Les Jones

East Tennessee > Cades Cove TN (Great Smoky Mountains National Park)

All this talk about the Dragons Run has made me want to go to the mountains, so we decided to visit Cades Cove on Saturday.

Click a picture to see a larger view and enter the slideshow.

---

Cades Cove is the large flat land cove in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Unlike the steep mountains of most of the Smokies the level, fertile cove was well suited for farming and was extensively settled by pioneers. Many of the pre-park houses and barns remain today, and are open for viewing. There are three extant churches - two on the main road and a Primitive Baptist church nearby. The churches are still available for services, and I've been to friends' weddings in two of them.

The cove is accessible by an 11 mile, one lane, one way road - the Cades Cove Loop Road. Cades Cove is the most popular destination in the nation's most popular national park, so it can be very crowded during the tourist season. It's best to get there early. On Wednesdays and Saturdays the gates stay closed to cars until 10:00 to allow bicyclists to have the cove to themselves. Otherwise the gate opens at daybreak and closes at sunset. Weekdays are the least crowded time, and holiday weekends are always jam-packed. If you enter the loop road and decide it's too crowded take Sparks Lane, which short-circuits the cove and connects to the far end of the loop road near the exit. You can also exit the cove through Rich Mountain Road, which ends in Townsend.

Near the Cades Cove loop entrance there's a campground, a store, a bicycle rental shop, a riding stable, and a very nice picnic area. Once inside the loop you'll find sidetrips to pioneer cabins and adjacent fields rewarding. The cove is also home to several outstanding examples of the uncommon cantilever barn.

Morning and evening are good times for viewing wildlife. You're almost guaranteed to see deer in the cove, and black bear are common. We saw a group of turkeys on this trip. Be courteous - if you want to stop to observe or photograph wildlife pull over so that other motorists can pass.

We planned to go in the morning, but fixing our AC problems kept us at home until after noon, so we goofed off around the house during the hottest part of the day and left late. We got to the gate around 5:00 and found traffic to be surprisingly light.

Katie is almost three so she's big enough to get excited about seeing deer and exploring some of the historical buildings. We stopped at the Becky Cable House and Cable Mill. There's a restroom and gift shop there, so it's a handy place to stop with kids. One historical note is that the mill itself is the only structure originally built there. The park service relocated all of the other buildings to the site.

Cades Cove is also the access for a number of hiking trails in the Smokies. Abrams Falls is the most popular. It isn't particularly short or easy, but it isn't too hard, and the waterfall and swimming hole at the end are fantastic. The access to Anthony Creek Trail is via the picnic area (which doesn't require you to go around the loop road). From there you can reach Russell Field, Spence Field, and the Appalachian Trail.

Two primitive, one-way roads out of the park originate in Cades Cove. Rich Mountain Road begins next to the Missionary Baptist church) which ends in Townsend. It has a thick bed of gravel and is pretty nice for an unpaved road. Parsons Branch Road begins about halfway around the loop and ends on U.S. 129. Parsons Branch Road is currently closed due to flood damage, but it's under repair and is supposed to be re-opened at the end of 2007. Parsons Branch Road offers access to the shortest route with the least elevation gain to Gregory's Bald. In the past Parsons Branch has been a very primitive road, with large ruts and rocks, though it remains to be seen what condition it will be in following repairs.

You can find more about cove history at Wikipedia's Cades Cove entry. I hadn't realized that Russell Gregory was killed by Confederate soldiers, though my friend Jay Gregory had told me his family's only casualty in the Civil War was killed by Confederate soldiers on a foraging mission. That entry also has the history of the Gregory-Oliver-Sparks feud.

This trip to the mountains was just what we needed. I've always loved Cades Cove, and this last trip made me appreciate even more how wonderful it is to have this beautiful place in our backyard.

See also:
- Kara Gregory 1913-2004
- Top 50 Tennessee Tourist Destinations
- Where Do Smokies Visitors Hail From?
- Buckhorn Inn in Gatlinburg
- Rachel's Labyrinth at Buckhorn Inn
- Gregory's Bald Azalea Backpacking Trip (Great Smoky Mountains National Park)
- Some Historical Surprises from Gatlinburg
- Car, Motorcycle in Little River in Smoky Mountains
- Dandridge, TN and Tennessee's Covered Bridges
- Mt. Collins Backpacking Trip
- Mt. Cammerer Firetower Hike (Great Smokies)
- Backpacking to Kephart Shelter (Great Smokies)
- Daytrips to Townsend and Walland, TN

Posted by lesjones | TrackBack