Hidden away in the Smokies - in a remote mountain cabin in the wilds of Tennessee

Reaching the Smokies

Memorial Day weekend was planned as a visit to the Smokies: my son felt it would be an ideal destination as we love greenery, mountains and the opportunity to get away from city life.

 The Smokies can be reached in different States. We had chosen the northern Tennessee area which meant driving through Ohio and Kentucky, straight down I-75 most of the way. The cabin was strategically located in the mountains of Sevierville, a few miles away from Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. The local Cherokee Indians described this place as “shaconage” : meaning “blue, like smoke”. In the 1800’s they were forcibly moved out by settlers to nearby areas. Many people come here to discover how their ancestors lived. Here is one of the largest collections of log structures built during the Depression era. One can also see Oconaluftee Cherokee Indian culture and traditions at various points in the park. 

Our cabin

Southern Comfort, appropriately named after an American whisky, has 3  bedrooms and 3 bathrooms, a children’s room, a recreation room with a pinball machine, a large veranda with a private hot tub and various gizmos for BBQ or outdoor cooking.

TV’s everywhere…. But we were there for the outdoors. The best feature of the cabin was its location. The final 50 ft were up a sharp incline maybe 45 degrees! The view from the veranda stretched for miles way away to the mountains in the far distance. It is handicap friendly.

If it had not been for the excellent directions, we would never have found it as its located deep in the forest. The sales pitch of the owner details out all the sports and adventure activities in the area. The cabin has all the mod cons required to keep you occupied if you are stuck there over a wintry snowy day.

 

This is all bear country and we saw warnings everywhere on what to do / to avoid a bear attack. Unfortunately, we missed seeing a bear though we saw other wildlife.

Gatlinburg is a town living on its tourist trade.It’s a mini Orlando. The first impression was that there was nothing much as we were on the outskirts but as one entered the main part, being Memorial weekend, I was stunned by the crowds. The town is FULL of attractions and restaurants. See the photo which shows that the town council actively promotes a wide range of attractions. The leaflets available on the range of activities is awesome for such a small place. At the Visitor Centre, we must have seen atleast a 100 different leaflets on offer. There are numerous outdoor and indoor activities for every age group. We walked a large part of Main Street to get a feel of the place.

Smokies National Park

The national park has the Sugarlands Visitor Centre where the staff gives information to visitors. I admire the tact and politeness of the staff - It is taxing to answer similar queries day in and day out to the multitude of visitors to the park which has over a 100 species of trees and 1500 flowering plants. Every trail, every path and road is well marked to ensure visitor comfort. The rest rooms are clean. There are areas to relax and lots of literature / leaflets on activities, eating places and lodgings. They had a leaflet on seven things to see and do if you had only a few hours – we went to see two of these.

In typical American style, which is to be admired, development of the park is very professionally implemented. There are 800 miles of horse and hiking trails; 1,800 developed campsites and 100 primitive sites. The park is 521,895 acres and over 9 million people visit annually. The visitor is unlikely to get lost as markers on roads and trails are clear. The Park’s official guide book has a wealth of data on what to do, where to go and other advice which is very necessary for a stay in the park itself.  It introduces the various services and organizations involved in maintaining such a huge area; the importance of safety when hiking; the history and culture of the local people; the sights and things to see and do. We are not born naturalists and that’s why the Park aims to stop us from endangering oneself by undertaking unclear or foolish actions, which is human nature after all.

Clingsman’s Dome

For a short trip, we went to Clingmans Dome. It’s a 20 mile drive each way and took an hour view the traffic. The road is winding and there were three full 360 degrees turns up to the top. It is the highest point in Tennessee: 6,643 ft. We had spectacular360 degree views in clear weather of the different ranges and the greenery. A half mile trail starts from the parking lot ending in an observation tower (similar to the one I saw in the Everglades) at the summit.

What amazed us was that here, in the depths of a forest right out in the wild boondocks, we saw and heard many Indians all over the town and the park: we heard Marathi, Telegu, Kannada, Gujerati, Hindi, Bengali, and Tamil: we Indians must have been 40% of the visitor population! This diversity of languages truly reflects India.

  

Roaring Fork

 As we were short of time and a visit to Cades Cove meant a drive time of many hours including sightseeing time and the waiting time for the traffic over a winding road, we went instead to Roaring Fork. It’s a short but beautiful 12 mile drive from the Visitor centre ending at Gatlinburg. It’s a motor nature trail, in reality only 5 miles, one way all the way which takes around 90 minutes to enjoy. Breathtaking views not only of the forest but of the trees. Look up and up and all you see are these ancient massive trees, well over 100 + feet. There are chestnut oak, white oak, magnolia, maples, and tulip trees: just a few of the many varieties. Initial reaction is of a tall green wall but once you are inside the greenery, just watching, just waiting, listening to the silence, you realise the myriad of activities taking place there.

