There is no better way to start this book than with a description which attempts to do justice to this valley hidden high in the western reaches of the Smoky Mountains. A one-way road encircles the fields and streams of Cades Cove and follows the approximate route of one of the many roads once used by families who resided here. It is nine miles west of the Townsend park entrance along Laurel Creek Road. Constructed after the park was established, this access to the Cove follows the course of a railroad built by the Little River Lumber Company in the heydays of the Appalachian log industry. Prior to this, travel to and from the Cove community was along other paths now less traveled.
In order to reach Tuckaleechee Cove, either Crib Gap had to be crossed to the east or Rich Mountain to the north. Cooper Road, which led west-northwest to Maryville, was a Cherokee Indian track widened over time by the settlers. Rabbit Creek exited the Cove toward the west from where John Oliver’s lodge stood near the Abrams Falls trailhead. This Indian trail also grew into a major travel route and was known by many as the Gourley Trail after some of the familes who lived along it. Those who chose this means ended up in Happy Valley and the Chilhowee areas. Parsons Branch Road meandered south-southwest from the western end of the Cove to a junction with a turnpike now known as US 129.
Of these main thoroughfares, if you could call them that, only Rich Mountain and Parsons Branch remain as roads. Both of these are one-way trips out of the Cove and are closed over the winter. The Rich Mountain Road drops into Tuckaleechee Cove on the north boundary of the park. Townsend and US 321 are nearby which gives you the option of a drive back into to the Smokies or out toward Maryville. The Crib Gap trail now runs from Anthony Creek at the end of the Cades Cove picnic area over to Turkeypen Ridge. The Cooper Road trailhead is located at Stop # 9 on the Loop Road. Rabbit Creek Trail can be found beyond Abrams Falls and continues on to traverse Boring Ridge, McCully Ridge, and Pine Mountain before a descent to the Abrams Creek ranger station.
At the entrance to the Cove, there is a large area with an orientation shelter. From this area can be seen the first views of the valley as the trees open up and the ridges curve away from each other. Tour booklets are available at the small pavilion and many ranger programs start from this point in the spring and summer. A wide grassy strip is ideal for a picnic or play.
The fields beyond the entrance gate are often occupied by horses from the stables put out to graze early or late in the day. To the south rise the heights of Cobb and Horseshoe Ridges. Farther in the distance to the southeast can be seen Rocky Top and Thunderhead Mountain. After decades, this view never ceases to amaze me.
In the first field on the right is a grassy mound. At first thought to be an Indian mound like others found in the southeast, excavation and archaeological searches have proven it to be no more than a grassy hill covered with brush and trees. Even so, it is easy to imagine it constructed by early inhabitants especially after a visit to ancient mounds on the Etowah River not far from my home.
The one lane road continues along the edge of open grassland to the left and wooded ridges to the right. Stop # 2 is soon found at a junction with Sparks Lane, a gravel road that turns off to the south. This gravel road is named for one of the families who lived here. The home of Nathan Sparks was located between this intersection and the creek. John Taylor Sparks lived a few hundred yards beyond the creek on the right. The place Tom Sparks called home was located in the area near the south end of the lane where it enters the woods. The ford across Abrams Creek mentioned later in these pages is located at the first tree line seen along the road. The Upper School was just off the road on the south side of the creek. Sparks Lane crosses the Cove to the southern end of the Loop Road. Two-way traffic is allowed on this road as it is on Hyatt Lane further to the west and both allow for a quicker drive through the loop if time is not available to see it all.
Spaces to park for John Oliver’s place are just beyond Sparks Lane. It is a short walk and can be seen from the road. This cabin was built in the 1820s and only piles of stones mark the nearby location of Oliver’s first home. John Oliver was a veteran of the War of 1812 with no qualms about life in an unknown wilderness. A family friend told him of a place just over the mountains as yet unsettled. He, along with his wife Lucretia and year old daughter, crossed over Rich Mountain in the autumn of 1818 into the northeast end of the Cove by way of an Indian trail. It was too late in the year to plant crops and they soon realized their provisions would not last them through the winter. The Cherokee in the area recognized the plight of the couple and brought them food to survive until the next spring. Though documented land grants for the area date back to the 1790s, they would become the first white settlers to remain in this mountain valley. A strange twist of fate twenty years after that miserable winter found John Oliver as part of the local militia with orders to round up these same Indians for a journey which became known as the Trail of Tears.
