All Over the Cove

Today I went out with a book by Frances Perry entitled “Homes of Cades Cove: Then and Now. Frances, was a kind man who tirelessly gave of himself in service to the Cades Cove Preservation Association. Frances Perry has since left this earthly plane but has left us some valuable information that will hopefully be used today and by future generations. When Frances first came to me about his desire to compile this collection, I thought it to be an enormous undertaking that would take him a few years to accomplish. This was shortly after my back surgery when I was fundraising to cover some of my medical expenses. I compiled some DVD’s that included all my waypoints from hiking the National Park. Frances graciously donated and used many of the waypoints and some of my pictures for his book. For that, he placed my name as a Co-author of the book. Other than this, the real work on this book was all Frances. He could have used the waypoints and pictures and cut time and energy; however, he wanted to hike to each of these home places sometimes accompanied by descendants and other members of the CCPA. This resulted in some revisions of my original findings along with the addition of places that I had found. Today, I discovered that a couple of the places I had previously seen; but, did not feel certain that they were home places were indeed home sites. Thus, the work Frances had done provided me confirmation along with the name of who had lived at the location. The amazing thing was that Frances did all this in about a year. His future hope had been to continue revision as new information came forth and perhaps add more to the databank. This book is available from CCPA with all proceeds going to fund their projects in the cove. Gratitude to Frances for his hard work and dedication.   

I hit the loop road at 9:40am on a beautiful Friday morning. I was meeting my Mississippi family, Shellie and Nathan Buford along with daughter Natalie at the Visitor Center around eleven so I had time to check out some home places just off the road along the way. The first home place from the book belonged to Albert Hill and is found across the road from the turn off to the Primitive Baptist Church.

I discovered that the home place was not directly across the road but about 100 yards before you reach the turnoff. The picture on my map shows the small remains of a possible chimney, but the most recognizable remains of this home place was where the cellar had been dug out.

The next one was off the beginning of Rich Mountain Road. The book shows pictures of a small cellar and a possible well that has been covered up by the Park Service. Perhaps due to leaf cover, I did not find what looked to be an obvious cover. The home place was said to belong to Jonathan Myers.

After a lot of walking, I finally stumbled upon some bricks which would be the only remains I would locate here.

I met up with the Buford Clan at the visitor center and we proceeded up Forge Creek Road with book in hand. Our first stop was at the Wade Myers home place which can be seen from the road. Amazing how easy it is to drive right by an old home place with an obvious chimney remains visible from a road. Yet, there are several all over the Park. It might be for the best as thievery and destruction of the Park seems to get worse each year. While folks like me and Mike Maples used to freely post blogs and maps to many of these home places, we both removed many of our blogs and opted for books instead. With less circulation and the books hopefully winding up in more responsible hands, perhaps these sites will receive less visitation and be preserved longer for future generations. Most of the places we visited today have very little remains; thus, not too concerned about visitation. Only lunatics like me search for rock pile chimneys and holes in the ground!

Down the road is where Carson Tipton lived and what Frances shows as the chimney piles are just that. In fact, I had seen them before, but really was not sure. The 1931 map shows a home place here, but other than a couple mounds, there is nothing left to find.

Next was another short trek that begins near the home place of Jurd Wilcox. A small pile of rocks is all that remains of this home place. We crossed the bridge over the creek and went up a steep back that heads up the creek to the Royal Tipton Home Place.

With unusually high temperatures for December, Nathan came across a resident likely confused about what time of year it was.

Were not for Frances’ picture in the book, this would have been an easy home place to miss. My good fortune was walking up to it with book in hand and seeing it almost exactly as pictured.

Next, we visited the Boring Cemetery with another home place that were not for the cellar would be easily missed.

Something on the other side of Parson Branch road that I had never seen before was this natural sink

No doubt a good place to wash the dishes!

On up the road to the cemetery is the cellar with chimney ruble above it.

The cemetery lies amidst a beautiful little moss-covered hilltop.

Like many cemeteries within the Park, this one tells a sad tale of a rugged life in these mountains.

At the end of Forge Creek Road is where the Gregory Ridge trail heads up for a long trek to Gregory’s Bald. But an obvious side trail will take you to another Park Cemetery.

Along the way, a marker for a Holly Tree is present. The Holly Tree no longer stands; however, there are some nearby just to daze and confuse you!

There is more mystery and confusion at the cemetery where a marker for Alyea and Alyea Post is found.

I was amazed at how grown up the area around the cemetery had gotten. You used to be able to walk around easily, but a large strand of pine trees covers much of the landscape near the cemetery.

We returned to the loop road where our final stop of the day was the George Caughron home place.

Remains of the original loop road are visible below the home place. Nathan opted to cut across and up to the road leaving old man Gourley huffing and puffing up behind the clan!

Laughing and waving from a half a mile away, Nathan looks back at the old man struggling to make it to the old road. I swear I heard Maples laughing in the wind as I caught up to the group!

Above the road we come to another one of Gourley’s holes in the ground!

No chimney remains but we found a few relics. A beer bottle that we dusted for fingerprints was identified as famous Cades Cove explorer David Ledbetter. Fortunately for Ledbetter, the statute of limitations made prosecution impossible and there wasn’t nothing Sheriff Buford could do about it! Still Sheriff Buford took 27 8x10 glossy photographs of the bottle with circles and arrows on the back explaining what each one stood for!

Nathan dropped off the top to a large tree that he tried to claim for the Queen of Mississippi (also known as the Mississippi Queen.) Gourley quickly moved in and reclaimed the tree for the Jedi of the Smokies, Mike Maples!

No one counter argued the claim

Nathan spent a few moments positioning his phone for this nice capture

We crossed back over the loop road and headed up Browns Hill

Browns Hill Cemetery is well known and documented although there are no actual grave markers present. I was told the area of the cemetery by a descendant and using dowsing rods and a map by Pete Prince found a possible location marked by quartz rocks.

Another hill that is being taken over by Pine saplings. The hill was once wide open and easy to navigate.

Another great day in the mountains with a wonderful family! Nathan risked his camera with one last picture featuring old man Gourley!