Roaring Fork is a classic mountain stream, its fast, its cold, ever flowing, shady, its narrow at points and it meanders. There is so much green due to the water and the trees; green moss, green vines, green ferns, and shadows. All in the spring and summer of course!

There is the Trillium Gap trail ending at Mt Le Conte. The initial trail is through a virgin forest of hemlock trees which leads to American beeches, silverbells, and maples. I could not tell you one from the other as I am no expert on trees but I did find the beauty of just sitting in that surrounding awesome.

Roaring Fork unbelievably has a community living there in the wilds of nature. In the 1840’s it was a frontier land. The village was a dead end but still supported a community of two dozen families with all their needs: church, school, stores, mill etc. after the establishment of the park, most of the folk were forced out but some remained and were given special permission. In true American style, there are some log cabins of locals which have been touristified!

In this wilderness, there is a small space where fresh lemon juice is sold and Ely’s mill exists. It has antiques, hand crafted rugs, honey, tourist miscellany on sale. The elderly gentleman working the counter was most helpful whilst Ms Ely, a descendant of the original family, worked on a loom. Well worth a visit even if only to interact and chat with the people there.

Attractions around and in Gatlinburg

Wherever you look, you find one. Quality needs to be checked out carefully as we found.                 

There are many places to zip line: basically it’s a set of straps as worn by paratrooper around the waist and legs and you are off down a fixed line, instead of a chair car, you are your own motion machine. It gives you the chance to be Tarzan and you can scream or holler your way thru the trees as you zip on the lines. These can be thru water or over scrub/ trees. There are different types of zip offered and we were conned by the one where we went as the zip distance was hardly anything: 400 ft, 1200 ft and the last was really small but they claimed one went at 50 miles an hour! How do you gauge that? We went to one which boasted a fancy set of lines but frankly, were not impressed.The animal children’s petting zoo was a misnomer as it had a few ducks, a few chicks and three pigs! The horse ride seemed to be the only worthwhile activity as they took you on a fixed trail in a group for one hour.

Ripley’s aquarium was great fun. Expensive for a family group but well worth it especially if one has not seen the Shedd aquarium of Chicago. They had a series of live feeding shows of various fish and lectures on: stingray, sharks, penguins, coral reef etc. there literally is something for everyone. The shop sells items linked to the aquaria and is not expensive.

 

There is a chair car ski lift which goes up to an elevation of around 1,000 feet from

 which you get a view of the town. For US$ 15 per ticket, its a bit steep for just a brief view as there is nothing else except for a large souvenir shop.

 Pancake Pantry: a gourmet’s delight. You think of the type and they had it!! 

Outstanding food served by rather unsmiling staff but after the crowds pouring in, I think they were exhausted!        

We, on the other hand, were exhausted after eating these sumptuous pancakes!!

The Arts and Crafts Community

There is an eight mile downtown loop of arts and crafts shops, studios, galleries, and eateries.

There are a total of 112 such places but we had time for only a few. Around the late 1930’s, artists decided to move into the Glades where they lived.

One of the unusual findings for me was the large number of chapels and churches in the region – around every half mile or so, around some corner, one saw a well maintained beautiful building belonging to some Christian faith. I never knew so many varieties existed in this area. These were built to support those who visited and lived in this region.  I’ll try and recall the arts shops I liked~

•  Neil’s gallery is a wonderful place selling excellent artworks by two known leading artists, one in oils and the other in acrylics.
•  Cliff Dwellers Gallery - an unusual place. Round a corner. It’s an upstairs place where one of the artists works and down below there is acute shop selling works of artists working on gourds, fibre art, paper, marbling, baskets, dolls, and pottery. The past blends with today’s present life!

• Lindy Morrow is a farm girl from Mississippi who loved mountains and streams. She has been here since 1978.She has her own studio where she paints landscapes etc. She sells originals and prints, beautiful works evocative of that area. She a charming person to discuss local lore and it was fun meeting her and chatting about her own cottage which is located just by a stream.

•  Sparky’s, the glassblower, offers handmade jewellery, fused glass, bookmarks and blown glass. There are hundreds of small items in glass on sale.

• David Ogle’s Broom shop works out of Jim Gray’s Gallery. Fascinating seeing him working – creating brooms, walking canes etc. The items are pricey but very well made. He explained the process of how the grass is chosen, dried, the wood cut and then the broom made.

• Abeline Potteries – a large pottery shop but I found the style not to my personal taste. I did manage to talk to the two young potters there and see them working. The works were very functional rather than artistic or colourful. 
  
  

On reflection, one admires the way of life chosen by these people. I don’t think they make much money but they do what they like, what they are good at and must be selling their art during season. There are many visitors in this area. They certainly live in unpolluted surroundings with a lot of greenery around.

The Appalachian Trail extends for nearly 70 miles thru the park. It’s quite something to be able to say, I walked a part of the Appalachian Trail. Hopefully sometime soon, I shall be able to do that and experience the beauties of the trail.There is a lot more in the Smokies which i need to explore.

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