Cataloochee and the history of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park

“The foreground of such a landscape, in summer, is warm, soft, dreamy, caressing, habitable; beyond. Fare gentle and luring solitude's, the remote ranges are inexpressibly lonesome, isolated and mysterious; but everywhere the green forest mantle bespeaks a vital present; nowhere dues cold bare granite stand as the sepulcher of an immemorial past.”

from the book ‘Our Southern Highlanders.’ by Horace Kephart

The Great Smoky Mountain National Park is an American National Park and part of the Blue Ridge Mountains. These majestic mountains are the oldest mountains on earth. They are remnants from the ice age. This is the most visited national park in the United States with about 11.3 million visitors per year and it borders between Tennessee and North Carolina. The Appalachian Trail passes through the center of the park. The Smokies is one of the largest protected areas in the US with 522,1419 acres.

New herd of Elk grazing

Hunters passed through this area as long as 12,000 years ago. Then the Elk would roam in herds until they were eliminated by over hunting and loss of habitat in the 1700’s. This was the Cherokee Indians homeland for ages and they became the most culturally advanced of the tribes. Each of their communities had two chiefs (one was a war chief and one was a peace chief). The women had an active role in being involved in day to day decision making and were much more advanced than most of society during that time. I found it interesting that when they had meetings, they held them in a seven sided house that was designed to represent the seven clans of the Cherokee nation – Bird, Paint, Deer, Wolfs, Blue, Long Hair, and Wild Potato. The Cherokees used this land to hunt elk and deer. They stayed until the government forced them off their land in the 1830’s when they were moved to Oklahoma. This tragic event was known as the “Trail of Tears” since many died on their way to their new homeland.

Cataloochee Valley

Messer Barn

The European settlers came to this region in the 1700’s and lived a very simple life here. They hunted, fished, logged, farmed, and lived off the land. After the Cherokee Indians left, they started logging this area and clear cutting the forest to where only 20% remained uncut which stopped around 1934. The locals got together to try to preserve this land. Talk of making this land into a National Park started and the people in the valley were not happy about the their land being taken by the government to make a National Park. Some did fight it but lost. Now the settlers were asked to leave their homeland as the Indian had years before. Congress established the park on June 15, 1934. The state of Tennessee and North Carolina both put in 2 million dollars each to buy the land for this park but it wasn’t enough. They had fund raisers in both states where even the children put in their pennies to help buy the land. It still wasn’t enough so they appealed to John D Rockefeller Jr who contributed 5 million. The land was acquired slowly as the funding came in. There was no government funding to acquire this land. All the land was acquired by Sep 2,1940 when President Franklin Delano Roosevelt dedicated this park at Newfound Gap with one foot in Tennessee and one foot in North Carolina.

Our campsite - nice and relaxing

Cataloochee is our favorite spot to go in the Smokies. Getting there is not for the faint of heart as the road up to Cataloochee is partly paved, partly dirt or gravel. Sometimes it is barely more than a single lane, and is a very curvy and narrow road with crazy drop offs and steep inclines. The ride is petrifying if you are not used to the mountains which we definitely were not since we were raised in south New Jersey which is super flat. We drove slow which is recommended. Cataloochee is a peaceful isolated valley surrounded by mountains and some as high as 6000 feet. When we drove in, we have always felt so at home and at peace. It is such a lovely spot. When we go, we camp at the campground which has 27 sites. It is a

beautiful campground with a stream that runs around it. There are bathrooms but no showers. The first time we went to that campground and pulled in one of the campers came up to us and said, “We just saw a bar over there.” We didn’t know what he was saying but finally figured out he was saying bear. Another older suspicious camper asked how we knew about this place, and Joe told him we did our research. Come to find out, at that time most of the campers were locals and we stood out like a sore thumb. Once we pulled in, many “locals” helped us set up camp and even invited us over to their campfires for singing or story telling. We had a great time with our new life long friends. We still exchange Christmas cards for over thirty years.

This valley was one of the largest and most prosperous settlements in the Smokies and one of the most isolated. After the Revolutionary War, Colonel Robert Love granted homesteads to families to develop. By 1850 or so, this valley was very well populated. The women raised the children, mended and cleaned the clothing, cleaned the house, and did all the cooking. The boys and men worked on their farm, tended to the livestock, and sowing and harvesting crops. Some got into the lumber business and ran gristmills or ran blacksmith shops, or commercial apple growing.

The community would get together for house or barn raisings, corn husking, and making sorghum. They loved these events as it was a way to socialize and get to see each other. By 1910 there were 1251 residents in the Cataloochee valley. Each community also had a small general store to provide provisions for the residents. Many visitors would like to come up the valley to sight see or want to trout fish so some of the residents made a little extra by renting out rooms in their homes.

There were two communities in this beautiful valley; Big Cataloochee and Little Cataloochee. Both were connected by relatives and close family ties. Big Cataloochee was once a thriving community and was the biggest settlement in the Smokies and around 1900 there were almost 200 buildings scattered through the valley. Unfortunately, there are only a few left to see. Many of the earliest residents were the Caldwell family as early as 1814, followed by the Hannah Bennet, Noland Palmer, Franklin, Woody, and Barneys Family. Little Cataloochee was separated by Noland Mountain and is only accessible by horseback or walking on a trail with all its ups and downs and twists and turns. The Palmer, Hannah, Caldwell, and Bennet families children moved to this area since Big Cataloochee was so populated. They started their own farms and their own traditions. We have not made it there yet but maybe someday we will.

