| Sources |
- [S86] McCammon-Ammons-Click Funeral Home, (http://www.mccammonammonsclick.com/), 8 Jun 2011.
Wayne Arnold Tipton obituary
- [S106] The Mountain Press, 29 Jan 2015.
Wildlife Week session focuses on Elkmont
KENNETH BURNS
Elkmont post office, date unknown.
Missy Tipton Green, left, and Paulette Ledbetter speak about Elkmont Saturday at Wilderness Wildlife Week.
It was a remote mountain community. A thriving railroad settlement. A resort destination.
And these days, it’s a ghost town.
Like other formerly populated areas of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the Tennessee community of Elkmont is quiet now. The cabins there sit empty. Some are reasonably well preserved, and others appear to be returning to a state of nature.
Elkmont is the topic of a Wilderness Wildlife Week talk taking place Saturday, the weeklong event’s final day. “The Elkmont Community” will be presented by Blount County historians Missy Tipton Green and Paulette Ledbetter.
The presentation is scheduled for 2 p.m. in the LeConte Center at Pigeon Forge, Greenbrier Hall A. It will feature, Green noted, more than 100 photos of the Little River/Elkmont area.
Europeans first settled in the Elkmont vicinity in the mid 1800s, Green said. Lem Ownby, a descendent of early settlers, lived there into the 1980s.
The community expanded in the early years of the 20th century, when the Little River Railroad was extended to serve the lumber trade.
“Elkmont served as a hub for the logging community,” said Green, who noted that the park road serving Elkmont today is on the old railroad bed.
The area also began to thrive as a resort destination for visitors, who stayed in cabins and at the Wonderland Hotel; the cabins that still line the main drag are remnants of that time.
Green suggested that activity in the resort area was reminiscent of the 1987 film “Dirty Dancing,” which is set at a Catskills resort in the early 1960s.
“They had dancing and stuff for kids,” said Green, who noted that the area’s good hunting and fishing were a draw for visitors.
Families that owned Elkmont cabins had leases on them until the early 1990s, Green said.
Now the main drag in Elkmont is a fascinating, almost eerie place to visit, whether you’re staying at the nearby campground or hiking on one of several trails accessible from the Elkmont area.
In 2009, officials finalized a plan for managing the Elkmont Historic District, according to park spokesperson Dana Soehn.
“It was determined that we were going to save and restore 19 of the structures there that were all contributing to the district and telling the story,” she said.
Two have been restored, Soehn noted: the Appalachian Clubhouse and Spence Cabin.
The remaining 17 have been stabilized and will be restored “so people can walk in and see, like at Cades Cove and Oconaluftee,” Soehn said.
Other Elkmont structures are slated for demolition.
The restoration and demolition work will be done as funds come available. “We do as much as we are able to each year,” Soehn said.
In the meantime, Soehn said, wayside markers in the district tell visitors about the history of the area, and about future plans.
Missy Tipton Green is descended from early settlers in Tuckaleechee Cove and Cades Cove. “My grandfather was born and grew up in Cades Cove,” she said.
She and Ledbetter met via their work on Cades Cove preservation, Green said. Ledbetter likewise is descended from early settlers of Tuckleechee Cove, and of Wears Cove.
The two have collaborated on several books of local history, including “Cades Cove” and “Townsend,” both in Arcadia Publishing’s “Images of America” series.
They are longtime participants at Wilderness Wildlife Week. “It’s very informative,” Green said of the event. “And diverse, with all the different themes they have going on.”
Wilderness Wildlife Week runs through Saturday in the LeConte Center at Pigeon Forge. For information on remaining events, visit mypigeonforge.com/events/wilderness-wildlife-week.
kburns@themountainpress.com
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, d. 8 Jun 2011, Blount Memorial Hospital, Maryville, Blount County, Tennessee 