Open pastures, wooded hillsides, and mountain vistas continue to appear around every curve. Not far after the road ascends a steep, curvy hill, there is a locked gate on the right with a small area to pull over. Beyond the gate is a park service road which leads a short distance to Gregory’s Cave. Once used by the local Indians, the Cove residents held social occasions and tours within the cave.
The entrance is gated off and kept secure to not only protect the cave and its residents such as bats, but also for the safety of human visitors. Caves are not someplace an inexperienced person should wander within. Extra care should also be taken on or near the rocks at the entrance for they are known to be a favorite locale of snakes.
As the trees open up again to your left, watch for a pullout. The view back across to the south is channeled through a break in the distant wood line with a mountain backdrop. It is not hard to imagine this view from the porch of a cabin or house. Signs of spring with daffodils among the grass tell us someone did. These flowers are not native to the area so their appearance, along with other non-native flowers and bushes, whisper silently to those who will listen of a previous human touch. In this case, that touch was given by Tyre Shields whose house was at the edge of the field near the road.
After the road curves back into the woods, a sign soon points down a dirt road toward the Primitive Baptist Church. Albert Hill’s store and house stood to the right at this intersection. Go slowly along the dirt and gravel for it can be rough in places. For a short distance, it travels straight and then angles to the right into a large gravel area in front of the church. The Consolidated School, created by the combination of the Upper and Lower Schools in 1916, was located at this angle and in 1924, the large two-story structure sustained heavy damage to the upper floor in a storm. When it was repaired, it was left in a one-story configuration.
The Baptist Church of Cades Cove was officially organized in June of 1827 but had already met for about two years. Services were held in the homes of members until a log structure was built in 1832. Soon after, differences in the church’s direction caused a split within the congregation. Several members left to form their own church, the Missionary Baptist Church. Those who stayed with the original membership adopted the name of Primitive Baptist Church.
Due to the communal upheaval caused by the Civil War, the Primitive Baptist Church suspended services from 1862 to 1865. Their reasons were explained in church records.
“We the Primitive Baptist Church in Blount County, Cades Cove, do show to the publick why we have not kept up our church meeting. It was on account of the rebellion and we was union people and the Rebels was too strong here in Cades Cove. Our preacher was obliged to leave sometimes but thank God we once more can meet tho it was from August 1862 until June 1865 that we did not meet but when we met the Church was in peace.”
The original log edifice was located just behind the current structure which was built in 1887. Its cemetery contains graves older than any other church graveyard within the Cove.
Back out on the paved loop, another church comes into view ahead. This is the Cades Cove Methodist Church which began in much the same manner as the Baptist congregation. Members met in homes until around 1840 when a log meetinghouse was built. The floor of this simple structure was dirt and smoke from a fire in the center of the room escaped through a hole in the roof. After the Civil War, it was also used as a school.
In 1902, a blacksmith and carpenter from Tuckaleechee replaced the log church with the one which remains today. Rev. J.D. McCampbell, who would later become the church’s minister for several years, finished the job in 115 days for $115. It has two entrance doors which usually signified the men and women entered by separate doors and sat apart on the benches. However, these Methodists did not abide by this particular practice. The construction plans used were from another church which still used the custom and Rev. McCampbell elected to strictly adhere to the plans without alteration.
