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Each year millions of visitors visit’s the
Great Smoky Mountains for church retreats, honeymoons or family reunions
and it’s not wonder. The Great Smokey Mountains welcome each and every
visitor with never ending beauty. One of the most popular attractions is
something that can’t be seen in the middle of
Gatlinburg TN. You have to look further to a place that is full
of natural beauty. The Great Smoky Mountain National Park is the most
popular part of the Smoky Mountains.
Cades Cove was first settled by Europeans in 1818. Most of the settlers
in Cades Cove migrated from the Watauga Settlement in the north east
part of Tennessee. Cades Cove was once part of the Cherokee Nation. The
Cherokee called the cove Tsiyah, which meant “place of the river otter”.
Not only was the cove home to the river otter but also to many elk and
bison. Although the Cherokee never lived inside the cove they used it e
very summer as a hunting ground. They’re history still remains inside
the cove with arrowheads being common.
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Before the American
Revolution the Cherokee highly discouraged settlers but after the
defeat of their English allies, they wanted peace. Most of the
Cherokee accepted this peach and the new United States government.
The Cherokee adjusted very well to their “new” nation; they built
modern houses, attended school and 1820 they had created their own
written language. Despite the face the Cherokee were adapting very
well many Americans wanted all of the Indians to move west of the
Mississippi River. Americans soon got what they wished for when gold
was discovered on Cherokee land and Andrew Jackson’s presidency led
to their removal and the “Trail of Tears”. This forced more than
14,000 Cherokees left their home in the Southern Appalachians in
1838. The United States Army started escorting the Cherokees west,
to their new homes.
Less than 10,000 Cherokee actually reached Oklahoma, but a few of
the Cherokee refused to move. Those that didn’t move hid in the
Smoky Mountains, avoiding authorities. The Cherokee removal opened
Cades Cove for settlement without fear of Indian harassment. In the
1850's the Cove’s population reached up to 685. Settlers in the area
farmed the fertile soils and searched for valuable minerals. Crops
grew abundantly but mineral wealth never did.
The Civil War broke Cades Cove. No slave had ever worked in the Cove
and the Smoky Mountain people shared very little cultural ties with
the South. Still, there were many young men who fought for both
sides. Most of the remaining residents were for the Union but they
were completely surrounded by hostile territory. From 1862-1864
Confederates terrorized the residents in the Cove by stealing their
livestock, harassing children and taking prisoners. Small children
guarded the mountain tops and blew horns to warn the Cove when
Confederates were approaching.
The story of Russell Gregory and his son, Charles, is probably the
best one to portray the division on the Civil War. Russell was
strong in the Union, but he was too old to fight. Charles was a big
supporter of the Confederates. Russell began to become upset at the
raids and organized an ambush. The Cove’s remaining men surprised
the Confederates, forcing a retreat. One of those Confederates was
Charles Gregory. Charles recognized his father’s gun when it fired
the first shot and he soon informed the Confederates that his father
had led the ambush. Later that night the Confederates returned as
Charles pointed out his father’s home. Soon after Charles pointed
out the home, the soldiers drug Russell out and killed him.
After Russell’s death he became known as a martyr in the Cove
because he gave his life for the Cove’s people. Russell’s tombstone
reads, “Russell Gregory, murdered by North Carolina rebels.” Charles
eventually received forgiveness and was laid to rest behind his
father at the Primitive Baptist Church Cemetery. The Civil War
changed everything about the Cove’s culture. It was ravaged by the
Confederates and abandoned by the Union and the people of the Cove
no longer welcomed or trusted any outsiders. The Cove developed a
very fierce independence. Immigration stopped and without new blood
in the area, the residents intermarried and by 1900 most of the
Cove’s 700 residents were related.
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Around 1900, logging started in the Smoky Mountains. During the 30
years loggers cut 67% of the future Park. Along with logging came
employment and currency to the mountain people but it also destroyed
the environment. In the early 1920’s the movement for the Park began
and in the Cove well over half the residents accepted the money
offered for their land. The others, the ones that didn’t accept it,
fought the Park movement. John W. Oliver, who was the great-grandson
of Cades Cove’s first settler, led the effort to stop the Park
movement. His fight against Tennessee’s state government ended in
the State’s Supreme Court and a compromise allowed the residents in
the Cove to remain in their homes with a life-time lease. Out of all
the families, one still remains in the Cove.
In 1923 when Mrs. Willis P. Davis visited the American West she
instantly feel in love with America’s National Parks. She felt the
Smoky Mountains were more than worthy of such status and this
thought was the beginning of the Park movement. Support for the Park
came very slowly. Debates were held over who would buy the land and
whether the Smokies should be a National Park or a National Forest.
Many of the local politicians who supported the Park thought it
would never happen but after a long and very difficult struggle the
park in the Smoky Mountains became a reality. Colonel David Chapman
was the main and leading man supporting the future National Park.
The Smokies beat out more than 60 other proposed sites. The Federal
Government provided no money for the land and it wasn’t until 1926
the Congress established a Great Smoky Mountain National Park.
After the Great Smoky Mountain National Park was established the
park commissions raised the funds that they needed to buy the 6,600
tracts of land that would make up the new National Park. The park
commission added the great to the Smoky Mountains. The park raised
almost $2.5 million in pledges from anywhere from school children to
large benefactors and another $2.5 million came from North Carolina
and Tennessee. As the Great Depression approached land values got
higher and pledges were more difficult to collect. The park
commission became desperate and finally turned to Congress for
additional funds. The Rockefeller family relieved the stress of the
park commission and donated $5 million to help complete the park. In
1933 the United States government gave the park commission another
$1.55 million to help complete land purchases.
Land was still very difficult to buy despite the park movement. The
reason being was the greed, private property rights and personal
glory that often clashed with the government and the park movement.
The land was then deeded to the Federal Government and Congress
established the Great Smoky Mountain National Park on June 15, 1934.
Land acquisition continued and on September 2, 1940, President
Franklin Delano Roosevelt officially dedicated the park.
The Great Smoky Mountain National Park is now blessed with 4,000
species of plant that grow there. Beautiful mountain peaks stand
honoring the natural beauty of the park. Several of the plants and
animals in the park are only located in the Smokies. The Great Smoky
Mountain National park also has a very rich cultural history that
dates back from the Cherokee Indians, to the Scotch-Irish settlers.
Many historic structures still remain standing in the park. There
are 9,000,000 visitors per year to the Great Smoky Mountain National
Park and the National Park Service is still balancing the needs of
the land with desires of the people both for today and for the
future.
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