As much as I am in awe of the overall beauty of the Smokies, I am equally intrigued by remnants from the people who once called the place home. What were their lives like, what struggles did they have, what did they worry about, what made them happy, and did they have the same sense of peace and contentment that I get from the land? The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is unique in that it was the first of the National Parks to come into existence from the purchase of private land. Not like the public land as was the case in the Parks of the west. Many of the larger tracks of land were acquired from lumber holdings, but the vast majority of purchases were of family farms, homes, and businesses. The process of purchasing this land from families and individuals was not easy and did not come without incident. However, I am (and I think we all are) grateful for what these people gave up so that myself, my children, and future generations can share in that same enjoyment, of the land, and now have the opportunity to listen for echoes of the past lives these people lived. Over the past 25 years of visits to the Smokies, I have had many wonderful opportunities for chance meetings with folks who spent their childhood in these dwellings that I now visit. I have sat on steps, leaned on railings, sat in pews, looked at old photo albums, and listened to stories. These people are mostly gone now but they themselves and their stories are treasures to me. As you look at these photos below, I hope you have the same sense of wonder for what their lives in the Smokies must have been like.
Ogle Cabin from Barn
With a creek running just behind the house and barn, water was easily accessible but I don’t know how these people ever farmed with all these rocks (above).
The Many Marks of Time
With the sawn boards overhead, the refined and finished corner construction to the right is dove-tail. This is a construction technique that is typical of log buildings in the east. But to me, these wide facing boards are what catch my attention. These boards are hand hewn with a broad-axe of wormy chestnut. Chestnut trees were the largest and most abundant tree in the park prior to the creation of the park. A blight brought from Asia at the turn of the century has completely eliminated them. Since then we have lost the elm trees and now we are losing the hemlock trees all to a similar fate. If you look at this image closely, you can see both the worm holes and the individual axe marks. This is all that remains.
Ogle Window
The room is completely empty now. The cabin construction is called double-pen (two separate rooms with a space between all under one roof) with a central fireplace to the left. What was this room like when the Ogle’s lived there? What did Lucinda Ogle think as she peered out this window? Was there a table in the middle of this room? What were their favorite meals? What things did they discuss around the table… just faint echoes now.
Front Yard from Palmer Guest Room
Now some 50 miles from the Ogle cabin across the divide into North Carolina is Cataloochee Valley and the Palmer house. By comparison to the Ogle cabin, the Palmer house is modern. It is of frame type construction with sawn board siding but the overall style of the house is still double pen construction. An open walkway goes through the middle here. Front and back have full length porches which provide a welcome shelter from both the sun and the rain. Despite the desolate location of this valley, a sizable portion of the local’s income came by accommodating sport fisherman and many of the houses contained guest rooms. If you had come to the valley to fish for their famous Brook Trout or “Brookies”, you may have stayed in this small single room off the front of the house. This is the view you would have seen. I can surely imagine that the Palmer’s were the most accommodating hosts.
Old and New Spring House from Palmer Kitchen
By our standards the Palmer house is old, approximately 100 years old now. But by their standard, I assume that they had a very valid reason to replace the old split log spring house (seen in the distance) with the new spring house (white seen to the front). It must have been convenient having water so closed to the kitchen. The kitchen table seen here to the left is the only piece of furniture now in the house. I can imagine “shucking” corn sitting on the porch. I can imagine showing up in this doorway with a string of fish. I can almost imagine what the pies smelled like sitting here on the table while they cooled. What must if have been like?
I really enjoy the quiet of these houses. I enjoy listening for the echoes from the past. I hope that these images cause you to stop, think, look at the keyholes, the tiled floors, the handmade glass window panes, the pealing wall paper, the wonderful uneven but inviting porches. What do you see?
