Mini Vacation to the Great Smoky Mountains

By Vonda Sinclair

This past weekend my husband and I stayed in a nice cabin on top of a mountain. We even had a hot tub and a pool table for extra fun.

In these two picture you can see why they're called the Smokies. This fog, (mist or clouds) often lies in the valleys or sometimes cloaks the tops of the mountains. The morning we left, for instance, all we could see outside was white. But on the day or two before, the fog was lower, which gave a picturesque view. We drove to the most popular part of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park called Cades Cove which is a preserved 1800s community with log cabins, barns, fields and churches. Lots of wildlife live here including deer, black bears, turkeys, coyotes, etc. We saw several deer and turkeys this time. I was hoping to see a bear with a cub but no such luck.

This was the first time I'd ever seen a hen turkey with little chicks. If you look closely you'll see three of the babies. So cute!

We stopped at one site and a man playing bagpipes serenaded us... and the deer. This deer in particular was enjoying his music. I felt I was back in Scotland (though he wasn't wearing a kilt.) I later saw that nearby Gatlinburg was hosting a Scottish Games. Our area has a lot of Scottish or Highland Games and other Scottish or Scots-Irish influences.

We hiked 5 miles total to visit this waterfall called Abrams Falls. The trail was smooth at times but at other times rough and rocky. Unfortunately I had on the wrong shoes for this adventure and ended up with sore feet. But I'll be ready next time.
This whole area is beautiful. You can learn more about Cades Cove here.

Cades Cove, a trip to the past

One of the excursions on our weekend trip was to Cades Cove in the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee. In the 1800s and early 1900s this was a farming community. It is now preserved as a sort of "museum" for a trip into the past. Cades Cove is one of the most popular visitor destinations in the Great Smokies with two million visitors a year. We were among the thousands visiting last weekend. Check out these views!

It consists of an 11 mile loop, a one way paved road that winds through the community where you can see original log homes, barns, corn cribs, spring houses, mills, churches, etc. Wildlife here flourishes as you can see in these photos and the slide show. We saw more than twenty deer, a coyote, squirrels, and wild turkeys. Even though several black bears live here, we didn't see any.

First we visited the oldest cabin in Cades Cove, the John Oliver cabin, build in the 1820s. We went inside to see the fireplace and the upstairs loft. The logs were hewn out by hand. Gravity holds the logs together. Chinks were filled with mud to keep out the wind and weather. The rocks of the fireplace were also stuck together with mud.

After deer-watching for a while, we took a half mile hike up to the Elijah Oliver Place. (Elijah was John's son.) For a short distance the trail follows a beautiful stream, then winds through the woods. Here we visited the log house with attached "stranger room" for overnight visitors.

We didn't have time to hike to the waterfall or visit all the houses and cabins. But we did stop and take a look around the Tipton house, built in the 1870s. The Cantilever barn here is very interesting because of its large overhands. It uses balance for support. A buggy sits inside.

If you're in the Great Smoky Mountains I recommend a visit to Cades Cove, but be prepared for lots of other tourists, even in winter. It provides a visit to the past you'll not soon forget.

Here is a video slide show I made with more photos I took.

To learn more about Cades Cove please visit:
Cades Cove Website