Great Smoky Mountains

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.

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.

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.