Old Cades Cove

A historical look back at Cades Cove in the 1930's. Photos courtesy of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and others. Educational Use Only. Research by Mike Gourley and Mike Maples. Enjoy.

[@ProfileP246]

I'm a Crawford from Northern Ireland and i heard stories passed down, some of our family ( Ulster Scots) left and went to Appalachia. I couldn't have enjoyed this any better but it makes me sad knowing how hard folks worked and fought for a natural life only for the powers that be to come and take it away.

[@catfish24]

These are good people I wish I could go back in time and be able to just sit and talk to these Great People.

[@curtisdoss2469]

I would love to be able to go back in time and walk these roads and meet these people. They could teach us so much about freedom, family and kinship.

[@marksearle767]

i had the honor of making friends and working with randy tipton as a land surveyor for many years and he told me stories of his family at cades cove and how the tiptons are noted as one of the first families of tenn. what a great friendship we had,,randy surveyed all over the smokey moutains and showed me some of the survey markers he put down.this is a awesome video,, well done

[@mikkat50]

Enjoyed very much, I am a Caughron and my Dad was born in Sevierville Tn., and my Grandmother was a Kerr.

[@bluegrasshack3810]

I have Caughrons in my DNA too! Earlier spellings: MacEacain/MacEachain, McCaughan/ McKaughan, and an easier modern spelling and pronunciation is McCoin. There are wide variations of all of those spellings, such as the Caughron mentioned here. Howdy ‘Cuz’. Today’s Date: Oct. 18, 2022

[@ronaldriggs8091]

R.I.P. Mike Maples 3/5/2019.....Mike had a wealth of knowledge about Cades Cove, the Smokies, and Gatlinburg area...Big loss to the History lovers....

[@hikerx9366]

When I watch this kind of video I get a longing I can't explain. It's like I need to go back to this time but in reality it was before my time. Everyone has always said I was born 150 years too late. Thanks for the great look into the past.

[@rebeccastratton4114]

I know just how you feel. I sew by hand a lot of things. It's a peaceful way to clear your mind and heart. When I touch old fabrics I believe I feel the hands of those before me.

[@yvonnemcmahan9037]

I feel the same thing

[@norabradley9108]

The mountains are calling you home.

[@hikerx9366]

@@norabradley9108 I believe they are Miss Nora, thank you for reminding me.🙏 Have a nice Easter Sunday.💜

[@capndad]

My good friend Randy Dillon sent me this link... and I'll thank him forever for it. None of my family was from TN but the pictures sure tell us a lot about how people lived. I'd also like to thank those who put this together. The love and dedication shone through.

[@rebeccastratton4114]

These pictures make me feel sort of lost. Just to look at the large families and realize how hard each man and woman had to work just to have a roof over their heads and food on the table. They had babies, they worked long days, farmed rough land and yet they lived lives full of purpose and yes, reward. There is SO much we take for granted. We don't thrive, we exist. I really must be an old soul. I see real life in these photos.

[@davidcarroll7143]

I've only have been to cades cove twice and I walked in the cabin that underneath the Cherokee Indians had dug and built caves. Amazing. I'm an old soul as well and when i

[@dynamite-zh2sm]

@@davidcarroll7143 where are these caves people speak of? I've ask the rangers there and they say it's false, they're no caves so idk 🤷‍♂️

[@davidcarroll7143]

@@dynamite-zh2sm there's a history book in the gift shop describing tunnels or caves underneath one of the main houses or cabins. For safety reasons the public will not have access.And I'm sure rangers are told, hush, hush.

[@mindymills2182]

Yes, and then to have their place on earth and land they loved snatched from them for pennies on the dollar. Unforgivable

[@mikeandrews1899]

@@mindymills2182 not controlling the illegal immigration got'em 👌

[@missmajestic2158]

Enjoy the drive, but remember those before us. What a great line to finish such a great video of Cades Cove.

[@marilyngordy3670]

Absolutely wonderful! Your video put me in many decades seeing and visiting with families of maybe some of my ancestors. My soul belongs in those mountains!

