GSMNP Elkmont News

“Laurel's a big fan of the Thomas characters. It sounds like the whole event is the same as the LETC, but a different train. It was fun for her.”

“Ewker, to me it was worth the cost.

Would I do it again? Yes, I think I would.”

“

"My only complaint is that I wish more of the campgrounds took reservations."
dayhiker

This past year they took reservations at Cosby CG. At least they were doing it in September/October. They had small Tags on some sites that identified them as Reserved Sites. But a lot of people would do as before: Drive around, locate an empty site, go back to the entrance, sign up and pay for the sight, missing the reservations information posted on or above a bulletin board, return and occupy the site. Usually, they would then discover the Tag at the site, but since they had paid, they would stay. The later arrival, with the reservation, would then have to find another site.

I cannot find any information about this on the GSMNP Site, so I do not know if they are still doing it. I did meet two groups there last fall that found their sites occupied by other campers.”

“Cosby is now listed on the online reservation site. Thanks for the tip.

I've also thought about trying Smokemont. It gives easy access to the high elevation areas. Deep Creek might do the same and it puts me by Bryson City if I want to eat out instead of dealing with Cherokee.”

“I haven't stayed at Deep Creek but I did pass thru it to check it out last summer. To freaking loud, to many people and tents right on top of each other.”

“Cataloochee is be great for the children. But it frequently fills up on weekends, especially Holiday Weekends. An hour or two after the CG is full, a Full Sign will be placed at the gap near the top of the mountain at the entrance into the Park. There may be one placed near the turn-off from highway 276, too.

Besides the Developed Campsite, Cataloochee has a separate Horsecamp and a separate Groupcamp. They are in different locations from the main campground.

Local folks will sometimes drive out there on Wednesday or Thursday, pay for a site for the extra days and the weekend and leave a trailer or tent on their site. That way they will have a site for the weekend. I don't think this is legal, but the rule is not enforced, normally. Most of the local folks are great, so please don't try to screw things up for them. I like to be there on opening day each year, if possible.

The five year experiment with the re-entroduction of Elk should be ended. I'm waiting for the report. I hope they get rid of the Elk, as it will cut down the traffic to Cataloochee.

They are planning to expand with 6-8 walk-in sites beyond the far end of the campground, plus add a picnic area somewhere and another bathroom. All the impact studies, etc., have been conducted during the past five or so years.”

“Most of the local folks are great, so please don't try to screw things up for them

Excuse me? How might I do that?

Thanks for the info.”

“Cataloochee Campground is not all horses. There is a separate horse section and some of the trails out of that area are totally screwed up from horse traffic. But the main campground is not a horse camp. But expect to see lots of horses and expect to slog through totally ruined trails to get to foot travel-only trails.

Cataloochee has some of the finest forests in the park. The Boogerman Grove is a must-see. There are also lots and lots of bears in that section of the park. In the summer, there are about three back country campsites in that section that routinely get shut down due to problem bears.

That's also, of course, where the elk are. I've been in there three times and every time I've seen the elk. Usually just the cows, but once I saw two big bulls.”

“Someone say Cosby?

As fate would have it, I was at the Three Way Inn yesterday.

Beer was cold, only cost a buck fifty and some dude brought in his guitar and played for free.

Hell of a way to spend an afternoon.”

“I was at the Three Way Inn yesterday.

Beer was cold, only cost a buck fifty and some dude brought in his guitar and played for free.

Hell of a way to spend an afternoon.”
chili
8:55:35 PM
2/08/06

so who was the 3rd, hope you weren't in the middle”

“Well, in this case, Three Way refers to the juction of the road.




However......




Well........I think I need another beer.”

“The five year experiment with the re-entroduction of Elk should be ended. I'm waiting for the report. I hope they get rid of the Elk, as it will cut down the traffic to Cataloochee.

nowslimmer
11:05:41 AM
2/08/06

shame on you! but i get it. you should see the fools lined up on the roadside in their suv's and bigass 4wd trucks in Rocky Mtn NP every fall to observe the rut in Morraine Park.

