White Star Line's Titanic to Rise Again -- in Tennessee

There's something titanic coming for ocean liner fans in the next 18 months -- the Titanic itself.

Workers in Pigeon Forge, Tenn., laid the keel this week for what's billed as Titanic Pigeon Forge, a massive attraction designed in the shape of the ill-fated passenger ship.

The $25 million, 30,000-square-foot structure will be "christened" in the spring of 2010 when it opens with a museum devoted to the historic ocean liner. Cedar Bay Entertainment, which runs a similar, two-year-old Titanic Museum Attraction in Branson, Mo., is behind the project.

Hundreds of Titanic artifacts will be on display in the museum in 20 galleries on two decks that also will contain replicas of the ship's famed Grand Staircase, a first-class suite, a third-class cabin and the Marconi wireless room. A "bridge" will offer interactive features, and visitors will able to touch an iceberg, experience the chill of 28-degree water, sit in an actual life boat and send an SOS message.

No word yet on the cost of admission.