Watershed Cabins

What can I say, other than an excellent choice! My family & I visit at least one «Watershed» cabin annually. In addition, as a small business owner, we offer a weekly retreat for our employees annually. This way, my wife & I get two vacations every year in the beautiful «Smoky Mountains» all while enjoying a luxury cabin stay. These cabins are always well stocked & made to feel welcoming & friendly. Most, if not all, of the cabins we’ve stayed at come with modern amenities & conveniences. It’s truly an awesome getaway, every time we go. The only reason I don’t give them 5 stars is because the value or cost of the cabins are not always competitive. They could step down a rung or two on the cost to stay closer to some comps in the area.

I have stayed with Watershed Cabins 50 times or more, why because they are quite special cabins. Every single cabin I have ever booked with them is special and unique, with cinematic views of the Blue Ridge, easy access to the cabins, and the amazing hospitality the staff has always shown to their guests. I wish their was another word for them because cabin is an understatement, Leather sofas, top of the line kitchens with granite countertops, surround sound, soft linens, most have flat panel tvs and outdoor fire pits! Cherry on top, hot tubs with views of millions of stars and the clearest nights I have ever had the fortune to share.
The cabins are always spotless, never had even a curtain out of place, stocked with wood piles for the fire pits, new bottles of propane for the grilles and lights on for when you check in. The cabins are truly spotless and totally beyond all expectations for Mountain living. The cabin keys have ingles discount cards for the guests and if you are truly a planner, they will deliver the groceries to you!
I have had some issues, propane ran out or little hot to use electric logs when the pilot light goes out, but the emergency phone number is manned and responses are prompt and professional! The reservations people are amazing and communicative, the rewards program makes it even better and I recommend Watershed to anyone staying in the Bryson City Area.

Lets start with saying how amazing this place is! Wow!
We stayed at the brown bear lodge in march. there were 4 of us and had crazy amount of space. The views were amazing from the property.
The property was extremely well built and even down to the last details the décor was perfect. I mean the basement bathroom had the 1^st edition of 500 limited prints of a photo?!
Myself and my friends were all blown away with this place.
This has a hot tub comfortable for 4 or more. Firepit with 4 or so seats.
They provide most things including towels for showers and hot tub for a 6 or 8 people. Toilet rolls. Kitchen rolls. All cutlery and kitchen stuff. Logs for fire pit. Propane for bbq. Extra claning powder for hot tub.
They provide a booklet of local hikes etc which were excellent.
There was an Ingles supermarket about 15 mins away.
It was an interesting drive to the cabin… if it had snowed or icy i really dont think we would have made it up however it was fine when we went.
I think the only thing we wished they did include were some basics like butter but thats about the only thing.
I would whole heartedly RECOMMEND this place to anyone!!!
Amazing.

My boyfriend and I came to Watershed cabins to celebrate our one year anniversary together. This cabin was secluded in a beautiful area. We had privacy with a gorgeous view of the mountains. The sunsets were so romantic. It was one of the most peaceful getaways of my life.
The cabin was so clean, and comfortable. When we were cooking dinner one night, we noticed we had 2 cats that lived around our cabin. We are cat people and fed them. The next morning we noticed they had 4 kittens with them. We got food for the kitten family. We were happy to have such cute visitors.
We informed watershed about the kittens and they said they knew about them and they were waiting for the kittens to get a couple weeks older and they work with a no kill shelter to get the kittens and cats to a loving home.
We will be back. It was such a great getaway!

Just a few words… everything as described! Cabin 7 was excellent and still here. Caleb (maintenance) guy is excellent! ! Came every day to check up to make sure everything was working and he is an asset to this company. He just left out cabin @ 10pm to check on direct TV.
Overall clean, comfortable and very reliable service.
to Caleb!

CABIN: Cabin in the Clouds /​Fontana View
I must preface this by stating that we’ve stayed at Watershed Cabins in another cabin many times and have raved about it. This time, however, I was extremely disappointed.
For starters. This cabin starts off their listing with the fact that the kitchen is appointed for a «gourmet». And it was … because THIS gourmet brought her kitchen with and thankfully, otherwise I would not have been able to chop and onion!
THE PROS:
The view is beautiful. The hot tub location was great — very private … if that’s what you’re looking for. The decks were nice.
THE CONS:
As far as the interior of the house, for this one to be labeled as a «Super» is a stretch. Maybe a Deluxe, but not a Super. The interior was dated, it was worn out and there wasn’t much to it. It could use a little personality.
What lighting that was available in the kitchen (a couple of overhead cans) were burned out. Granted, Mr. Maintenance came the same day we called, but when you check in in the middle of the evening, you expect to be able to see in the kitchen.
The hot tub was a not-​so-​hot tub (a friend of mine and I refer that to that as the «NOT Tub»).
Bed linens were pilled and downright itchy, sadly.
TELEVISION — And I would say this about all of their cabins — Step into the new millennium, folks … a flat screen is NOT that expensive. Enough with the shoddy tv-​set from the 80s!
All in all, Watershed Cabins is a great place to stay. There are many options of all price ranges. I will absolutely book again — just not in CABIN IN THE CLOUDS.

So, as I mentioned before, my friends and I wanted to make Watershed Cabins a yearly tradition. My husband and I returned with friends to the Great Smoky Mountains, this time to Fontana View 1, a 2BR value cabin. The view was breathtaking, and the cabin was cozy with very comfortable bedding. We had some issues with the coffee pot being broken, and I’m happy to say that Watershed delivered a brand new replacement quickly. I’m afraid the positive feedback ends there.
Apparently, «value» means you get to deal with mice and collapsing porches. We read the notice about critters in the area and the advice to put all of our food in airtight containers and considered it helpful. We just figured Watershed was warning us about raccoons and bears OUTSIDE. We went to bed the first night, and I couldn’t sleep at all. I kept hearing tons of scurrying, scratching and rustling INDOORS. Our dog was also growling at something in her crate in the middle of the night. Come morning there were fresh mouse droppings on the kitchen counter, and when I looked behind the washer/​dryer unit upstairs, I have no doubt the dog was growling at mice back there too. It was, to put it mildly, disgusting and disheartening.
We did try to move past this and enjoy the rest of the cabin during the day. There was an outdoor fireplace and grill that we were anxious to use. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get the grill to work because one propane tank was empty and the other was closed so tightly none of us could open the valve. We wound up cooking our steaks indoors (in the mousy kitchen). We did, however, enjoy a nice fire outside for a few hours. After the fire, we went inside to watch a movie and try to ignore the mice we saw running around the kitchen. Around midnight, we started hearing loud thumps, pops, and other noises like stuff was being knocked over on the porch. After the rest of the weekend’s experiences, we figured it was just raccoons trying to get into the garbage can, but we never saw anything.
It wasn’t raccoons. It wasn’t a bear. It wasn’t even mice. It was the fireplace blowing flagstone off its face and then falling off the deck. We woke up in the morning to find a gaping hole in the porch and flames in the yard. We put the fire out ourselves, and fortunately Watershed was very kind about it saying they would come view the damage when we checked out. We left at 11AM, and I think they were driving up the mountain as we were driving down.
Here’s the interesting thing though: Looking at their website, Fontana View 1 used to have a much larger fireplace and a built in grill, so I’m thinking this isn’t the first time something like this has happened in that cabin! Perhaps that’s why they were so nonchalant about it?
Overall, I’d still go back to Watershed Cabins, but I would definitely avoid the value class, and I would stick to staying in the Watershed Resort area where we stayed last year. I would probably also ask a lot of questions before booking a particular cabin… I feel like they deserve the chance to make this better and impress me again.