[@mikegourley411]

This place holds so much more than most folks driving through can imagine. Nice video.

[@bluegrasshack3810]

Thanks tnmagicman! We haven’t chatted in ages. I share DNA with the Caughrons of Cades Cove. I really ‘feel’ it when watching these. You do a fantastic job capturing the lives of the Scots-Irish who came here!

[@cliftonbishop312]

all my memories come flowing back . I'm home sick for that time gone by with those loved ones now gone .

[@Kathy200]

My (5) sisters and I went to Sevierville TN a couple years ago and went thru Cades Cove. So beautiful. But I don't remember seeing all these cabins. Seems to me we only saw churches, graveyards and about 4 or 5 old homes. Didn't realize there were this many people that lived there. Very visual look back into history.

[@floridagirl386]

@Sally Hicks is that right?

[@kimousley7625]

Those cabins are long gone. I heard there's a map of all the families that used to live in Cades Cove in Townsend.

[@enrjyzrb9857]

@@kimousley7625 there is a map; I got one from a park ranger but was told, at that time, they generally don't give them out, but never explained why. Years later I was talking with my sister about that and she said that she also had gotten a map from a ranger and was told the same thing but not given a reason why. I don't know if that is still the case. Our grandmother was born in Cades Cove and many of our ancestors lived in Cades Cove as well and are buried there. Over my lifetime I have been there many many times and I always find it spectacular. At one time it was a bustling community and there are several books that you might be able to find in the library about the history of Cades Cove. And "Cades" is pronounced as "Cage". No one is able to live in the Cove now thanks to the National Parks which has preserved its beauty. Last I knew services were still held in the churches and many young couples have been married there.

[@sheilam4964]

What a labour of love, respect and lot of time taken to preserve the history of this place.

[@texasgina]

Beautiful footage. I love looking at old pictures and really appreciate how hard they all worked.

[@paulmurphy7491]

Thanks Mike another good job. Christmas 2020 miss you . RIP.

[@scgipson]

THANK YOU for this wonderful video. I love Cades Cove. I was mesmerized by the pictures. For a moment I felt like I could imagine actually being in some of those places. And I couldn't agree more....RESPECT THE PAST! Again, thanks for a wonderful trip back in time! Sid Gipson Benton, Arkansas

[@HeartDrums]

Thank you for putting this together for other appreciators.

[@pattyblevins2765]

Thank you for making this video. We live in Kentucky and are blessed to go to Smoky Mts./Gatlinburg/Cades Cove once or twice a year. We have been their twice this year - 2017. The second time this year we stayed in Townsend. The first time was the first week of April - my birthday is April 3 - I turned 62. A nice birthday present! We stayed in a chalet named Heavenly Vision - Mt. Laurel Chalets. They lost several in the fire in 2016. Some that we had stayed in had burned. My husband called and they only had one called Bear Hugs available and we looked at it and called back to say we would take it - but they had just acquired Heavenly Vision from another company and we looked at it and took it : ) That second trip while in Townsend we of course went to Cade's Cove and for the first time drove on the Rich Mt. Road. We went some places we had not been before - still finding places we haven't seen before : ) Maybe you could have picked some nice easy sounding Appalachian music : ) I just wished we had done a lot of hiking on the trails when we were young!!!!

[@mothertree]

I went to church with a Blevins family here in ohio years ago.I hope you are all doing ok and wish that many blessings come to you of good heart,Patty.

[@margiemarjorieowen1136]

Thanks for publishing this little documentary. It was perfect, just not long enough.

[@ceciliavillalobos5044]

Love these pics. I'm so into history it's a new favorite thing looking up history and people places things. Anything old. Just like me

[@molliew38]

I am an Anthony. My grandfather Anthony side of my family lived in Cades Cove. They were this family!

[@StephenNu9]

Thanks for this travelogue back in history. I pulled-up Google's street views and plugged in "The Great Smokey Mountains + Cades Cove" and am now touring the Cades Cove Loop Rd. The area is flat-out beautiful and story book enchanting.

