Bruce and Debbie's Travels & Adventures: All Smokies

Today is going to be all about the Smokies. We had hoped to revisit a hike we did 40 years ago to Charlie's Bunion, but Bruce's knee is just not up to an eight mile strenuous hike and I don't think I am either. So we decided to revisit Cades Cove. We did this 40 years ago too and wondered if there were any changes. I think we did a little more exploring this time around. There is an eleven mile one way loop through the valley with many pull off sites and trail heads.

Our first stop was a small hike to the John Oliver Cabin. He was an early settler in the valley. Members of this family lived here for 100 years, until the valley became part of the National Park. We were fortunate to visit this area while a volunteer ranger was here. He was telling us a lot of the history of the family. It is always so nice when we can get information from real people. What you read in the brochures and books is great, but there is always so much more interesting stuff to discover.. For example, he was telling us about Chestnut Flats, a nearby community that you are not likely to read about in the brochures.

Moving on to the next spot, the Primitive Baptist Church. Here we again were very lucky. A volunteer was playing hymns on a bowed psaltery. This is a stringed instrument based on piano keys. He was playing beautifully. He also stopped to talk about the instrument, the building of the church and the division of the congregation over support of missions. This caused the establishment of the Missionary Baptist Church. Both of these churches closed during the Civil War. "...it was on account of the Rebellion and we was Union people and the Rebels was too strong here in Cades Cove."

If the community felt someone was spending a little too much time there, there was no way that your family and farm was getting enough of your time. A word to the local minister could land you on a special bench in front of the pulpit, and incur the wrath of the whole community until you mended your ways. If you did not comply you were shunned by all and being such an isolated community this was more than most could bear.

This instrument would not been allowed to be played here when this was an active church.

These are thought to be the hand prints of children holding up the wood to the ceiling when this church was being built.

We strolled through the cemetery before we continued on our way.

Next we stopped at the Methodist Church. This church too had it's problems and the congregation split in two during the Civil War. It also ceased services during the war.

Notice the two doors. This is one for men and one for women. This church did not follow this tradition but had borrowed building plans from a church that did.

Again we strolled through the cemetery. We saw the grave of Arthur Randolph Shields and I was compelled to buy his book. We had bought the Cades Cove Tour book before starting out.

The next stop was Elijah Oliver Place. This was about a half mile off the loop. He was the son of John Oliver. His farm has several remaining buildings. The house was so much larger than John Oliver's.

There was a spring house back behind the main house. This brought memories back for me of my grandmother's place. She had a spring house with cold water running through it. She also has a root cellar where we would look for the biggest potatoes. Then she would slice them thin and fry them on top of the old iron stove and make the best potato chips. I digress, but I was very fortunate to know what farm life was like in the day, especially since I was a city girl from Uniontown, PA.

From here we went to the Cable Mill Historic Area and Visitors Center. This area was very crowded but we were able to park and walk through it. A brief stop at the Visitor's Center for my book purchase and for Bruce to find a lapel pin to add to his collection.

The grist mill owned by John Cable. This is the original location. Other buildings have been brought here from other areas in the park.

Cantilever Barn

The Cove was getting really crowded. We finished the loop trail, only driving by any other sites. Getting on and off the loop road was becoming too much of a challenge.

We continued our day by driving up to Clingman's Dome. To get here we passed the Chimney Tops Trail Head area that is currently closed. This is where the November 2016 fire started and is the most damaged area of the park. Here are a few views from the road. Hopefully the Park will heal quickly.

You can drive almost to the top of Clingman's Dome. This is the highest spot in the park at 6,643 feet. (The second highest is Mount Goyot at 6,621 feet which we backpacked up in the rain in 1975.)

Throwback 1975.

The trail to the summit is a mile long on a well paved trail. This trail goes up and up and up. Once you get to the top (huffing and puffing) you continue to go up a structure that will give you an incredible 360 degree view of the Smokies.