Tom Boyd doesn’t intend for his Ancient Lore Village to be a one-off.

The 64-acre fantasy-themed resort has yet to clear Knoxville-Knox County Planning Board. But Boyd, the father of interim University of Tennessee President Randy Boyd, not only expects to open on schedule in 2020 but to use the site – behind his house in South Knox County – as a prototype for more villages elsewhere.

“We plan on building villages all across the country,” he said Tuesday morning. “We plan on building four more villages in the next three years.”

The cost, the plans, the hurdles

The estimated $40 million project would eventually have more than 150 treehouses and grass-covered huts tucked into hillsides, a 150-seat restaurant, a 500-person meeting and event center, and a 1,000-seat amphitheater. It’s expected to employ 150, with room for 450 guests. The latest land acquisition, increasing the site from its initial 37 acres, would provide a landscaped entrance on Chapman Highway, trails and parking. Boyd Hollow Resorts projects Ancient Lore Village will draw 200,000 visitors a year.

An application to rezone the land — on Sevierville Pike at the corner of Nixon Road, about 7 miles southeast of downtown Knoxville — from agriculture to commercial has been postponed at the applicants’ request several times; but on April 11 planning commissioners tabled it. It will take developers’ requests to be made well in advance to bring it up for a vote.

Some neighbors have objected to the development’s density, which they fear will bring noise and heavy traffic. In legal terms, the focus of their effort is opposing the land’s rezoning for commercial use.

Should the project clear the planning commission, it must still be approved by Knox County commissioners.

Matt Cross, CEO of Boyd Hollow Resorts Inc., said the company is preparing comprehensive information, covering traffic, stormwater management, landscaping and all other relevant issues before asking planning commissioners to take up the matter again.

“Probably July is when we’re going to push the next time,” he said.

No further construction is planned until the project wins rezoning approval, Cross said.

“The next thing that we do will be site-wide,” he said.

Ancient Lore Village will set up a booking system, perhaps by the end of July, and start taking reservations for 2021, Cross said. While the resort is still expected to open in 2020, reservations closer to the opening date will be taken when a completion time is pinned down.

Art and commerce

Boyd hosted a small event behind his house Tuesday morning, under a tent next to the garage office for Ancient Lore Village. Invited were members of the resort’s design team and staff, along with a number of local artists and craftspeople – about two dozen altogether.

One of those present was artist Donald McCorkle, who said he’s done murals, sculptures and portrait work for many large companies including Disney, IBM, malls and casinos. He may sell carved souvenir staffs at the resort – but mostly wants to work on decoration of the buildings themselves, he said.

McCorkle heard about the project while buying paint for himself at Home Depot. He showed an employee pictures of sculpted wall murals at his own house, and the employee said “Man, you have got to meet Tom,” McCorkle said.

Ancient Lore Village is working with the Knoxville Entrepreneur Center to attract artisans to the project, according to a news release. Anyone interested can go to the “Contact Us” section of www.AncientLoreVillage.com.

Boyd Hollow Resorts Inc. already has about 70 designers, contractors, architects and others engaged in the project, Cross said. Some of those hired may focus on single products, while others might have broad creative responsibilities.

He’s not sure how many on-site artists and performers will be needed once the resort opens.

“Artists will sell their art through us as a platform,” Cross said; individual performers would be used on an ad hoc basis, called in as guests request specific skills.

Boyd said he would provide business assistance to artists who need it. Should their designs or products be used at future Ancient Lore resorts elsewhere, the artists would get royalties, he said.

“We honestly see the future of our company, believe it or not, in retail as much as guests,” Boyd said. “To me it’s absolutely fascinating how much talent is in this town. They just need a vehicle to come forward.”

Work underway

On Tuesday, Cross and Boyd showed off some of the site work done so far, a short but hilly golf-cart ride through the woods from Boyd’s back door. From a hillside overlook, they pointed out the concrete wall of a structure being built into another hillside – one of two test houses, for which the company has building permits. Power lines currently strung across the valley will be buried, Cross said.

In the valley beside two ponds will be the main entrance building, with many small rental houses nearby, plus a “luxury fairy home” that can be rented for wedding parties, they said.

A dirt road leads over a hill to a planned amphitheater. Boyd said local students will be encouraged to write and act in plays there, themed for the resort.

Ancient Lore Village is meant to be a low-tech getaway for visitors, but Boyd Hollow Resorts has partnered with a company called Infinite Kingdoms to develop themed technology for the experience, Cross said. At check-in, guests will get a “artifact” they can personalize, and when placed in front of a communal campfire the artifact will project some information about the guest. The intent is to start conversations, reviving the ancient activity of telling stories around a campfire, he said.

“When they’re here we want to give them permission to play,” Cross said.