[@kra3950]

This video is an American treasure.......so well done. The music selection is on point to commemorate the profound loss the people of the cove must have felt when they lost their homes, heritage and livelihoods to the federal government. I've have watched this video many times over since discovering it several years ago. It's the closest thing to going back to a place and time that none of us will ever know.

[@arlindadunn4367]

the first time my fience to the blue ridge mountains a few years ago I fell in love with the beautiful mountains. We ended up in Gatlinburg for our last few days of our vacation. And then we drove through cades cove I just love this place i sure didn't want to leave.so every trip we make now I make sure that we always drive through cades cove to see what a beautiful place that God gave us the beauty of the land and the wild animals the story's of the past. there is so much history to learn we just don't have enough time for one week so we are planning on moving to the Tennessee mountains.soon so there for we can see and learn more about the history and the people are so wonderful like family. Thank you and God bless.

[@stuffy321]

I remember spending the night over at the old Cables house in the winter of 1943. They had card board in the windows that were broken out in the bed room and we all slept under a goose down mattress to keep from freezing to death. the wind had blown out the card board and when we woke up the next mourning there was about 3 to 4 inches of snow that had blown in on the floor and mattress. Always had good health and plenty of good food to eat. Nothing was give to you. All of us had to work hard for what you got! Good old days? I think not. Just good healthy memories.

[@Edelliriano71]

Thanks you for sharing and taking us back to a time long gone now. I hope you are doing ok in 2018

[@sheilam4964]

@stuffy321 - "Good old days? I think not. Just good healthy memories." Very well said.

[@gregoryjeane350]

Awesome photos of the people and buildings in this important historic community. Thanks for sharing.

[@elizabethtorres6069]

🍃Thank you for sharing.🍃

[@sallymay3643]

Loved the video. If the houses looked that old in the 20s & 30s I wonder when they were newly built. 🦋

[@cynthiagreenhill5283]

Murray Boring was my grandfather. I've never seen that picture with him standing outside their home which housed the post office

[@shirleyharrison2580]

Really enjoyed seeing this video. Thank you for sharing.

[@Barbara30815]

You've done a wonderful job putting all of this together. Thank you for your efforts!

[@AnneAndersonFoxiepaws]

This is an incredible piece of documentation. I wish more people would do this. I know my family history on my father's side back to the Jacobite rebellion. My mother's side only until my Great Grandfather who I remember. I wish we had photos though. I know the area the family came from and the farms we owned but I still wish we had something like this.

[@marianjean4317]

Miss you Mike Maples (RIP 03/05/2019). I will miss all the history. of the Great Smoky Mountains . You were a true 'Jedi.' I met Mike online on Facebook. He was a distant cousin. My side of the Maples family and his came from the Sugarlands, but we parted ways when the National Park Service took over the land,. We all love Cades Cove as well. We may be related to the Lawsons since several family members had Lawson as either a first name or middle name, but there were many Lawsons just as there were many Maples.

[@diannemyers3351]

Absolutely beautiful, bless you!

[@gonzanan347]

Thank you for this lovely video. It's so sad to see all of these places that knew so much life, now gone or in disrepair.

[@aman4peace]

these people lived and knew how to survive. no one today would be able to do this as they did

[@user-ru9xy7zv8i]

Beg to differ. I have been doing this to a T, for the past 15 years.

[@kiridixon2164]

Edward Church I

[@flaminglaughter]

No one needs to know how to live like that today. Thank God!

[@cornerstone403]

@@flaminglaughter don't count your chickens.

[@davidcarroll7143]

Amen. we are soft spoiled sissys compared to these people

[@romainnelseng3264]

Remembering my such places. Thank you, Romain

[@brucecullum5669]

love these old photos dont know how people could dislike this stuff

[@pearlcaster8287]

Fascinating.

[@oldfordcarsandtrucks]

THANK YOU! wonderful pictures

[@ztxl10]

Another outstanding job! Thanks Mr. Maples.

[@alexasmachine]

Great video. Ty.

[@vikkibyington3066]

One of my favorite places. Peaceful driving around the cove.

[@feb221964]

Absolutely loved this. It was so sad it made my cry even thou I've never been there. Great part of history here. I am a McCully.

