CADES COVE A visit to this valley will help you to contemplate, understand and imagine the sense of community that at one time filled the Cove. For one hundred years, life here proceeded at a pace rarely faster than a walk. This allowed time to see and hear the world one lived in. Allow yourself to do the same!

Follow Little River and Laurel Creek Roads from Sugarlands Visitor Center to the Cades Cove loop road. I would recommend that you acquire at the center the comprehensive and brief booklet "Cades Cove Auto Tour" to make the most out of your visit to this corner of the park. We have used this booklet as the source of the information included in this page.

The modern history of the Cove starts with the treaty made by the Cherokee Indians and the State of Tennessee in 1819 when this land was transferred to the State. After that settlers started moving into the Cove clearing the broad, high valley. The first settlers came following the migration route from Virginia into east Tennessee, few years later pionners moved directly over the mountains from North Carolina. The early settlers were not an isolated group of families. They were not shut off from the rest of humanity. Although the daily life was arduous in this remote area, there was little different from rural life anywhere in eastern United States in the nineteenth century.

The visitor today can drive an eleven-mile loop road that follows many of the grades and turns of the old wagon roads, fording a stream now and them. Along the way you are likely to see wildlife: deer and wild turkey year-round, lots of groundhogs in the summer. Also you will note cattle grazing here. They help to keep the cove from returning to forest.

Let us take now a look at some of the structures you will find in your driving around the Cove:

John Oliver Place

The Olivers bought land in the Cove in 1826 and this cabin site remained in the family until the National Park was established.

The house is typical of many found on the eastern frontier in the mid-1850s, and reflects the skills and techniques brought into the mountains by descendants of British and European immigrants. The round logs were scored first along their length with a felling axe, then hewn with a broad axe. The notched corners need no pegs or nails, as gravity locks them together. Chinks (open spaces between the logs) were filled with mud to seal out wind and rain. The stone chimney was laid in mud mortar. Windows and doors are typically small, to conserve heat and maintain the strength of the building. Split wooden shingles, the most common material used here, cover the roof.

Privacy in the home was rare. Life centered in the main room. Children were welcomed. The more kids, the lighter the farm work. A head count of ten to twelve under one roof was not unusual.

Primitive Baptist Church

Some of the earliest settlers organized this church in 1827, and a log building served their needs until 1887.

In 1839 there was a rupture with some members of the community that were dismissed because they favored supporting missionary work. This was a natural issue that concerned Baptists everywhere. The separated members then formed the Missionary Baptist Church, that can be visited further down the road.

During the Civil War ill feelings and turnmoil shut the church down, demonstrating that Cades Cove was not immune to outside influences.

The picture at left shows the interior of this church.

Behind the church there is a small cemetery, where lie the Olivers, Gregorys, Shields, Anthonys and others who first populated the Cove. You may wander among the graves, but restrain from walking on them as a sign of respect! Notice the different kinds of stones, the infant burials and other hints of life as it once was here.

John Cable Mill

Corn was a central fact of life to the pioneer. A native American crop, its grain, stalks and foliage fed man and beast. Corn grew dependably with minimum attention, frequently under poor circunstances. It was used for a variety of foods --bread, mush, grits, hominy-- and at times a potent beverage. But first it had to be ground into meal.

In the Smokies, single family "tub mills" were numerous, but could grind only about a bushel of corn per day. Whe the need and environment were suitable, a large mill powered by a waterwheel was built and became an important feature in the community. It could grind more grain much faster than a tub mill. A sawmill often operated off the same power unit (and did here), adding another service to the community.

John P. Cable's mill was not the first in Cades Cove. However, by 1870 or so the population was large enough to support several such businesses. As a rule millers were also farmers anyway, and John Cable was no exception.

Jim Cable, John's son, inherited the mill and operated it well into the twentieth century.

Gregg-Cable House

This house was built by Lason Gregg in 1879, this may have been the first framed house in Cades Cobe. Eventually the house was purchased by Aunt Becky Cable, John P. Cable's daughter and she lived in it till her death in 1940.

A framed house is the kind of dwelling most people aspired to and eventually built, whenever they were able. Old log homes were then converted into barns or storage buildings. By the twentieth century framed houses probably outnumbered log ones in Cades Cove. Several were much larger and finer than this one. Being "new" in the 1930s, they were not preserved by the Park management.

The yard and garden were usually fenced to keep domestic animals and varmints out of the beds of flowers, herbs and spices, and medicinal plants.

Corn Crib

The corn crib was a necessary structure on every mountain farm. The year's supply of corn was hauled in from the field and dumped into the crib through the high hatch above the wagon. Small portions came out through the little front door. Still on the cob and in the shuck, it would air dry sufficiently to be ground into meal, chicken feed, or fed to livestock.

Corn cribs were nearly always long and narrow, with spaces between the logs left open. This promoted air circulation and enhanced the drying. Some, but not all, cribs had "plunder sheds" to protect tools and vehicles from the weather.

Dan Lawson Place

The best sources agree that Dan Lawson built this house around 1856 on land he bought from his father-in-law, Peter Cable. The older man may have shared in the work, since he was known to have been a good carpenter. Lawson expanded the home from time to time, and acquired additional properties. At one point he owned a solid strip of land from the state line on the ridge behind the house, across the center of the Cove, to the top of the mountains in front.

Some of the better bladework in the Park is in this house. The inside faces of the logs were hewn smooth with an adze, and the ceiling joists were dressed and beaded with a plane. Chinks are battened inside with beveled poplar boards, and filled outside with brick and clay.

The brick chimney is unusual for the time and place. A hole was dug in a nearby clay bank, and partially filled with water. The mixture was worked to proper consistency with a hoe or paddle, then placed into molds to dry. The bricks were then stacked and fired. After cooling they were ready to use.

All pictures were taken by the author of this page, Antonio Fernandez © - 1996

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