It is quite the spectacle I'm sure, but I've not had the nerve to test my patience with the crowds of tourons.”

“I heard some of the realtors talking about this morning. Maybe they will be selling to some of them.”

“what were the realtors saying about this morning?”

“I don't know WTF she could be talking about. The NPS took the property. Can you possibly imagine the backlash from selling it off?

I don't think so.
last edited: 2/09/06 11:19:30 PM”

“Rentals, perhaps. Bush does want more money from the Park!”

“There are abundant accomodations, cabins, motels and campgrounds, near the park

and with the GSMNP being of such a limited extent

I feel the clutter at Elkmont might well just be cleared away.”

“It would take more to renovate those cabins than they are worth.

I have always figured they would save a few, let the rest fall in and in another 100 years it would be like looking at John Oliver's cabin is today.”

“I went to a public hearing on the Elmont options on Saturday.

Sadly enough there were only a dozen people there.

Of the ten options, I think the one supported by the NPS (to keep a few cabins for historic value; raze the rest; and tear down the old Hotel) is the best plan.

The plans ranged from total removal of all buildings to renovation of the Hotel and cabins for rental purposes.

Nobody voiced any support for anything beyond plan C.

I have the entire EIS on a disc if anyone wants it. It sure beats trying to download it from the NPS website.”

“That's really too bad. At least some of the buildings will be saved. There will probably be a public outcry once the buildings start to be demoed, unfortunately it will be too late. People often don't understand how important a place means until after it is lost.

What is on the disk?”

“The entire Evironmental Impact Study along with the various plans.

Plan C would save the cluster of cabins on the west side closest to the campground.

The various cabins along Little River would be removed.”

“when is removal slated for?”

“I think the final decision is scheduled for late summer/early fall.

I wouldn't be surprised if a court battle didn't follow from some environmental group trying to get all of the cabins torn down.

There was a court reporter there from the Engineering firm working for the NPS (I suppose they need to keep a transcript of the hearings), but there was another there as well.”

“Park looks to maintain history through Elkmont
By ELIZABETH DAVIS, Associated Press Writer
April 23, 2006


GATLINBURG, Tenn. (AP) - Nestled behind the most popular campground in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park stand the rickety remains of a rustic vacation community that began before the park was established and thrived for 80 years.
Still visible are 74 buildings, including the Wonderland Hotel, the Appalachian Clubhouse and cabins that make up the Elkmont Historic District, a logging community that was turned into a summer resort area around 1910.

When a movement to create a national park out of privately owned mountain ranges along the Tennessee and North Carolina border began in the 1920s, some Elkmont owners helped spearhead the project while others opposed the idea. Their mountain hideaway has been a source of controversy in the park ever since.

The owners worked out deals to keep using their property after the park was created and they continued vacationing there until most leases ended in 1992.

Since then, the buildings have been deserted while the National Park Service has wrestled over what to do with them. The plans have ranged from tearing down Elkmont to restoring the buildings for public use.

"Elkmont has been front and center as an issue in the park for 15 years," said Gary Wade, a member of the volunteer group Friends of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

"We have members that would love to see the Wonderland reconstructed, rebuilt. We have members that would prefer to see the structures removed. So we have supporters that pretty much reflect the general public."

The park published a draft environmental impact statement assessing several alternatives earlier this year.

Park officials now say they prefer an option that retains the Appalachian Clubhouse, 15 cabins near it in an area called Daisy Town, a cabin awarded to one of the park's founders by President Franklin Roosevelt and a larger cabin on so-called Millionaire's Row that once belonged to Col. W.B. Townsend, head of the logging company that established Elkmont.

The Appalachian Clubhouse would be restored for day use and exhibits would explain the history of Elkmont. The plan would cost about $5.7 million.

Park officials are gathering public reaction to that plan until May 11 and hope to announce a final decision by early 2007.

Work on some of the structures could begin immediately while restoration could take longer depending on available funding, Smokies spokesman Bob Miller said.