[@TheOneIndieGamer]

I was on vacation and I went to caves cove today, thought I would look at this, it was pretty interesting

[@Shawna_Seraphim]

Beautiful! Only wish recent generation respected the history more and hadn't vandalized all the remaining cabins by writing or carving their names into them.

[@ittybittykittymama7582]

My Daddy always said, "Fools' names, like fools' faces, always seen in public places." I think of those words when I see such beauty defaced that way.

[@sherrysimerly9884]

My mammaw was born in Cades Cove in 1916. I think I'm related to most in this video. Awesome to accidentally come across this

[@paularodery8074]

I KNOW I’m an old soul! Cades Cove speaks to my soul in a way no other place has. I’m descended from the Shields family from there.

[@darleneferree3887]

I bet those old cabins was cold in the winter time. enjoyed pics.

[@sheilam4964]

@Darlene Ferree - They all look to me to have been vacant for quite some time - by the time the pictures were taken. I suspect the pictures were taken to preserve the history of the place, to record who lived there and what their homes looked like, long after they were gone. I say this because the old log cabins were warm - while the fire was burning which was only during the daytime to save on wood. After all it takes up to a whole day to cut down one tree and chop it into firewood and then a year to let it dry out before you can use it so it was seldom "wasted" during the night.

[@RusticatedArt]

I love these old historical places!! These are the images that I love to draw! So much so I even wrote a book based around my art of the old abandoned structures where I live!! Great share Mike and so well done! I'll be checking out more of your content!! Rang the bell!

[@jimmiekeeling925]

Well this is amazing ,this area I can't explain but has always meant so much to me , I like lands edge but give me these mountain's anytime over your ocean, just have always forever loved this place, so much I got married in Gatlinburg, funny how life changes , she's gone, not dead just quit loving me , whatever I'm over the shock of that but I will never ever get over these mountain's, just a unreal peacefully feeling being there or watching the sun go down on clingman dome , from Augusta ,ga......so not really that far and I'm so glad because those mountains mean alot to this Georgia boy, in fact can tell you more about tenn...north Carolina than north Georgia mountains, pretty crazy I know, ain't been since 2012 oh it's pulling me bad, it's like my second home always will be , just a great feeling being in the mountains ,wife's gone , I don't care no more I was going there before she came into my life and hopefully will make it their this fall, GOD has been very good to me and saved me from bout being paralyzed in 2018, serious was in bad shape, I'm all good now can ride my MTN bike like before and my drumming has always been their for me , it's like I was just 22 up their with my best friend sadly Eddie is gone, lots of um are , don't really know why GOD has been good to me, I'm no one special, ,62 and trying to figure out WTF? IS really going on, like the world is just gone, serious....gone...sad but I don't know people but I will get back up there like always when I go...it's just heaven to me,after all this Dave paulides missing people I really don't think I can hike much no more, would be in the back of my head, oh shit hope I don't disappear here, I know a little 8 year old boy vanished off the ANDREWS BALD TRAIL , probably 15-2o years back , never found him, say what you will but people are vanishing on a what ever situation you want to call it ?where are these people going too? Portals , in shiny metal boxes ? Enuff jibberish, let's all stick together people think we have lots of unwanted shit coming out way , just leave the southern border wide ass open , no problem , every idiot , dick head and their cousins all are int....people they don't give a prayer bout us they just don't care, enuff of this jibberish, carry on......

[@Badfaith76]

Thank you for this! Cades Cove is my favorite place in the world!

[@isolated9376]

The way the music with the pictures go together. Good slideshow!

[@SandyzSerious]

Perfect music for this beautiful video.

[@richardmoon1852]

thanks again

[@nancyyonce2906]

Enjoyed the video very much!!! it has been a long time since I have been to Cades Cove/. I love it so much !!!

[@TheSWalks]

Nice research. Did you check out the museum in Bryson City? My SIL's family are "just over the hill" from Cade's Cove - his granny's place, built in the late 1800's, is still standing, and used for holidays. His first "job" was as a docent at Cade's Cove, and he always takes me there when I visit. We spend hours talking about the history. He's only in his 30's, but is very respectful of his family history.