As with other congregations, problems arose in the years prior to the Civil War. In the mid 1840s, there was a split among Methodist churches caused mainly by beliefs with regard to the issue of slavery. It was made plainly visible after the Civil War when the Hopewell Methodist Church formed. It was built on a hill above the southern end of Hyatt Lane and the property of Dan Lawson who donated the land for the church. To ensure this land could never change hands again, Lawson deeded it to “Almighty God”. I assume this is probably the only tract in the park not owned by the National Park Service. No signs remain of this church except for tombstones, many too weathered to read, which mark graves of those buried in their shadows.
Just past the Methodist church on the left of the road is a hill where the home of Leannah Lawson Spangler Chambers stood. In spring, the flowers she planted continue to grow and adorn the hillside.
Fields slope down to a dirt road which turns off to the left and allows for two-way traffic. Hyatt Lane is named after the family of Shadrack Hyatt who left the Cove for Missouri in 1840. It crosses to the south side of the Cove and intersects with the Loop Road at Dan Lawson’s home site. Beyond Hyatt Lane, the road curves into the trees toward the juncture with Rich Mountain Road at the Missionary Baptist Church. Cowan Russell lived and ran his store near this intersection.
The Missionary Baptist Church sits to the left across from the Rich Mountain turnoff. It was founded in 1839 by the group forced to leave the Primitive Baptist Church. Their name is derived from one of the differences in doctrine that caused the split. While deemed important to those who worshipped under this roof, missionary work was not considered necessary by the Primitive Baptists. It met in homes until 1846 when its size required them to share the Methodist’s house of worship. The services here too were put on hold throughout the Civil War. Resumed afterwards, they did not include previous members who had been loyal to the Confederacy.
In 1894, Hyatt Hill Missionary Church was built on Hyatt Hill along the lane. This was replaced in 1915 by the construction of the present structure. Services continued to be held in this church until 1944, a full ten years after the park was created.
The Great Depression and the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt wrought a multitude of changes to the country. FDR’s New Deal programs provided relief and jobs to many young men in dire need of an income. One of these was the formation of the Civilian Conservation Corps. There were seventeen of these camps in the Smoky Mountains alone. Much of the original trail and campground construction, historic restoration and park service structures were completed by the CCC camps. Cades Cove CCC Camp #5427 was located in the field directly west of the Missionary Baptist Church.
The Rich Mountain Road is a one-way road out of the Cove and out of the park. Built in the 1920s by the state of Tennessee, it winds through mostly second growth forests with intermittent views of the Cove. Traveled by few, it is sometimes a quiet respite from summer crowds in the more popular areas. It brings you out to Tuckaleechee Cove and Townsend.
From the Rich Mountain turnoff, the Loop crosses over Tater Branch, makes a sharp S-turn and meanders up toward what I think is the most spectacular sight in the Cove. Pull over and grab your camera. From this point, the view stretches for miles back toward the east across the center of the Cove to distant peaks. On clear days, mountains and ridges seem to go on endlessly. The remains of a tree on this rise mark the spot of the “wedding tree” which is mentioned later. Across the road in what is now a wooded area stood the Gregory Store, Jonathan Myers’ house and store, and Murray Boring’s house. Myers and Boring also both ran a post office at different times.
From here, the road meanders back and forth along the edge of the woods before a sharp turn angles it back into the trees. This was the site of Charlie Myers’ house and his barn bordered right up to the trees. The fields open up again on the left after a short section of woods. A few hundred yards farther is a small pull-off for the Cooper Road trailhead at Stop # 9. Originally an Indian trail, it became one of the main thoroughfares to and from Maryville for the Cove residents. Polly Harmon, one of the midwives who practiced in the Cove, lived with her husband, Samuel, and family about half a mile out this road. It is now a 10.5-mile trail that terminates at the Abrams Creek Campground on the western edge of the park.
Beyond this trailhead and a downward S-turn is Stop # 10, the Elijah Oliver place. Elijah was born in 1824 to John and Lucretia Oliver. He left the Cove with his family before the Civil War but moved back after the war. A short hike will bring you to his cabin set back in the woods. One noticeable thing is an extra room on the front porch added so strangers could shelter for the night without the possibility of harm inflicted on the host. This was common not only in the Smokies but throughout the Appalachian region.
