Cades Cove Tour

Cades Cove  ~~  Great Smoky Mountains

The Smoky Mtn NP has one of the largest collections of historic log buildings in the world

This was the condition of the cabin in 1957 - Maintaining these historic structures requires unending care

As we are leaving the property to continue the tour this was the magnificent view

  Walking back from the cabin a surprise awaited us in the meadow

 A nice buck in velvet... slowly got up and walked away

 Stopping briefly to eat some leaves from a nearby tree

As we travel the 11 mile tour many cabins are visible along the road.  Many more could not be seen without hiking to them.

 When the park was created more than 1200 families had to sell their houses

 There are 20 historic cabins for touring.

 Large families often lived in such small buildings.  Parents, infants and daughters slept on the first floor and sons slept in the loft.  Everyone had a job very early... often the children were given the job to take mule and sled to the creek and gather stones for the chimney when the house was being built.

 A Log cabin could take 1 to 1 1/2 years to complete.  Not much except mules, muscles and simple tools and neighborly help to fell the trees, get them to the building site and build the house. The round logs first were scored along their length with a felling ax, then hewn with a broad ax. The notched corners need no nails or pegs, gravity holds them together.  Chinks (open spaces between the logs) were filled with mud to seal out wind, snow and rain.  

Buildings made of lumber from a sawmill were built after 1870.

These families had a hard life but had no time to belly ache as they had chores to be done from dawn to dusk.  

To God Be the Glory  ~~  Great Things He hath Done