[@kendrasmith6637]

Loved seeing this. Thank you. 😊

[@romevicki1]

Good video....music was peaceful.

[@robroy5729]

I did the bike ride around it!!! awesome place with so much history. Loved it, spent a week with family in TN smokey mountains. Cant wait to go back one day.

[@shawncarpenter3857]

Wow I have read about so many of these families. So interesting to see their actual homes. Particularly John Oliver's. He built so many innovative agricultural buildings

[@lykri3350]

That music wants me to be there. Like there is history there like no other. I grew up on a farm, but the work was much easier than they had.

[@ralfgroh2719]

Very good presentation. Thx!

[@WolfmanJack66]

Awesome!

[@homesteadgalloveshorses8302]

Cades Cove, TN was TAKEN by the Federal government through eminent domain to complete the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It is obvious from previous comments that no one has a clue of the history of Cades Cove or the wrong-doing of the government and the blatant lies from government 'officials' to the Cades Cove residents of that time. (Hey, people -- instead of complaining about 'creepy music' or leaving insignificant blather, educate yourself.)

[@ewing21139]

You tell them. they just don't know how to appreciate the symbolism of our past.

[@markmiller4503]

HomesteadGal LovesHorses The federal government admits to "relocating" the original settlers at Shenandoah national park way. They STOLE millions of acres of land because people from D.C. needed a retreat from the city. Than they have the gual to charge you 25$ to just drive through!

[@shayhouk8582]

Thanks for the info. I will look it up.

[@gonesideways6621]

Those that wanted to had lifetime rights to their homes.

[@unrulyjulie4382]

Mark Miller ... FTFY - gall

[@ibrake4butterflies733]

God’s most beautiful creation. To be blessed to live out all your born days in and around that cove and have free range of the mountains and it’s gifts is priceless. Thank you for this lovely respectful video.

[@BigRandyR]

Some of my kinfolk in this vid. Wish you had some Lanes in it too. Great video, thanks for taking the time and sharing

[@tlctammie1884]

fancy out house made me laugh, but at the same time I wish ours had been fancy too lol.... maybe a double sitter one lol.... but well we had the woods to go to if we couldn't wait.... thanks for the vid, have a great day....

[@ShlisaShell]

There was a pretty fancy out house at the old school in Mongo Indiana. (Before it was tore down). It had a boys and girls side each with one long bench and several shitter holes.

[@motorcityblacksheep121]

Am a direct relative of the Tiptons, thank you for this.

[@serdelag100]

Gives me a sense of how normal life may have been like before the Clampets moved out to Beverly Hills.

[@terrybane6206]

WOW !......................just wow. Appreciated

[@HeartDrums]

Amazing!

[@mlpenn54]

These houses and barns had to be built solid for them to last along time. Sur is perty , even hard work back em days.

[@jambisket9412]

Beautiful!

[@sim33009]

It looks like a home out of time.

[@kimousley7625]

The Tiptons from the area were my ancestors. It's really cool to see the pictures.

[@ittybittykittymama7582]

Beautiful pictures. Music was quite distracting and felt oddly out of place. Slow, sad mountain music would have been so much better! Enjoyable video, nevertheless. It's amazing how many more structures were there that the Park Service saw fit to remove. I've been to Cades Cove hundreds of times. As a local living in Sevier, Blount and, presently, in Knox County, I am constantly surprised by history of an area ai thought I knew like the back of my hand. The Smokies and the people who fought to wrestle out a life there long ago are constant sources of awe and amazement. Though it took the heart out of people to give up their homes, it is obvious that the Park Service actually saved the Cove and areas like it, such as Cataloochee Cove, across the mountains in North Carolina. When all is said and done, I think that the Park was and is a good thing. There would be golf courses and condos all over the mountains had the Park Service not stepped in. At least that's how this transplant into Tennessee soil sees it.

