ride away.
This is the hub of the property, housing the spa, Nest, that flows out to the heated infinity pool and jacuzzi, as well as culinary and cocktail options for all-day indulging. Whippoorwill Lounge serves up proprietary Blackberry Mountain brews, an impressive selection of whiskeys and wines from their wine cellar that features over 10,000 bottles. The flagship restaurant is also located at the lodge—Three Sisters serves up daily breakfast, lunch and an ever-changing four-course dinner menu focused on the local and forged produce of the Walland, Tennessee region.
Call on Blackberry Mountain’s squad of Lexuses for a ride, and head to the top of the mountain, known as Firetower. Taking its name from the restored 1950s watchtower where watchmen formerly surveyed the land for blazing wildfires, don’t miss the library atop this hill for sunset cocktails with a panoramic view while old vinyls spin in the background.
When not sipping, savoring or being pampered, there’s a variety of excursions and activities on offer from daily hikes and clay shooting to whisky tastings and horseback riding to keep guests as busy, or as idle, as they please.
Rooms start at $1,375 per night inclusive of breakfast, lunch and dinner.
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