Voorheis Estate (Twin Creeks): Cultural Landscape Inventory, Great Smoky Mountains National Park - North District, National Park Service

Hasty, David; The Jaeger Company, Contractor; Pond and Company, Contractor

The Voorheis Estate is a cultural landscape located within the North District of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The 38-acre site encompasses the former mountain retreat that was developed by Cincinnati businessman and socialite Louis E. Voorheis between 1928 and 1944. The property, which contains less than one percent of the land in the 521,490-acre park, is located off Cherokee Orchard Road approximately one mile from Gatlinburg, Tennessee. The Voorheis Estate is an example of the rustic style of building and landscape architecture, evident throughout the landscape in the form of structures and designed water features. The intentional use of natural materials (hand-hewn logs, cedar shingles, and fieldstone) along with sound workmanship and design help convey the rustic character that Voorheis consciously sought to establish on his estate, in both the buildings and the designed landscape features. Voorheis designed his landscape and structures in a manner that expressed appreciation of mountain heritage and the natural environment. For example, Voorheis incorporated the natural movement of water in his landscape design, emphasizing the creeks and springs that flowed through the estate. He primarily used native materials, namely wood and stone, in the construction of retaining walls, steps, water features, a swimming pool, buildings, and wooden bridges. Additionally, he designed plantings using numerous flowers, shrubs, and tree varieties to achieve multiple aims: ornamental color, visual character, fruit production, shade trees, and outlining walks with seasonal color. The Voorheis Estate is significant as an example of an early twentieth-century resort, and it is unique for its location within the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the design of its structures and landscape, and the materials and workmanship used in construction. It represents how private individuals would have developed the land within park boundaries had the Great Smoky Mountains National Park not been created. It also provides examples of rustic architecture and landscape architecture in Tennessee. In 1932, Voorheis deeded the property as a gift to NPS, subject to a lifetime lease. In 1952, NPS assumed full management of the property. The period of significance for this inventory unit has been established to be 1928-1952, when the property was under Voorheis’s ownership and maintenance. Development of the resort took place at a time when land was being acquired for the new Great Smoky Mountain park, causing some concern to officials acting for the State of Tennessee and the National Park Service (NPS). In a general context, the period of the estate’s development falls within a period of recreation and tourism development (1900-1933) in the park region. Today the Voorheis Estate consists of the main house, two guest cabins, a horse barn, and an apple barn, as well as remnants of numerous designed landscape features. The NPS has removed several buildings and some historic landscape plantings over the years, and a lack of maintenance has allowed most of the landscape features to fall into disrepair. Beginning in the early 1950s, the NPS began using the buildings as park residential quarters, facilities for park scientists, storage, and as a venue for meetings and special events. Current park management practices are allowing portions of the historic designed landscape to return to a successional forest. Existing historic documentation does not provide enough information to recreate the historic landscape. Despite changes to the historic landscape, the Voorheis Estate still retains integrity with most buildings in good condition and the historic circulation patterns relatively unchanged.

Voorheis Estate (Twin Creeks): Cultural Landscape Inventory, Great Smoky Mountains National Park - North District, National Park Service

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