[@gofaraway]

Miss visiting my grandparents who lived on their mountain up Carr's Creek Road in Townsend, William Howard Odom and Sarah Ellen Odom. People of that place knee how to endure and make life happen

[@garychynne1377]

pretty amazing pictures

[@vic5828]

Thanks for assembling this video!

[@MrTrker1]

And just like that the government took it all away from the ones who built it very sad !!! I’ve been thru the coves several times it is breathtaking !

[@buddyanddaisy123]

Sad ..these houses saw love, life, joy and sorrows. the hill people were fiercely independent, but life was very hard..I saw one photo from 1957-is than when it was abandoned?

[@StevenTorrey]

While the area was taken by the Federal Government by eminent domain to create the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, it preserves the development for wilderness and prevents encroaching development for housing or cities.

[@susanmn744]

True... the Gov't seems to be able to take homes, land and the like from whomever they choose. It makes me feel sad to know people were forced from their homes, all for a park that brings in cash from tourists. They turned a beautiful,God created wonder into a flashing lights circus, in my view takes away from the beauty, referring to the parkway and Gatlinburg. I have to wonder what those original land owners thought about eminent domain. Just my 2 cents worth.

[@sharondavidson2581]

I loved seeing all these old places and people from long ago.Too bad their land was stolen by the government!

[@ShlisaShell]

thank you♥

[@unrulyjulie4382]

It made me very sad when I saw that so many homes didn't have glass in the windows and some had no windows at all! ☹️

[@thomassnapp1341]

Someone said that these "old cabins" would have been "cold" in the winters, but nothing could be farther from the truth. They had 14 to 16 inches of logs in diameter as insulation from the cold and they kept a good fire burning all night long. Plus, they had plenty of warm quilts to cover them. I've slept in such cabins and can tell you that they are comfy throughout the coldest of winter nights - just have to keep the fire burning.

[@Orchardlanes300]

They were cold. I know. The fires burned down in a couple hours and that draft in the chimney pulled the cold air in from everywhere. By morning, anything with water in t was frozen over. But those heavy quilts cuddled you and were warm. I remember my grandma tucking me in with 4 of those old handmade quilts on my bed. House was cold but I was warm as long as I stayed in bed. My grandpa built a fire at 4 or 5 AM and the house would be warm by 6 or 630.

[@gonesideways6621]

You are exactly right when we woke the water would be froze in washstands !

[@alansmlth7989]

You are forgetting one thing.These Old Houses have Cold Cold Cold Floors.How do in know? i live in a 100 year Old House.

[@goodtutt4733]

Thomas Snapp What if you had to pee? 😆

[@carywest9256]

@@goodtutt4733 You made it a point to empty your bladder before you went to bed.Common sense says a lot,learn by trial and error.

[@shelveybowman8195]

Luv cades cove great vedio

[@dwarlock1978]

It is a shame A lot of those houses and buildings are gone.

[@ralphcrosby9622]

Beautiful country there

[@aloekat]

Feels familiar home

[@zachpayne2637]

I live close to cades cove cool place

[@jackiewilburn3063]

2:21 my great great grandfather!

[@realityhappens4893]

RIP Mike

[@violetwilliamson1300]

Maybe the music wasnt blue grass...but it was peaceful...kind of like years gone by...i really enjoyed it!

[@pearlcaster8287]

The term "Blue-grass music" is an invention by commercialism that didn't exist before country music became gener classified. The music was a ballad.

[@macman1138]

Thanks for posting this video. Nice music, what is it?

[@christiantheocrat1667]

Weren't these people forced to give up their homes to creat Smokey Mountains national Park? National parks are a good thing; evicting people from their ancestral dwellings is not.

[@pearlcaster8287]

The Feds are still at it...Hackberry Flat in OK was changed from productive farms into a vast mosquito breeding reserve.

[@cornerstone403]

Weren't they bought out?

[@josiahwhisman7710]

cornerstone403 the government bought some of the land from people in cades cove who wanted to sell there land but if sole refused they would be taken to court which why would lose. Or they would be give “life leases” which meant you would own the land until you died and had to follow the park rules such as hunting restrictions, cutting logs, and trapping. They would also get paid less for their land if they signed a life lease.