The buildings are in poor shape today, although it is easy to imagine their heyday.

Townsend's cabin by the Little River features a chimney built of rounded river stones and salmon-colored wood siding is complemented with turquoise trim.

A screen door recently stood wide open next to a sign reading "U.S. Property. No Trespassing." A charred cigarette box in the fireplace and old beer cans in the kitchen showed some people entered anyway.

The Wonderland Hotel is set for demolition under every plan. Its once-inviting verandah is hidden by its collapsed roof that reveals a shower stall and two toilets perched on the second floor. A chain-link fence keeps visitors away.

Elkmont, which now is the site for the most used campground in the Smokies, is located about six miles from the visitors center near Gatlinburg and about 70 miles from Knoxville.

The area was used as a logging camp in the 1880s. A railroad was built by 1908 and a few years later it was taking visitors to the newly opened Appalachian and Wonderland clubs.

Noteworthy cabin owners included Austin Peay, Tennessee's governor in the mid-1920s. Other families spent weeks or months during the summer at the hotel and cabins.

Congress in 1926 authorized the creation of the national park, and Tennessee and North Carolina began acquiring private land. Townsend sold 76,000 acres to the government to create the core of the park, which was officially established in 1934 but not dedicated by Roosevelt until 1940.

Private landowners throughout the park faced a choice of keeping their land for a lifetime lease or selling it all to the government.

Many in Elkmont chose a lifetime lease in 1932, and they were not allowed to make significant changes to the structures although some cabins changed hands.

The park granted 20-year lease extensions in 1952 and 1972. Most of those ran out in 1992, although three remaining leases expired in 1996 and 2001.

"It's fabulous to me the interplay of all the events. What they did, bottom line, was 100 years later we have an intact turn-of-the-century Appalachian community still here," said Lynn Faust, who grew up spending summers in Elkmont and later married into a family that leased one of the cabins.

She favors rebuilding the Wonderland Hotel and opening it and some cabins for public use.

"A lot of history has already been forgotten, and it's hard to get people to fight for something they don't even know is being lost," Faust said. "The visitors from Virginia or from Florida or Japan or wherever don't realize the opportunity that's not here for them that was there for them in 1992."

Other groups are concerned about funding, because the park already has a maintenance backlog estimated at over $100 million.

Environmentalists also are concerned. The Little River runs along the settlement and is considered an "Outstanding National Resources Water" for its cleanliness. Several plant species make up a "montane alluvial forest," which is considered by The Nature Conservancy to be rare and in jeopardy.

The Sierra Club's official position is to remove all the structures.

The National Parks Conservation Association has been open to allowing a small number of buildings.

"What we don't want to see is the park service taking on this commitment to rehab and maintain those structures in Elkmont only to discover that they can't follow through," said Greg Kidd, the association's associate southeast regional director.

Meanwhile, the cabins remain empty.

"I thought a number of those buildings were unique, and I was interested in seeing the preservation," said Gatlinburg architect Tom Trotter, who never stayed at Elkmont. "I see the park service's dilemma. ... They have a hard time maintaining the buildings they are in charge of today."”

“This appears to me to be a good balance between history and environment.”

“Thanks for posting the article Ewker.”

“Nice article. When I heard they were going to shut down the Wonderland, my wife and I decided to spend two nights there. We were among the last guests there. I wanted to experience one of the last hotels still operating in an eastern National Park before it closed its doors forever. I think the old lodges are a relic of a bygone era, and only some of the western parks are going to retain them. It was nice to say that I was able to be among the last guests at the Wonderland, but it was a ghost of its former self in those final days. Very rustic. We had a nice stay and it was rather sad to know that it was about to become just an empty building and subject to slow deteriortation from the elements.”

“

"I've wondered about Cataloochee. My perception is that it's all horse campers, ..."
dayhiker

dayhiker - Fear not! FYI, the Cataloochee Horse Camp, and the other horse camps, are separate from the park's 10 developed campgrounds.”