Brian Shults and I met up in Cades Cove again this week. We found this rather large male Smoky Mtns Black Bear feeding on acorns in the woods. The two of us circled round and round this guy while he ate his lunch, but it was nearly impossible to get him to strike a photogenic…
William “Fighting Billy” Tipton was Revolutionary War veteran and the first of the Tipton clan to acquire land in the Smoky Mountains. This was in the 1820s under Tennessee’s Land Grant program. Colonel Hamp Tipton, a veteran of the Civil War, built the two story cabin above in the early 1870s. Miss Lucy and Miss…
It seems like every year as we move from August to September, all the signs suddenly point to the end of summer. In these Smoky Mountains photos of buck deer in Cades Cove, you can almost feel what they feel. The easy days are slipping away … the days of fattening up on lush grass…
Today is my wife, Sarah’s birthday. Happy Birthday Sarah! Last week we got up very early … before 5am … and drove over to Cades Cove to walk along the Loop Rd as the sun came up. It was one of the days when the loop is closed to car traffic until 10am, which makes…
Some of the best Smoky Mountains photos of deer and bear that I have seen are those of photographer Brian Shults. I’d been wanting to meet up with Brian to get some tips on wildlife photography, which is a specialty requiring a whole different strategy than what I’m used to. But even though we both…
The sunflowers family is a big one, with 20 species known to inhabit Tennessee, and 7 of those found within the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. On a tour of the Cades Cove Loop Road, you will see many of these. Early one morning recently, I made the loop, stopping constantly to investigate yet another…
I don’t normally do weddings, or even portraits. But a few weeks ago Julia contacted me, saying that her fiance Robert was returning from duty in Afghanistan and they would be married in Cades Cove. She liked my Smoky Mountain landscapes and asked if I could take some photos like the ones on my web…
Cades Cove Morning is a fairly new addition to the William Britten Gallery, taken from Hyatt Lane in the Cades Cove section of the Smoky Mountains. This photo was taken just after 7:00, when the morning was bathed in a golden, syrupy light, and the mist still lingering on the valley floor. This photo draws…
The photo above was taken by Dutch Roth on a trip with the Smoky Mountains Hiking Club. The group is shown in front of the John Oliver Lodge in Cades Cove. Oliver was one of the last residents of Cades Cove to give up his land to the new National Park, fighting all the way…
It’s time for another free Smoky Mountains wallpaper! This is early morning on a misty spring morning in Cades Cove. So peaceful, the day just getting started, full of promise. This photo, and all other Smoky Mountains wallpaper, can be downloaded from http://williambritten.com/wallpaper/ Just click on the file name “Cades-Cove-Morning-Wall.jpg” and then once the large image…
Can a person ever get too much Cades Cove or Smoky Mountains? No need to answer … I find myself drawn back these days over and over to see what’s happening. Mostly it’s been all about pictures of deer this winter … the bucks and the does. Today it’s just the boundless serenity of the…
A few weeks ago I was roaming around Cades Cove in the Smoky Mountains and found lots of deer. More than a hundred deer. But they were all bucks. A few days ago I was back in Cades Cove and again found plenty of deer, but this time they were all female! The doe above was…
The photo above was taken this week in the Cades Cove area of the Smoky Mountains. The calendar says it’s still winter, but these daffodils say it’s time for spring! That’s Hyatt Lane branching off the loop road in the upper part of the photo. The large clump of daffodils is huddled around three large…
In the days before barbed wire, the traditional fencing material in the Smoky Mountains was rails split from a rot-resistant hardwood such as chestnut or yellow locust. The fence above at John Olivers place in Cades Cove is known as a snake, worm, or zig-zag. Sometimes the rails were just stacked up in zig-zag fashion,…
It’s a quiet and peaceful day in Cades Cove. Winter is really special here. Plenty of time to cruise the loop road at your own pace, stopping whenever the mood strikes. In winter the deer come out by the dozens — probably over 100 of them in the central meadow on a sunny day like…
In 1839 a group split from the Primitive Baptist Church to form their own congregation. The structure pictured above was built in 1915. I visited the church on a bright winter day in February when there were almost no cars on the Cades Cove loop road. As with many of the historic building in the…
Last week I headed over to Cades Cove with these deer in mind. In winter they tend to congregate in large groups in the central meadow of the Cove. I parked along the loop road and walked down into the field among the herd of young bucks. Don’t ask me where the doe or the…
Flowering Spurge (Euphorbia corollata) is a large, bushy plant with many small flowers. It favors fields, roadsides, and open woods. The picture above was taken along the Cades Cove Loop Road in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The image picture was in the Greenbrier section along Porters Creek Trail. Look for Flowering Spurge in…
Dan Lawson’s place along the Cades Cove loop road in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park dates from 1856. The house is one of the “transitional” structures, featuring hewn logs as well as sawn lumber. The brick chimney, from bricks made on the site, is also unusual and modern. There is a granary (below), a…
I can’t seem to get enough of Cades Cove this summer. Maybe it’s due to the renovated loop road. The photograph above was taken along Hyatt Lane, which bisects the loop road in the Cades Cove section of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. This picture was taken on the same morning as one of…
The Cades Cove Loop Road was recently repaved. It’s a smooth ride now, a beautiful country road! Worth the weeks of waiting while to loop was closed. The loop is closed on Wednesday and Saturday mornings until 10:00 from early May until late September to allow bicycles and walkers access to the loop without cars….
I can’t think of a more idyllic way to get your exercise than to bike the Cades Cove Loop in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. From May through September on Wednesday and Saturday mornings until 10:00 the Loop Road is closed to motorized vehicles, so the entire glorious 11-mile scenic road is open for…
Matilda “Aunt Tildy” Shields married Henry Whitehead after her first husband ran off. Henry built the house pictured above in the Chestnut Flats area of Cades Cove in 1895. Notice the brick chimney! This structure might be called the ultimate log cabin, or sometime called a “transition house” due to its near-perfect construction from logs sawed…
I live in Gatlinburg TN, on the edge of the Great Smoky Mountains. The Smokies are a very spiritual place, and I attempt to capture some of that spirit in each of my photographs.
If you are in Gatlinburg, please stop in at my gallery .
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