Methodist Church and Cemetery: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Great Smoky Mountains National Park - Cades Cove Subdistrict, National Park Service

Hasty, David; Wheeler, Beth; Fogelquist, Sara

The Methodist Church and Cemetery is a .5-acre component landscape of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, located north of the Cades Cove Loop Road in Eastern Tennessee. Access to the property, sited on the crest of a hill, is by a pea gravel dirt path adjacent to the loop road. The site features a church and cemetery bounded by a post-and-wire fence. The path that provides access to the site also provides pedestrian circulation around the cemetery and connects with a secondary trail that historically led to the Feezell property. One of the earliest symbols of a community in a typical cove settlement was the establishment of churches, and social life revolved around church services, Sunday school, revival meetings, grave decoration, church suppers, weddings, and funerals. The period of significance for this particular site begins in 1840, with the construction of a log meeting house, and extends to 1942, to include the Park Development Era improvements and interpretations of the Cades Cove “pioneer” culture. The Methodist Church is significant as a resource related to the early settlement and ongoing evolution of a southern Appalachian farming community. It also serves as an example of the vernacular architecture of farm building in the region. Churches were typically small and one room, given the small congregation size and emphasis on singing and preaching. The Cades Cove Methodists may have organized as early as 1824. Few records exist from the time the log meeting house was built in 1840 until 1878, and in 1880 a small group separated to form the Hopewell Methodist Church. In 1902, the Cades Cove Methodist Church constructed the present front-gable frame building with a pyramidal bell turret and flared spire. Other existing landscape features include the cemetery, headstones, and road traces. The cemetery is likely the second oldest church burial plot in the cove. During the early park years, the National Park Service (NPS) decided to make Cades Cove an "Outdoor Museum of Mountain Culture," focusing on the "pioneer" stage of development. Since the Methodist Church located in the cove was of frame construction, it was scheduled for removal, but the congregation agreed to maintain it at their own expense. A Special Use Permit for the Methodist Church was in effect until 1971, at which time the park assumed maintenance and preservation responsibilities. It is not known what changes to the historic landscape occurred prior to 1971. The circulation system around the cemetery was rehabilitated in 1991 to correct erosion problems and to keep visitors off the graves, and does not reflect any historic configuration. It is not known if the fencing at the site is reflective of the historic period. The area surrounding the church and cemetery is an open fescue field. The ascending slopes north of the site include a forest of Virginia and white pine, hemlock, maple, and tulip poplar.

Methodist Church and Cemetery: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Great Smoky Mountains National Park - Cades Cove Subdistrict, National Park Service

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