The Beauty, Mystery, And Adventure of Cosby’s History highlighted

This is the home of Mrs. Elbert Carver, which was located in the Cosby Creek area. The pictured was taken and dated by C.S. Grossman, April 1942.

Students of Tennessee history learn early that three distinct geographic divisions comprise the Volunteer State: East Tennessee, Middle Tennessee, and West Tennessee. Local citizens know, too, that the Cocke County community of Cosby is also divided into three distinct parts: Upper Cosby, Cosby, and Lower Cosby. Generally speaking, Upper Cosby begins at the intersection of Hwy. 321 and the Hooper Hwy. (known locally as “the road to Gatlinburg”) and extends all the way to the TN/NC state line, thereby taking in all of Cocke County’s portion of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The section known simply as “Cosby” runs down to the intersection of Hwy. 321 and Wilton Springs Road. Here Lower Cosby begins and includes the areas of Bogard, Middle Creek, and Pleasant Valley. This portion of Cocke County appealed to the early settlers whose ancestors left Ireland, Scotland, and Continue to page 34

James Allen Sutton, age 58, sits on the porch of his home located in the Big Branch area of Cosby. This picture was taken and dated by C.S. Grossman, June 2, 1936.

Wales to seek their fortunes in America. With misty mountaintops, icy clear streams, virgin timber, and outcroppings of rugged rocks, the area bears strong resemblance to the Scottish Highlands and Welsh countryside. One of the many mysteries still intriguing researchers is the origin of the name. As early as February 26, 1793, ten horses were reported as having been stolen on “Cozby’s Creek by the Indians.” Most agree that the community’s name honors someone of the day, but just who that person is has never been fully proven. Many agree that Dr. James Cosby, a close friend of Gen. John Sevier and said to have been the first government distiller in what would become East Tennessee, is a likely candidate. It wasn’t until 1807 or thereabouts that Tennessee, then a new state of 11 years, began granting land to white settlers hoping to establish their homes in Cosby. Cosby’s boundaries form a rough triangle. It lies in Cocke County’s southeastern portion where Mt. Guyot’s 6,636’ altitude is our highest point, rising way beyond Newport’s 930’ mark. The difference provides for a great variance in the area’s temperatures, growing seasons, and plant life. In wintertime, when roads and highways in the low areas of Cocke County remain snow and ice free, Tobe’s Creek Road in Upper Cosby remains slick and impassable. Temperatures vary as much as 8 degrees between Newport and Cosby, adding to the allure of the Cosby Campground in the hot summer months. Early families settling in the area included the Baxter, McMahan, Phillips, Sutton, Webb, Carver, and Campbell clans, who christened the creeks, ridges, and mountain peaks with what they thought were appropriate names. Most are self-explanatory: Groundhog Creek, Bear Wash, Sharp Point, and Hen Wallow. Others identify a point or area with a particular family, such as Gilliland Town, Sutton, and Costner. As the families became established, they came to know the intimate details of the mountains. Young boys and girls grew to maturity educated about the dangers of rattlesnakes and copperheads, which berries, roots, leaves, and barks to use as medicines, where to find the best huckleberries, and which paths to take to White Rock. They learned the identities of the trees, being able to name them by their bark in the winter as easily as by their leaves and blooms in the spring and summer. Sometimes they watched as Cherokee passed through the area, sometimes coming across the mountain to trade for whiskey. They gathered around the flickering fires in their log cabins and listened to their elders relate the stories of the “Old Country” and tales of the Civil War. They absorbed their families’ genealogies. Perhaps they shouldered the feuds, carried on the backs and in the hearts of their parents and grandparents for generations. Infant mortality was high, as attested by the mute reminders in dozens of family graveyards. Death also arrived in the form of diseases-typhoid, tuberculosis, and the ever-dreaded pneumonia. Sometimes it came via bullets fired from guns carried by Kirk’s Raiders, Lewis’s Scouts, or the more deadly bushwhackers who preyed on the remote community during the Civil War. Such dangers led to an innate distrust of outsiders by the citizens.

Pictured is the Chandler Jenkins barn, which was located in Indian Camp Truck Trail in Cosby. C.S. Grossman took the picture on March 26, 1937, as he wanted to focus on the detail of the cantilever construction. homes built by their grandfathers and great-grand

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Children were warned to beware of strangers and never, ever reveal the whereabouts of their fathers, uncles, or older brothers. To do so sometime meant the conscription of these unfortunate men into service by either the Union or Federal Armies. Such a story is still told by the Ogle family. Cosby achieved worldwide fame in the late 1800s and early 1900s as the “Moonshine Capitol of the World.” Its remote hollows and pure waters combined to offer an ideal place for the making of some of the best whiskey in the world. The government’s decision to tax whiskey and subsequent laws outlawing its production by private citizens led to an all-out war between the revenuers and local whiskey makers. Ready markets in nearby Knoxville and Asheville kept the business active for well over a century. Stories abound about how local drivers easily outran law enforcement personnel. The arrival of Great embittered as they found themselves forced to leave

Smoky Mountains National Park left many families fathers. Many children and grandchildren of these displaced citizens now agree the money their ancestors received for their property helped launch new businesses, pay for college educations, and, in general, provide better standards of living for their families. In the late 20th century, Cosby was once again “discovered,” this time by retirees looking for a slower-paced community, one with lower taxes and within driving distances to larger cities. With its close proximity to Asheville, Knoxville, Johnson City, and Atlanta, Cosby fit the bill. Musicians and artists, too, have moved to the area, bringing with them a love for the area equal to that of the earliest settlers. Today Cosby’s history is celebrated through such festivals as Cosby In the Park, Music of the Mountains, On Cosby, and the Ramp Festival.

WELCOME TO THE ADVENTURE SIDE OF THE SMOKIES Cocke County, Tennessee