Cades Cove

Friday April 22^nd 2011

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

After being in Cades Cove with Nancy & Bill Mills

to hike the Abrams Falls Trail,

David decided he wanted to bike the loop.

I wasn’t so sure given the auto traffic.

But, I’m a good sport.

J

We didn’t get as early a start as I would have liked

and it was about 11 in the morning

by the time we had driven the gorgeous 20 miles

between Elkmont and Cades Cove.

We parked at at the Orientation Center

at the beginning of the loop.

There are restrooms here

and at the visitor’s center just over half way around. 

No other facilities in the Cove.

Off we went on the 11 mile loop. 

Gorgeous vistas EVERYWHERE

but TOO many cars

even in April.

We had forgotten that it was Good Friday

and the start of a Holiday week-end

when a lot of folks might be on a 3 day week-end.

Those sorts of things happen when you

are on the road.

You forget the date, the day of the week,

your own name………..oh no that’s

not because you are on the road.

Were I to do it again

or make recommendations to you,

I’d say come during the very first week

they close the loop to cars

until 10 in the morning on two days each week.  

It happens some time in May.

One of my “suggestions” to the park

is going to be that they close the loop

one day a week as soon as they open Cades Cove Campground. 

Hopefully when you come some April, that will be the case. 

The loop is hilly,

like the rest of the park,

and you really don’t need to be

sucking car exhaust while climbing.

We stopped at each numbered site

on the loop to see the homes and outbuildings

of the people who lived here until 1936

when the park took over the land. 

This is the John Oliver Place which was

constructed by the cove's first European settlers

John and Lucretia Frazier Oliver in 1822.

All of the houses with sleeping lofts had one
version or another of these stairs.

On the rear porch, John Phillips has an interesting display of information

about the Olivers and was an engaging and knowledgable interpreter.

Only 80 buildings in the park have been maintained

of the hundreds of families who lived

in the various communities. 

Cades Cove was the biggest of those. 

In 1900 about 125 families lived here,

but no longer. 

Some of the current residents of the cove........

There are 17 stops on the loop

and I took 197 pictures today. 

Not all of them on this post but

you may feel like they are by the time you finish.

Click on any to enlarge.

The cove had its share of churches and they are

among the first stops on the loop.

They are located very near to each other. 

The Primitive Baptist Church formed in 1827 by the Olivers

and known as Cades Cove Baptist Church

until the 1830's Anti Mission Split.

At that point, 13 members left to form the

Missionary Baptist  Church and located just down the road.

The Methodist Church was organized in

the 1820's as well as a result of the circuit riders.

In 1902, J.D. McCampbell replaced the original log church

with this one which he built in 115 days for $115.

Usually two doors indicates that men sit on one side and women on the other.

But not here, the two doors are there

because the church borrowed the building plans

of another church that did divide its congregation by gender.

I thought that was a riot!

All around us...........

After all the churches, we came to the

Elijah Oliver Place.

He was the son of John and Lucritia.

His was my favorite of the houses on the loop.

We parked the bikes at the foot and walked

up the shady lane to the house.

This is a "dog trot" style house,

historically two log cabins under one roof

separated by a "breezeway" (dogtrot).

The windows opening onto the breezeway

create air currents cooling the house.

The style is thought to have originated in the southern Appalachians.

Can you see the steps from one "house" to the other in the dogtrot?  

How about now?   

Front cabin.  

How about this spring house?

They used this channeled log raceway to bring the water

nearer to the main house.   Very clever.  

View of the Main House from the Spring House

We found more wildlife as we checked out the barn

We’d come 6 miles

when we reached the Visitor’s Center

at about 3:30.



We found some old timey music to enjoy

on the visitor center porch,

Within the visitor's center complex is the Cable Mill Area.

The Mill itself stands on its original site. 

Other historic buildings, including the Gregg-Cable House,

were brought from elsewhere in the park.

In 1887, Rebecca Cable "Aunt Becky" and her brother Dan bought the house.

She ran a boarding house, took care of the farm

and reared her brother's children after he was hospitalized

for mental illness.

She ultimately owned more than 600 acres and died at

age 96 in 1940.

WAY TO GO BECKY!!!

On the the mill

The mill was operating and the miller

told us the  the two granite mill stones are original

have been in use since 1868.

We had lunch at a lovely site by the Mill Creek

This was our view

I think the late lunch,

which for me was just a couple of fruits

and some potato chips, was,

too little,

too late

and  not enough protein. 

When we started down the gravel
Forge Creek Road

to the Henry Whitehead Place

and my tires were having trouble with the stones, 

I decided I was too tired

and had had enough of the car exhaust and climbing hills.

David, who wisely had a peanut butter sandwich for lunch,

offered to ride the rest of the loop back to the car

and come back for me.  

My reply was “great idea”.

And so he did, 

covering the remaining 5 miles in 45 minutes.

We did the last 4 sites by car

like all the other folks.

How about this view from the porch
of the Henry Whitehead Place?

The Tipton Place

with its great cantalievered barn.
What a setting!



Would the park service approve of this exploration?? 

The last stop on the loop was the Carter Shields Cabin



 with the narrowest set of stairs I have ever seen.





I would definitely do this loop again on a bike

but only with plenty of protein snacks

on a day when there were no cars.

I do recommend it if you like to bike

and don’t mind serious hills,

some of which,

unless you are in really good shape

and have the appropriate bike,

you may have to walk

even without the cars

on this very narrow lovely road.

But who cares…………it’s beautiful,

you’re outside

and have all the time in the world!!