Apr 28 Tremont Then and Now

 

Brad is our guide today in the Elkmont area. This area of the Smoky Mountains National Park was once the main staging area for the Little River Lumber Company. Beginning in 1900, Colonel Townsend began buying land for the purpose of timbering. Elkmont was 18 miles upriver from the sawmill in Tuckaleechee, now Townsend. Logs were send downriver using a series of splash dams. In 1908 a railroad was built to haul logs to the sawmill. The railroad also brought paying passingers to the area to hunt, fish and sightsee. Eventually, there grew a demand to build more permanent cabins.

A few years later in 1910 The company sold 50 acres near the logging town of Elkmont. The group of wealthy businessmen from Knoxville formed the Appalachian Club and sold plots of land for cabins. In 1912 another 65 acres was sold to another club - the Wonderland Hotel. The two rival clubs thrived. About 75 cabins were built along with clubhouses where meals and social functions took place.

The black and white photos here are of the logging town of Elkmont. They were taken at what is now the NPS campground at Elkmont. 

In the 1920s talk of establishing a national park began. The lumber company which had timbered much of its 50,000 acres of land, sold their property. Another 25,000 acres of land in the Little River watershed was taken by eminent domain. The residents of Elkmont, being well educated and wealthier than the many subsistence farmers of the area, negotiated lifetime leases for their properties. Those 20 year leases were renewed and renewed again until 1992. 

Once all the residents vacated the properties once the leases ran out, the NPS did not have the funds to maintain or repair the structures. The structures, even the 49 which were on the National Register of Historic Places. Beginning in 2017 work to restore some began.  About a half dozen have been opened to the public. We are told that vandalism is a persistent issue. We saw much evidence of this.

How this all plays out is anyone's guess. Elkmont has been a fluid situation from the get go.