Travel Column: Cades Cove

Built in 1870, Cable Mill still stands in its original location next to Abrams Creek.

A Visit to Cades Cove in the Smokey Mountain National Park

By Annie Lisenby Smith

My family and I in Cades Cove. After a rainy morning, the Smokey Mountains were displaying why they were named “smokey.” One of the many historic tombstones found at the Primitive Baptist Church in Cades Cove.

The United States of America is full of fascinating and wonderful places to explore. Whether it’s the deep canyons out West or the Appalachian Trail that snakes more than two thousand miles from Maine to Georgia. Recently, my family had the pleasure of visiting the Great Smokey Mountain National Park. Spanning more than 520,000 acres across Tennessee and North Carolina, this park is the most visited of all national parks in the United States. When my husband suggested a trip to Tennessee to visit the Great Smokey Mountain National Park, I got online to research and found that there was an abundance of exciting and interesting locations all throughout the park. Compared to more active adventurers, we were limited because our young children wouldn’t last long on lengthy hikes to spectacular waterfalls. My research led me to one of the more popular areas of the park, Cades Cove. Located in Tennessee near the Townsend entrance to the park (south of Gatlinburg), this valley in the mountains is the former home to many families who farmed and hunted the area for more than a hundred years. This area is accessible by an 11-mile looped road. Along the route can be found various points of interest. For anyone wanting to visit Cades Cove, I’d recommend purchasing the Tour booklet for $1. They can be found at the Townsend Visitor’s Center or at a kiosk as you enter the area. The booklet provides a map with clearly marked stops. Each stop has a description of the location, and at the back of the booklet can be found a history of the area and its peoples.

Being that Cades Cove is one of the more popular destinations at the park, our family was fortunate that we visited in mid-June during the first week of the summer high tourism season. We were further blessed that a cold front had brought in rain and low temperatures the night before we’d planned to visit. We woke that Tuesday morning, watching the rain fall over the mountains, and only left after it let up a bit. Employees at the Townsend Visitor Center had warned me that on busy days the road into Cades Cove could be backed up for miles and was made especially worse if visitors spotted a bear along the route. Visitors commonly stop and block the roadway getting out of their vehicles to snap a perfect picture of one of the many bears that call the park home. (On a side note, we didn’t encounter any bears. I recommend bringing a rambunctious, talkative six-year-old. His exuberance was loud enough to drive away any fierce creatures.) The rainy Tuesday we visited Cades Cove there weren’t too many people. Upon entering the oneway loop, cars were pulled aside and packed on the road where the horses available for rent were pasturing. We laughed at these folks saying ‘they must be from the city’ because we weren’t as mesmerized by horses that we commonly see in southwest Missouri. Our first two stops on the route were to the Primitive Baptist Church and the Methodist Church. Each had well maintained graveyards that my son enjoyed walking through and looking at dates on headstones for people born in the late-1700s and those who died during the Civil War. At the Methodist Church a touring college musical group had stopped to sing hymns in the historic church. The Spirit was really moving as their voices swelled and were accentuated by the acoustics of the building built in 1902. The church was formed in the 1820s in a log building that was used until the more formal building was built. Off of the Cades Cove loop there is access to the Abrams Fall Trail, a five-mile out and back trail that follows Abrams Creek to Abrams Falls, one of the many waterfalls found in the park. Sadly, this trail was closed for maintenance during our visit. We continued on and found our favorite place in Cades Cove, Cable Mill Historic Area. After parking, we enjoyed watching elk grazing in the field. They were too far away to get a good picture, but enjoyable to observe in a more primitive and protected setting. Elk, deer, and turkey are commonly observed in this area. There were many businesses in Cades Cove, which have been relocated to the Cable Mill area. These include a blacksmith shop, Cable Mill, a general store, a sorghum mill, and a smokehouse. This was a nice area to walk around and explore buildings from the 1800s. Cable Mill is built next to Abrams Creek, where tall trees provide pleasant shade on sunny days. There is also a visitor’s center where visitors can get additional information and purchase souvenirs. Leaving Cades Cove, we visited three historic farmhouses. They were nestled in places with the Smokey Mountains in their backyards and where streams flowed next to the homes as a water source for the families and their livestock. We were surprised at how accessible the houses were; even narrow staircases were open for us to explore lofts. From the Cades Cove Tour brochure we learned that traditionally boys slept in the lofts while parents, girls, and the youngest children slept on the main

Found near the end of the Cades Cove loop is Carter Shields Cabin. Shields bought this property in Cades Cove in 1910 but only lived there for 11 years before moving on elsewhere.

level of the homes. Because these were farming families, it wasn’t uncommon to find families living in Cades Cove who had 10-12 children. Cades Cove was a peaceful escape to the past. To enjoy it in a more unique and adventurous manner, the park staff closed the loop road to motor traffic every Wednesday. It’s open for walking and biking, and bikes can be rented in Cades Cove.

Located near the main entrance, there is a campground and a picnic area. We had packed lunches and found a table in the picnic area next to a beautiful stream. After eating, the kids played and splashed in the water. We were limited on time and didn’t get a chance to explore as much of the Smokey Mountain National Park as I’d have liked. But because the trail to Abrams Falls was closed, I insisted that we see at least one waterfall in the park. In that section of the park is The Sinks, a waterfall that didn’t require a hike to visit. The main road we travelled had been the railroad line used by loggers before the park was established. It snaked alongside the Little River providing us with beautiful views of the river tumbling over rocks. The Sinks isn’t a natural waterfall. When logging had been active, there had been a log jam on the Little River. Tasked with clearing the jam, some of the workers decided that dynamite would solve the problem. They mistakenly used a tad too much TNT because they blew a hole so big it rerouted that section of the river and created The Sinks Waterfall. Their mistake has created a beautiful waterfall that is easily accessible with a parking area next to the falls. This area also is a trailhead for one of the more than 800 miles of trails that cover the park. We explored it for a short distance and enjoyed the few low-water crossings where we hopped across stones to keep from drenching our shoes. Well, my husband and I did that. Our kids splashed through joyfully and came away smiling with squishy sneakers. The small corner of Smokey Mountain National Park that we visited left us wanting to return to find more history, more waterfalls, and more natural adventures in America’s most-visited national park. n Because it’s now a national park, no humans reside in Cades Cove. But an abundance of wildlife can be found including turkey, elk, bears, and deer.

One of the most easily accessible waterfalls in the Tennessee section of the park is The Sinks. With recent rain, the water was pouring with vigor over the falls on the day we visited.