Cades Cove Landscape: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Great Smoky Mountains National Park - Cades Cove Subdistrict, National Park Service

Hasty, David; Wheeler, Beth; Fogelquist, Sara

Cades Cove is a 6,800-acre valley nestled in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park of Eastern Tennessee, its outer boundary defined by the 2000’ contour elevation. Completely surrounded by mountains, contemporary access to the valley is from the northeast via a winding road that parallels Laurel Creek. The vernacular landscape consists of several distinct qualities that work in unison to create the pastoral ambiance of Cades Cove. These features include an open, grassy valley floor enclosed by steep, wooded mountains; Abrams Creek and its two main branches that drain the valley; three c. 1830s roads that at one time provided access to the cove, and a valley loop road that connects several historic homes, churches and a mill. Cades Cove is listed in the National Register with a period of significance from 1800-1899, historically important as a representation of early settlement and later development of the Appalachian South. Prior to European settlement, the Cherokees were the dominant tribe in the region. The Calhoun Treaty (1819) opened the area to white settlement, and in 1818 John Oliver moved from Carter County, Tennessee to settle. Cades Cove exemplifies a typical settlement pattern the region: the kinship-based dispersed hamlet, or a cluster of settlements determined by geographic features and family relations. Self-reliance and mutual assistance characterized community life, and strong ties to the land and homeplace were evident. The cultural landscape period of significance is identified as 1818-1942, extended to include the Park Development Era improvements. The historic condition of the valley was a subsistence agricultural community with external access via three roads that traversed the northwestern, western, and southwestern mountains. The cleared valley floor was divided into small and large agricultural fields and pastureland for grazing animals. The lower slopes of the mountains were cleared for crops and working wood lots. Cattle and sheep grazed on the high mountain balds above the valley. Homesteads, churches, schools, mills, stores, and cemeteries were connected via a loop road that encircled the open valley floor. The existing landscape character primarily depicts the Park Development Era master plan and its interpretation of the cove "pioneer" settlement. Because the original development emphasis of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park was protection of natural resources, the current condition of the landscape has been substantially altered from the historic landscape. Since the park's establishment in 1926, park natural resource specialists have made a concerted effort to "restore" the valley to its natural state, including the removal of many farm structures and interpretation of a mythic “pioneer” mountain culture. Implementation of the 1938 Master Plan also altered public access to the cove, improving alignment and quality of the old Laurel Creek Road to enhance the visitor’s aesthetic experience. Construction of the new Laurel Creek Road, completed in 1950, follows portions of the original alignment while also allowing access to new tourist facilities. All the roads are considered contributing features of the historic landscape. Vegetation patterns are also a contributing factor of the historic landscape at Cades Cove. Many areas of the valley floor retain the open feeling of its historic period. There has also been an effort to remove the physical manipulations of Abrams Creek and restore the wetland on the western end of the cove, and native grasses have been restored to the cove floor.

Cades Cove Landscape: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Great Smoky Mountains National Park - Cades Cove Subdistrict, National Park Service

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