Just ahead, the remnant of an old road is apparent on the left. This led to the house of Noah Burchfield and now takes you to the Burchfield and Davis Cemeteries.
Once again in the shade of the trees, the road runs very close to Abrams Creek and crosses it over a wooden bridge. On the right before the bridge can be seen a modern wire fence which has been erected to keep wild boar out of this sensitive area. River otters are quite common in this creek as well as other waterways in the Smokies. However, they can be very elusive to those who want to see them. I have overheard conversations of people who have, but I myself have never seen one in the wild. Past the bridge, a side road angles off to the Abrams Falls trailhead.
The next section of the Loop road is a great example of what travel along the same road over decades can do. The banks rise high on each side for a couple hundred yards. Years of travel by wagon wheels, horses, and livestock wore it down to a sunken lane. The Lower School was located on the right at the top of the rise.
At the next intersection, the Loop continues to the left. Straight ahead is Forge Creek, a two-way road out to Parsons Branch. The visitor center and Cable Mill area is to the right. Use caution for this is usually very congested except for the winter months. This area consists of several examples of what homesteads looked like in the Cove. The only structure on its original site is the mill and its millrace. Others located here are the visitor center, a blacksmith shop, smokehouse, barn, corncrib, cantilever barn, sorghum mill, barn, and the Gregg-Cable house. This is also the only place to find restrooms until you return to the campground.
The Gregg-Cable house was built by Leason Gregg on Forge Creek Road in 1879 near where the road first crosses the creek. The lumber used was sawed at John Cable’s sawmill that was powered by the same wheel as the gristmill. He operated a store for years from the first floor of the house. In 1887, Rebecca Cable and her brother Dan bought the house from Gregg. They kept the store up for another eight years before they made the decision to sell off their goods and turn it into a boarding house. Dan and his wife both became very ill and all of the operations of the farm fell upon Rebecca’s shoulders. She tackled the responsibility with typical Appalachian steadfastness, lived a full life and was 96 years old when she died in 1940. The house was moved to its current location near Cable Mill after her death.
John Cable’s gristmill and sash sawmill were built in 1870. The sawmill used a heavy blade that would make a cut with each stroke. This type was outdated before 1900 by steam powered sawmills that used circular blades much like today’s table saw. The emergence of sawmills in the Smokies changed the look of homes, new and old alike. New log homes became rare and many had additions built with the new lumber. Often, residents would place new boards on the outside of their logs in the fashion of siding.
In addition to the mills, Cable worked in the fields of his farm. If a customer arrived and John was nowhere near, they would ring a large bell mounted on a pole. His son, James, continued operation of the mill into the 1900s, but could not keep up with the mills equipped with the newer machinery. Today, the gristmill is all that remains of the Cable operation and is run by the Great Smoky Mountains History Association.
Forge Creek Road, closed in winter, is repose from the crowds on the rest of the Loop. It takes its name from the Cades Cove Bloomery Forge which was built by Daniel D. Foute and operated from 1827 - 1847. On the opposite side of the creek past the first bridge is where Frederick Shields ran his grist and saw mills. These mills competed with Cable for business. A store run by Russell and Jane Burchfield stood beside the road nearby.
The only homestead which remains in this area of the Cove is known as the Henry Whitehead cabin. In reality, brothers of Matilda Shields Gregory built the smaller cabin in the rear for her and her son. Henry, a widower with three girls, did not live there until his marriage to Matilda. With the help of his two oldest daughters, the larger cabin was built in 1896 from squared logs which gave an appearance of a frame house.
The gravel road continues west along the path of Forge Creek itself. The terrain rises and falls, but the road never wanders far from the creek. There will be few if any other cars and the solitude is wonderful. Signs of those who lived here can be seen in the forests along the road. An old roadbed meanders along the side of the hill and disappears as it bends deeper into the trees. A rock wall lies almost hidden beneath decades of moss. Piles of rocks where chimneys stood lie covered in leaves and undergrowth. Though sometimes hard to see, the evidence is there for those who want to look.
