When we decided to name our cabins after birds, people asked us why.
The honest answer is that the names came before almost everything else. Before the furniture, before the guest guide, before we'd figured out half of what we were doing. We knew we wanted each WildNest property to have its own name — something that meant something — and we knew the names would always be birds. Birds native to the Smoky Mountains region. Birds that carried a feeling.
The two cabins on Braydens Way in Pittman Center, Tennessee sit side by side. They have the same layout, the same amenities, the same views through the hardwood forest. If you walked through both back to back, you'd find the same bed, the same hot tub, the same deck looking out at the same ridge. The differences are in the details — a doormat, a piece of artwork, a custom mug — small things that carry the name of each cabin without pretending to be something the other isn't.
What makes them different isn't the space. It's the story behind the name. And that story is ours.
The cabins are the same. The names are not. And the names are the whole point.
The Bluebird: A New Beginning
The Eastern Bluebird is a symbol of happiness, renewal, and new beginnings. It is also native to Tennessee, and it was the first bird we chose.
We named The Bluebird first because it arrived first — in the sense that it was the property that started everything, and in the sense that it captured where we were when we started. Michele and Jess, two women leaving corporate careers, choosing to build something of their own. Something they'd always wanted to build. Something that brought — even in its earliest, most uncertain stages — a feeling of genuine happiness.
New beginnings are rarely clean. They're usually terrifying and exciting in equal measure. But the Bluebird, in folklore and in nature, is the bird that arrives in spring and signals that something is starting. It was the right name for the cabin that started WildNest, and for the chapter of our lives that started with it.
When a guest books The Bluebird, they don't need to know any of this. But if the name lands on them the way it landed on us — as a word that feels like the beginning of something good — then it's doing its job.
We wanted a word that felt like a door opening. The Bluebird was that word.
The Bluebird - Cabin 239
The Finch: Joy, Resilience, and the People We Came Back To
The Finch came second, and its meaning is layered in a way that still catches us off guard when we talk about it.
The House Finch is a symbol of joy, resilience, and connection. Those three words are not random. They describe exactly what we were reaching for when we built WildNest — and exactly what we hope every guest feels during their stay.
After years in corporate America, we were both craving something we'd lost track of. Connection — to our families, to our friends, to the parts of ourselves that get quiet under the weight of careers and obligations. The Finch was named for that pursuit. For the resilience it takes to step away from the path you've been on and choose a different one. For the joy of finding out that the different path was the right one.
But for Jess, the word joy carries a meaning that goes beyond all of that.
“Joy was my mother's name. She passed away, and I miss her every day. When we were choosing a name for the second cabin — a name that would carry the meaning of connection and joy and the things that matter most — I knew immediately. The Finch, with joy at its center, would hold her name and her memory in every stay, every guest, every morning someone wakes up in that cabin and feels, even briefly, exactly where they are supposed to be. That's what my mother gave to every room she walked into. I hope The Finch does the same”. - Jess
We don't share this story lightly. But we share it because we believe the places that mean the most are the ones where something real happened — not just to the guests, but to the people who built them. The Finch is named for joy. And joy, in our family, has a name.
The Finch carries joy at its center. For us, that word has always meant more than it appears.
The Finch - Cabin 240
The Same Cabin. Different Meaning.
Both cabins are identical. Same bed. Same hot tub. Same deck. Same views. Same everything that makes a WildNest stay what it is.
The names are not about the furniture. They never were.
They're about the feeling you arrive with, and the feeling we hope you leave with. The Bluebird for the guest who is beginning something — a new relationship, a new chapter, a long-overdue celebration. The Finch for the guest who is returning to something — to a person they love, to a quieter version of themselves, to the joy they set aside for a while.
Every future WildNest property will be named for a bird native to its region. Every name will carry a meaning that belongs to the place and to the moment we found it. That is not a design decision. It is a commitment.
When you book with WildNest, you're not just choosing a cabin. You're choosing the name that fits where you are right now.
Which one is that?
→ The Bluebird and The Finch are available on Braydens Way in Pittman Center, Tennessee — 15 minutes from downtown Gatlinburg. Both cabins. Same view. Different story. Check availability and find yours.