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Ridge upon ridge of endless
forest straddle the border between North Carolina and Tennessee in Great
Smoky Mountains National Park, one of the largest protected areas in the
Eastern United States. World renowned for the diversity of its plant and
animal life, the beauty of its ancient mountains, the quality of its
remnants of Southern Appalachian mountain culture, and the depth and
integrity of its wilderness sanctuary, the park attracts over nine million
visitors each year. Once a part of the Cherokee homeland, the Smokies
today are a hiker's paradise with over 800 miles of trails. The trails
range from easy to difficult and provide half hour walks to week-long
backpacking trips. The Appalachian Trail runs for 70 miles along the
Park's top ridge. Pets are not allowed on any trails except for the
Gatlinburg Trail and the Oconaluftee River Trail. Backcountry camping
requires a permit. Prior to 1819,
Cades Cove was part of the Cherokee Nation. The Cherokee called the cove
Tsiyahi, "place of the river otter." In addition to river otters, elk and
eastern bison lived in the Cove. Most large animals were extirpated before
white settlement. The Cherokee tried to integrate European technologies
and culture with their own. They built log and frame houses, attended
school and by 1820 had a written language. The 1830 U.S. census showed
more than 1,000 slaves working on Cherokee plantations.
Despite the Cherokee's lifestyle, many
Americans wanted to move all Indians west of the Mississippi River. The
discovery of gold on Cherokee lands in Georgia, and Andrew Jackson's rise
to the Presidency, led to Indian removal and the tragic "Trail of Tears."
More than 14,000 Cherokees left the Southern Appalachians in 1838. Less
than 10,000 reached Oklahoma. Some of the Cherokee refused to move and hid
in the Smoky Mountain wilderness. In the 1870s the Eastern Band of the
Cherokee reclaimed some of their lands in western North Carolina. This
land is known today as the Qualla Boundary.
By 1850 the American population of Cades
Cove reached 685 men, women, and children. Settlers farmed the rich
fertile limestone-based soils, shopped at local general stores, and made
frequent trips to nearby Tuckaleechee Cove, now Townsend, TN. With five
roads in and out of the cove, the settlers were not as isolated as the
cove appears today.
The majority of Cades Cove residents
supported the United States during the Civil War. Harassed by their
confederate neighbors, cove families welcomed the end of the war and a
return to their rural lifestyle. Churches and schools provided a social
and spiritual education to young and old alike. Sacred Harp singing
schools attracted hundreds of outsiders to the cove each year and many
cove residents sent their children to colleges in communities outside the
cove.
But America was expanding westward, and
the cove population never recovered its pre-war growth and numbers. In
1900 the logging industry brought wage employment and added income to the
mountain people. Alcoa opened its first factories in nearby Maryville, TN,
and more and more people began to leave the area. The establishment of the
Great Smoky Mountains National Park continued the outward migration from the Cove that ended in
1999 when the last resident, Kermit Caughron, died.
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