Trey and Betsy Broome have been connecting people to the land for a long time. It started in 2007 with the original Hunkerdown Hollow farm in Leipers Fork, Tennessee — 20 acres, 60 goats, a few chickens, and a deep belief that slowing down and getting close to the land is good for the soul. They spent 20 years putting down roots in Middle Tennessee before the mountains and the water started calling them east.

In 2019 they found what they were looking for on the shores of Douglas Lake at the base of the Great Smoky Mountains — raw land, a mile of private shoreline, and a vision. The Lighthouse went up in 2021 as the initial family home before welcoming its first guests in 2022. The warmth that visitors so often describe makes a little more sense knowing that. The goats and chickens arrived that same year, contributing daily fresh eggs, enthusiastic landscaping, and no small amount of whimsy to the hollow.

Hunkerdown Hollow has always been a family affair. The Broome boys have come of age on this farm — learning the land, working the farm, and growing into young men who know what it means to build something with your hands and your heart. They remain part of the operation in every sense, whether that's developing the farm, helping guests get their footing on a foilboard, or simply keeping the good vibes going down at Driftwood Beach. This place runs on family.

In the spring of 2026, Trey stepped onto an electric hydrofoil for the first time, lifted off the glassy surface of Douglas Lake, and looked up at the Smoky Mountains. That was that. A lake this beautiful, a setting this extraordinary, a mile of private shoreline — it deserved a surf school. Surf the Smokies was born.

Come for the Morning. Stay for the Week. Either Way, You Belong Here.

Hunkerdown Hollow now welcomes two kinds of guests — and both leave with the same look on their face.

Day-trippers arrive via Wander Way, gear up at the Smoky Mountain Surf Shop, and walk down to Driftwood Beach for a morning session on the water. Ninety minutes of surfing above Douglas Lake with the Smoky Mountains as a backdrop. That's a pretty good Tuesday.

Those who stay longer get the full picture — mornings on the foilboard, afternoons with the goats and the chickens, evenings on the deck watching the light change over the water. Fresh eggs at breakfast.The kind of unhurried, unplugged few days that most people forget is still possible.

However you find us — for an hour or for a week — we're glad you did.

— Trey, Betsy, Parker, and Sawyer