Parsons Branch Road turns off Forge Creek before the latter stops at the Gregory Bald trailhead. It is a one-way sometimes rough trip out of Cades Cove and out of the Smokies. It travels through one of the darker areas of Cove history. Chestnut Flats was a mile or so out Parsons Branch. This was the seedier side of the Cove where gun and knife fights, bootlegging and brothels were normal occurrences.
At the junction of Parsons Branch and Forge Creek, Taylor Whitehead had a house just on the other side of the creek. The Boring Cemetery is also a short walk from the park service gate. One of the stone markers tells the sad story of Rev. William Boring. He lost his wife and all three of his daughters to typhoid in 1898. The location of the residence of Dr. Post and his family cemetery is right across the road from Parsons Branch.
Back at the Cable Mill area, turn right to continue on the Loop Road. After a few hundred yards, it turns left sharply. Visible from the mill area and Forge Creek Road, the Cable Cemetery is located to the right. The Cable School, the last school to remain open in the Cove, held classes near here until it closed its doors in 1944. The children then traveled by bus to attend schools in Tuckaleechee. The only sign of the school’s existence are the moss-covered front steps hidden in the underbrush.
Not far along the road lies the Gum Swamp. Encircled by a fence to keep the boars out, it can be seen from the road down the slope to the left. In wet seasons, there is a sizeable amount of water present. However, in the drier times of year, it often has little resemblance to a swamp.
The Cades Cove Nature Trail is Stop # 13. It is a loop trail about a mile long which follows a roadbed for a short distance before a turn up along the slopes. This old road used to run over to Forge Creek. As are most forests in the area, it consists of second growth timber. Among the underbrush and trees lie large trunks scattered about. A common site along trails in the Smokies and elsewhere, these were once prolific American chestnut trees which grew from western Tennessee across to the Appalachians and up to New England. In 1904, a non-native fungus made its way into the states via New York City. By 1950, it had practically eliminated these trees from the eastern forests. Sprouts still grow from the roots, but succumb once they reach a certain size. Research continues to create blight-resistant strains from hybrids of American and Chinese varieties. Recently, there have been found isolated growths of chestnuts in South Georgia and New Hampshire which appear to be unaffected by the blight. There is hope their immunity will lead to the restoration of the Amnerican chestnut.
Near the crest of a hill, signs warn of a steep grade. Heed them for they are not an exaggeration. Bicyclists are urged to walk their bikes down this one. At the crest, the original route of the road curves off to the right. It rejoins the modern one at the foot of the hill. In the field beside the ford stands George Caughron’s barn. It had become rundown and in fear of collapse, but the park service has done some wonderful restoration work. George’s house was situated across the road along the old roadbed.
Through another stretch of forest and the trees open up on your left to allow clear views of the ridges to the north. At the southern terminus of Hyatt Lane, the road crosses a small creek name Cades Branch. Here on the western side of the creek stood Peter Cable’s house. His son-in-law, Dan Lawson bought land from him and built the cabin visible ahead. Lawson’s strip of land stretched from the state line on the ridges to the south across the Cove to the crest of Cades Cove Mountain to the north. The original house was built of logs but, with the advent of sawmills in the area, was added onto later with sawed lumber. I have often stood on the porch of this cabin, envious of the views Dan Lawson enjoyed of the mountains to the north.
Just east of his cabin is a small pull-off on the right. This path leads a short distance to the top of the hill where the Hopewell Methodist Church was located. The structure is gone, but its cemetery remains. This is probably the smallest of the church graveyards in the Cove but is distinctive in its own way. A short distance separates two separate groups of graves. The main group consists of Methodist members of the church. The smaller group, which will be on the right as you face them from the trail, are Mormons. The Methodists allowed them use of part of the church for their services but the graves of the two “church bodies” were kept separate.
