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

Hasty, David; Wheeler, Beth; Fogelquist, Sara

The Henry Whitehead Homestead is a .62-acre component landscape of the Cades Cove District, part of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Eastern Tennessee. The site is accessible by a footpath adjacent to a gravel parking area off Forge Creek Road. The homestead contains features typical of a Cades Cove farmstead, including a log cabin (built in two stages) and smokehouse, the springhouse foundation, and remnant fields. Along with other homesteads in the cove, the Henry Whitehead Homestead reflects the early settlement and continuing evolution of a southern Appalachian farming community. It is also significant as an example of the vernacular architecture of farm buildings, and for the National Park Service (NPS) Park Development Era interpretation of the Cades Cove “pioneer” culture. The period of significance for the site begins in 1881 with the first stage of construction on the log cabin. Matilda Shields Gregory acquired the title to the 50-acre tract in 1882 after her three brothers had built the first (back) section of the house for her. She married Henry Whitehead in 1887, and the front of the house was added about eight years later. The period of significance extends to 1942 to include the Park Development Era improvements. The existing landscape character primarily depicts the Park Development Era 1938 master plan and its interpretation of the cove "pioneer" settlement. The NPS decided to make the Henry Whitehead Homestead a "field exhibit of mountain culture." Due to the homestead's more remote location, the historic landscape has been less severely impacted than those sites encircling the loop road. Since the house was built in two stages, its structure represents changing building techniques of the area. The first stage was constructed of rough-hewn logs. The second stage was built of sash sawn logs with a handmade brick chimney, and it remains the only example of log construction using sawn timbers in Cades Cove. An open area of mowed grass is maintained around the cabin. With its location farther up the cove, this site does not include any portions of the open valley floor. It does feature a stream, which was a factor in site selection and therefore contributes to the character of the site. The wooded area surrounding the homestead consists of a white pine/tulip poplar forest, indicating that a large portion of this site may have been cleared in the past for pasture or rowcrops. The house and smokehouse have been restored and rehabilitated, most recently being the smokehouse restoration in 1976.

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

Series

Collections