Cades Cove

We met up with our friends Dee and Steve, and decided to tour Cades Cove. If you have never been there, you should go if you have any interest in history at all! It's part of the Great Smokey Mtn National Park, and is a restored/preserved community located in a fairly large cove, surrounded by mountains. In addition to being a beautiful place, many of the original buildings are still standing, and you get a real sense of what life must have been like for the white settlers of the cove. There is an abundance of wildlife also, since they are protected from hunting.

There were turkeys everywhere. Guess they don't realize Thanksgiving is coming!
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This is the Methodist church. It might seat 50 people. There are two separate entrances, once for men, and one for women and children. I always find walking through the graveyards fasinating, but soooo sad. So many children's graves..............


There is a working gristmill, where they still grind corn. These are the original grinding stones, now on display outside of the mill. There is also a sorghum mill, blacksmith shop, a couple of houses, and several other buildings.

Steve and Steve.....looking through the barn

Upon leaving the cove, we took Rich Mountain Road back to Townsend. This is a one way, gravel road and is the trail the settlers took to Maryville on their infrequent trips there. It takes about an hour to go the 12 miles. This is a view of the same church shown earlier.