The road skirts the forest as it curves along the edges of fields and through another section which has been carved deep into the ground by travel and the elements. Views into the woods impeded, the banks rise steeply on either side. At a crest, it curves sharply back to the right with a great view of a homestead ahead. The first thing that comes into view is the cantilever barn. This is not an original but a replica of one that previously stood here, allegedly burned in retaliation for use by government officials of a wagon to haul away someone’s illegal still. A corncrib is located on the right across the creek. Other structures around the house consist of a blacksmith shop, smokehouse, woodshed, and an open covered shed used for bee gums.
This house was built in the 1870s by a resident of Tuckaleechee Cove named Colonel Tipton. His daughters lived here and served as schoolteachers. The family of James McCaulley also briefly stayed in the house until he built his own place east of here on the lower slopes of Horseshoe Ridge.
Beyond Oliver Branch and Bunting Branch, there will be a few spaces to park on the left. This overlooks land owned by William LeQuire, George Shields, and Andrew Shields. Downhill from here, a road lined with large old trees angles off to the left. This is another spot where the modern road deviates from the original one. Witt Shields had a nice two-story house along this part of the road. It intersects the Loop again after the Carter Shields cabin.
George Washington Carter Shields served in the Union army until his military service was cut short, crippled by a hip wound suffered at Shiloh, TN in April 1862. After the Civil War, he took his new bride to Kansas, only to return to Cades Cove in 1906. Four years later, he bought this cabin which was originally built in the 1830s or 1840s. Not content to remain, he left the Cove for good in 1921. I am not sure why and maybe it is just me, but it seems the grass around this cabin is always a much more vibrant green than most areas of the Cove.
It will not be long before the southern end of Sparks Lane intersects with the paved loop. James “Bud” and Annis Tipton lived in a house just to the left near this point. In the next field on the left, a small copse of trees marks the location of the LeQuire family cemetery. Time has erased the names from the weathered stones in this little plot. It seems some headstones no longer exist for in places sunken areas remain as the only sign of graves. This peaceful place looks across the Cove upon the ridges of Cades Cove and Rich Mountains. Just to the northeast hidden at the end of a low ridge is Graveyard Hill Cemetery.
At the edge of these fields along Rowans Creek, the house of Jack Tipton stood very near the road. Across the road beside a dim path which leads to a pond, stood the barn of Isaac LeQuire. This cantilever barn was relocated to the Cable Mill area by the National Park Service.
From here to the end of the loop, the road passes through the edge of the forest. To your right, the trees grow closer together while fields can still be seen to your left. Remnants of man’s touch are still visible though no homesteads remain in this area. Rock walls and piles of rock peek out from below mounds of moss and leaves. Portions of Rowans Creek and Cooper Branch still harbor small sections of rock walls along their banks.
The approach to the end of the 11-mile journey through history will be recognized by a sparseness of the forest floor, the donation box, and the path used by the horses. Campfire smoke soon permeates the air. At the stop sign, the camp store will be located directly across the road with the amphitheater. The campground is to the right. If you wish to take another trip through the Cove, turn left and follow it back up to the main road where you began.
Every time I drive through this area and the rest of the Smokies, I notice something different. In addition to the lives of the Indians who lived here, the history and culture that flourished in these mountains for over 100 years is a fascinates me as a subject I can never get enough of. The people who lived here dwelt in houses that ranged from simple cabins to elaborate structures with ornate gables and cut lumber siding. Except for the Becky Cable house, most of the structures visible in the Cove are of the cabin variety. Over in Cataloochee, the wider variety of houses preserved are much like the community which stood here in the northwestern section of the Smokies.
As you traverse the roads of this remote valley, keep in mind these were not backwards people. They stayed abreast of news and the latest farm trends through ties to the more populated areas outside the mountains. The hum of tractors and ring of telephones were common as was electricity in some homes. One of the Cove schools was the first in the county to serve warm lunches. Automobiles were seen in the community as early as 1913. Though characterized by deep roots in their religions and beliefs, they were not adverse to change or progress, but instead welcomed it as long as there was no threat to the community.
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