Elkmont Will Shine: Cabins and conflict in the Smokies

[@chuckhunter5184]

Last November I went to elkmont. At the camp ground the two park rangers told me everything was gone. A long drive from Texas to be laid too this spring I will be there.

[@morningdewgarden7432]

Elkmont is not gone. There are still some cabins there.

[@theelizabethan1]

@@morningdewgarden7432 A mere shadow....

[@jeanninewill1173]

This is fascinating. We hiked here today, and saw large chimneys. Researched why they were there and found this. Thank you.

[@mikemanjo2458]

So sad to see history destroyed. It was a beautiful place. At least a few buildings and the stories remain. (Jane)

[@savagenomore]

leave it to the Feds and some utility company to screw up a good thing....

[@Marimilitarybrat]

This is nauseating

[@doriarnette2757]

Why?

[@annietomsik3717]

I think i would have moved my cabin. 😢 I know how you feel. My sister inherited my family home. She sold it and the new owner tore down.

[@colleenhelminiak1429]

Such a sad waste of history 😢 When Theodore Roosevelt started the National Parks, I am sure that he would not have tolerated the destruction of these cabins - it was a piece of living history. Without the past, we would have no future. This is heartbreaking - so much history, so many memories, torn down in just a few days. How do we teach our children and grandchildren about the past if we have nothing left to show them?

[@judyhinojosa6751]

Stacey you have not film with Patty. You girls make a great team and the guys are great 👍😀 also. Maybe you could visit the cabins again. Everybody have great Videos 👌😍.

[@mikel917]

Dang, that is some annoying music. Good report though.

[@drunkenconspiracy6534]

Elkmount will shine forever bwahahahahaha some hillbilly sounding ridiculousness

[@thrashmetal7588]

Tree hugging hippies disgust me! It all should have been saved!

[@LarryVickery]

Sad and not necessary to destroy this historic place. We had a chance to spend the night at Wonderland Hotel in the 1980's and never did it. We did eat a meal there and sat for a while on the front porch.

[@christinestange4813]

Only fools destroy this type of history.

[@secretdaisy6484]

The government can screw up the simplest thing. This is just sad. 👎

[@kaylieornelas8044]

Thank you for the great history lesson of elckmont

[@janemann3045]

Before Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg became famous common country people lived there.There is still a lot of people that live in those mountains by the old way

[@SuperKaren1953]

Makes me sick that they destroyed Elkmont. So many memories.

[@EastTennesseeBowman]

Great video! Thanks for sharing the story of Elkmont with the world!

[@JanColdwater]

EastTennesseeBowman East Tennessee is so beautiful. What a tragedy what happened to Elkmont. It hurts my heart to see history torn down, no matter where it is. They are all stories that generations of the future can learn from.

[@nancygalloway5341]

thank u to the uploader. i just watched a vid by urban explorers who went through all the empty houses and seeing this doc cleared up what had happened. it is very sad & wasteful, i believe. i especially felt so bad for the older gentleman who had always taken care of the cabins to have been made to leave after spending his life there. thank u again & God bless :)

[@janiceyoung2004]

Thanks for sharing the gist of this Beautiful Community with us

[@TheEAGLESEYES007]

such a beautiful place those folks shouldn't have been forced to leave their homes

[@wmcbarker4155]

banks get what ever they want

[@googleuser868]

Dirty damn shame to let that weather away like that.

[@vanessamartin9764]

How can they say it has no historical value?? Something else was going on.

[@bigboomer1013]

Couldn't they just restore it?

[@jamesellsworth9673]

Elkmont seems to have been a community of summer cottages for well-to-do families who otherwise lived a good distance from the development. As such, there would be less local sympathy and less political support for saving the enclave. Had it been organized as a denominational church summer community it might have been easier to preserve. I'm thinking of summer communities organized for church retreats along the New Jersey Shore or in The Thousand Islands. Thousand Island Park was further organized as a municipality with year-round management on site. These days, economic growth in Sevier County might have allowed the transformation of Elkmont into a year-round community with a core population of retirees. That would have required creating the place as a municipality or as a Historic District within the Park.

[@ems390]

The park service deserves no respect. They almost always say theyll one thing, then do another and screw over entire communities.

[@leogirl9290]

This is so disturbing, and all too little too late when finally deciding to save history. Literally makes me sick. You are wrong why would understanding it's past make someone value it's future?

[@SmokyMountainStarlight]

Wow, ⭐ Jim Matheny, What an AMAZING job you did putting all this into perspective, this must have been alot of work to put this all together. Thank you, what a story!

[@mildredrharmon4032]

My family was from there

[@slofootcrofoot]

Nice coverage

[@rome1205]

Some of the best moonshine in the country made by a black man name Jeff

[@westrig180]

That narrator needed to leave his TV voiceover at the studio and use a more honest tone of voice, He sounds like a damn commercial !