One of the many split log bridges

Messer Barn

Plans to make this land into a National Park left a few people in the park in 1938. People in the valley protested being a part if the National Park and some even chose to fight. By the 1940’s most people had moved. The people who wanted to stay, mainly the old and sick, were given lifetime leases if they wanted to stay by the Department of Interior. I can’t even begin to imagine how they felt leaving there homeland and having all their families so close by. It must have been devastating.

The CCC (Civilian Conservation Corp) was a big part in helping to establish the National Park. The CCC was established in 1933 as a federal work project during the great depression. There were 4,000 enrollees who were assigned in 22 CCC camps from 1933 – 1942 in the Smokies building roads, trails, fire towers, and structures.

When we go to Big Cataloochee to camp, we bring our bikes to ride. Once you are at the top of the mountain, the road is paved and is a great ride from the campground to the open fields and meadows where the deer, turkey, and elk can be seen in the early morning or near dark. The park service reintroduced the Elk to this area in 2001 and 2002 and the herd is thriving. There are black bear in the area but not seen too often. We love riding our bikes past the rangers home, through the meadows to the Will Messer Barn which was built about 1904-1905. This was built in Little Cataloochee but moved there in 1977 and restored. I love how they built the barns in this area.

Messer Barn 

Caldwell Home

Joe on the porch of the Caldwell Home

Inside of the Caldwell home

Across the street from the Messer Barn is the Caldwell House where Hiram Caldwell and his family lived for a long time. We walked across the stream over the split log bridge and walked up the path to this house. It is well preserved and like the other places you can walk right in and look around at how the house was set up. There is no furniture there but you can imagine how it was. Hiram started this house in 1903 and finished it in 1906. This is a two story wooden frames home with weather boarding and the inside had paneling brought in from Waynesville.

The Palmer Chapel

We always stop at the Palmer Chapel, a quaint Methodist Church which was dedicated in 1898 by Mary Ann Palmer. This is a lovely small white church that sits back away from the road up against the forest.  When you walk in, it is set up just as it was with the pulpit and piano still in place and ready for a service. Church was a very important part of their lives and was the center of their communities. They held Sunday school every week and Sunday and when a circuit rider preachers came into town about once a month, they held Church services. A revival was held every fall. Church was a way for everyone to stay in touch. A reunion is still held here each year for the friends and family that lived here to gather and share memories.  They come together to clean the cemetery, attend services, and have a dinner on the grounds. What a great tradition.

Inside the Beech Grove School 

We love the Beech Grove School also which is located right next to a creek and is still set up as it once was. You can go in and sit in the one piece desks and feel how it was looking at the chalkboard still in place. The school was built in 1901 to replace a building made of logs before. Education was very important to the residents and the term varied depending on the funding but normally ran from November through January and sometimes as long as through March. There school day was from 8-4 with an hour lunch to share what was in their lunch bucket. Usually they would have sweet potatoes, beans, cornbread, applesauce, biscuits and ham to share with their friends, and a jar of milk to wash it down. They were taught reading, writing, spelling, arithmetic, geometry, and grammar. On Fridays the children could share what they learned with their parents by having spelling bees, recitations, and singing songs that they learned during the week.

Joe relaxing at the Woody Home

Today we rode our bikes to the end of the road and decided to hike out to the Woody House. What a lovely walk through the woods, and over streams. The air smells so fresh and just makes you thankful to be alive in such a beautiful forest. This is a nice white home that started as a one room log cabin that was built by Jonathan Woody before the Civil War. He moved out for a while during the war and in 1866, as a widower, he brought his new wife and children here to live. The home wasn’t big enough so they had to enlarge it adding a new addition with many new bedrooms, porches, and a kitchen. Jonathan passed away in 1894 and Steve Woody took over as head of the house. All eight children slept upstairs in the “old soldiers room.” They stocked their streams and rented out rooms to those wanting  to see this area. This home seemed very isolated to us but maybe it was easier to reach back then. It was a lovely homestead to see and worth the hike.

Palmer Home 

Anther day we drove to the Palmer home. George Palmer had lived far away but had some bad luck and bad judgment and decided it was time to leave. He packed up and moved to Cataloochee with his family. He learned from his mistakes and became the most prosperous family in the valley. He died while cutting a tree off the road. George Lafayette Palmer (late known as Uncle Fate) was only 23 when his father passed. He started a family and he and his brother, Jesse got a good amount of wealth through working hard and good management. They had a large acreage farm where they raised, corn, wheat, oats, rye, apples, honey, molasses, sheep, cattle, and tobacco. They also made butter and sold eggs. They lent money with interest and secured the loans with livestock and land. Jesse and George were both land assessors, justice of the peace, judge, road trustee, and church officials. They built similar homes in 1860 with large barns, blacksmith shop, spring-houses, and smoke house.

In 1924, the Jarvis family added a large kitchen and dining room for the family and boarders. Fishing was great in the region and they owned three miles of trout streams. They built three bunkhouses for their guests. When the park was established, his family moved out and the home became a ranger station.

The Smokies are something you just have to see. It is a spiritual place where you can sit for hours and reflect on Gods beauty. The mountains are stunning to see through all the seasons. We camped at another place in the park, Cades Cove (another community with many preserved homesteads) before in the winter and woke up to the most beautiful show of ice blanketing the trees shimmering in the sunlight like diamonds.  It was just spectacular. There is nothing like getting in the mountains to refresh your soul and feel alive – truly alive. If you ever get a chance to go. You need to get to the Smokies and this National Park. You will not regret it.