South Knoxville resident and businessman Tom Boyd has spent countless hours over the last few years on a Bobcat tractor moving dirt, clearing brush and removing trees from the 40 acres he owns behind the Home Depot and Walmart on Chapman Highway.

His original plan was to build the world’s largest dog park. That idea was scrapped.

In its place will be the Ancient Lore Village at Boyd Hollow, a fantasy-themed resort. Boyd, 81, announced the project Tuesday.

The resort will have 150 whimsical, grass-covered huts and treehouses tucked into the hillside, with water features, stone walls, a 150-seat restaurant, a 500-person meeting and event center and a 1,000-seat amphitheater all based around fictional characters in a book Boyd has written. He expects the resort to open in 2020.

“This resort is unlike anything else in the world, and it will draw people from all over to Knoxville,” he said in a statement.

More:Tom Boyd and Sandi Burdick's South Knoxville haven

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Boyd is the father of University of Tennessee president and former Tennessee Economic and Community Development Chairman Randy Boyd.

The project will likely cost $40 million. Tom Boyd is still securing investors but said it will be funded locally.

Once complete, Boyd said he expects the property to attract 200,000 visitors a year and employ 120 full-time workers, plus another large swath of craft workers who can create and sell their materials on the site.

“Everything in this village will be in the image of ancient lore people: orcs, leprechauns and all of that stuff,” he said. “People will all be dressed in costumes. It’s a theme park.”

The idea, he said, is to bring business and money to the county.

“My goal has always been to bring money back to Knoxville, and I do that in every company I set up.”

'Tremendous asset' for Knoxville

The location, less than four miles to Ijams Nature Center and roughly five miles from downtown, is perfect, Boyd said. That it's en route to the most-visited national park in the country, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, doesn’t hurt.

Former Knox County Mayor Mike Ragsdale has helped advise Boyd with the project. He said it will be a great boon for the region.

“It’s a really unique Idea – not a cookie-cutter idea,” Ragsdale said. “I think it’ll be a great addition to our local economy and (help with) tourism.

“I think it’ll be a tremendous asset for South Knoxville,” he said.

Gerald Green, executive director of Knoxville-Knox County Planning Commission, said officials with the Metropolitan Planning Commission, the city of Knoxville and Knox County met with a Boyd-assigned development team where the “general idea for the development was discussed and the processes for rezoning and project approval were described in general.”

Boyd has not submitted any applications to this point, Green said, and there have been no further discussions.

Boyd will have a rezoning hearing before MPC Feb. 14 for 37 acres along Sevierville Pike, Nixon Road and John Norton Road. He is requesting a zoning change from low-density residential and agricultural to general and planned commercial.

The project hinges on Boyd receiving the appropriate zoning approvals.

"The MPC has a good understanding of the value of this project for the city and we feel they are working diligently to get it approved," Boyd said when asked about possible zoning challenges.

No hobbits allowed

Due to trademark restrictions, Boyd is unable to name anything on his property after characters in J.R.R. Tolkien’s popular Lord of the Rings novels-turned-blockbuster-movies. So, there are no hobbit houses. This is not a hobbit village.

To combat this, Boyd created his own world in his own book, “The Bobbins – Outcast to the Inner Earth.”

Boyd’s website, ancientlorevillage.com, has character depictions along with sketches of the different kinds of dwellings. There are bobbins, dwarfs, fairies, gremlins, ground elves, leprechauns, orcs, tree elves and yetis.

“I wrote a book with a whole line of creatures in ancient lore times, ones we’ve heard of that can’t be trademarked,” he said. “Then I take those people and put them in certain settings where they come down and live in certain houses (on the property) … this will be a village.

“It’ll be a city in and of itself of ancient lore people,” he said.

The book will be available for free to the first 1,000 visitors at www.AncientLoreVillage.com.

No dog poop allowed

Boyd has made a career out of business ventures and patentable ideas. He’s most recently made news (and money) with BioPet, a company that tests dog DNA to figure out which dog owners left pet poop unscooped.

The company is used at apartment complexes across the country to help police dog parks and common spaces. Each tenant who keeps a dog must have a sample of the animal's DNA taken with a swab to the gums, then registered in a database maintained by BioPet.

The Ancient Lore resort will be dog-friendly, Boyd said, and as such, he plans to use BioPet technology as a part to help manage the dogs.

“The village will not charge for dog owners bringing their dogs, however, to ensure that the dog owners respect the property and keep it clean for everyone, the village will use BioPet DNA systems,” he said.

‘Noise-free atmosphere’

Boyd recently took a News Sentinel reporter and photographer on a mostly quiet, sometimes bumpy ride up and down the ridges of the property to showcase his vision. In all, the tour took 28 minutes.

A cleared valley runs through the middle of the property, flanked on the left and right by ponds. Boyd plans to dot the hills and ridges on either side of the valley with grass huts, roughly 100 of them.

From the top of the ridges is a view of the Smoky Mountains. One of the ridges will be home to roughly 50 elaborate treehouses, something Boyd is particularly proud of.

“The tree houses will be built in crazy shapes,” he said. “They’ll be built so you can save the trees.”

Built into the plan for all of it, other than the ancient lore-theme and matching characters, is a peacefully quiet resort.

“We’re creating this (to be) a noise-free atmosphere,” he said. “They’ll be no TVs in any of the places and the idea is that people walk (to where they’re going).”

“No motor-driven vehicles will be used, rather electric golf carts designed as ancient wagons transport guests to the various areas they want to visit. Parking is hidden from view, and roads are lined with trees to protect village views," according to the news release.

And there will be no concrete or blacktop.

A sheep pasture and a goat barn will be key elements.Sheep herding with dogs, concerts, plays, Halloween parties, a Christmas lighted valley and other activities for guests will be offered.

"Every evening the valley will come to life with millions of fireflies projected across the property," the release says.

Fostering community

Visitors will be encouraged to let other guests view their homes during specified mid-day hours, according to the release. Boyd said this is to encourage a spirit of community, is a focus of the book and his primary vision for the resort.

A bar with a lookout platform will sit on the parcel's highest point, with covered fire pits around it. He expects guests to gather there while taking in the spectacular panoramic views of the Great Smoky Mountains.

Two additional bars and food areas would be located in the valley with special food and drinks named after the book’s main characters.