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In March 2018, we visited Beverly’s sister in Sevierville, TN (for those not familiar, ‘Sevier’ is pronounced like ‘severe’). She and her husband were kind enough to take us to the historic town of Elkmont in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park to see some of the early houses being preserved.

History¹

Elkmont is an historic district located in the upper Little River Valley of the Great Smoky Mountains in Sevier County, Tennessee. Over time, the valley became home to a pioneer Appalachian community, a logging town, and a resort community. Today, the remains of the historic district are maintained by the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

The Little River Lumber Company established the town of Elkmont in 1908 as a base for its logging operations in the upper Little River and Jakes Creek areas. By 1910, the company began selling plots of land to hunting and fishing enthusiasts from Knoxville, who established the “Appalachian Club” just south of the logging town. In 1912, the Wonderland Park Hotel, a resort hotel, was constructed on a hill overlooking Elkmont. A group of Knoxville businessmen purchased the Wonderland in 1919 and established the “Wonderland Club.” Over the next two decades, the Appalachian Club and Wonderland Club evolved into elite vacation areas where East Tennessee’s wealthy could gather and socialize.

Upon the creation of the national park in the 1930s, most of Elkmont’s cottage owners were given lifetime leases. These were converted to 20-year leases in 1952, and renewed in 1972. The National Park Service refused to renew the leases in 1992, and under the park’s general management plan, the hotel and cottages were to be removed. However, in 1994, the Wonderland Hotel and several dozen of the Elkmont cottages were listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Elkmont Historic District, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, sparking a 15-year debate over the fate of the historic structures. In 2009, the National Park Service announced plans to restore the Appalachian Clubhouse and 18 cottages and outbuildings in the Appalachian Club area (which were older and more historically significant) and remove all other structures, including the Wonderland Annex (the main hotel had collapsed in 2005). The Appalachian Clubhouse and the cabins are all located along Jakes Creek Rd. B in the National Park.

The featured photo above is of the Addicks Cabin and the other cabins in the More Photos section below include Adamless Eden (which was built as a playhouse), and the Levi Trentham Log Cabin (which was moved from another location). Adamless Eden is immediately to the left of the Addicks Cabin when viewed from the front.
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¹ Much of this information from Wikipedia

More Information

National Park Service – Elkmont

The NPS website has a very good history of Elkmont with period photos. Visit the Elkmont page at Great Smoky Mountains NP and click on “View Full Screen” for the best viewing experience. The page has text in the left column and the photos and maps change as the text is scrolled. In Sections 18 through 22, there is an interactive map that shows small pictures of the various structures when the associated structure is clicked on the map.

Addicks Cabin and Adamless Eden

There is information about the Addicks Cabin and Adamless Eden at the website of Joseph K. Oppermann – Architect, P.A., an architect who did work for the National Park Service with respect to some of the Elkmont cabins.

Until the 1970’s the Addicks cabin was the Spence-Thomas Cabin. The Knoxville News-Sentinel (Knoxville, Tennessee) published a photo of Eleanor Spence Thomas and her son, Edwin Cary Thomas “Enjoying Mountain Breezes at Elkmont” on Aug 3, 1941. View the Knoxville News-Sentinel clipping.