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…
Noah “Bud” Ogle was a Smoky Mountain farmer who lived from 1863 to 1913. The cabin was built in the 1880′s and consists of two cabins sharing a single chimney, known as a “saddlebag” style. The Ogle farm is the first stop on the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail. From stoplight number 8 in Gatlinburg,…
The day is drawing to a close, time to grab a chair on the porch and relax, watch the evening sky descend over the Smoky Mountains. Listen to the crickets, maybe a whippoorwill, or an owl if it’s getting late. A good time for quiet conversation, reflection on what’s important in your life. If time…
Ah, Smoky Mountains Dreamin’ … you wake up and feel like you’re in a Thomas Kinkade painting. Soft morning light, the cabins around you still shaking off the night, a little fantasy village. The Smoky Mountains off on the horizon, greeting the day in their own proud way, beckoning you. This is one of the…
The folks who rented this cabin Christmas Eve got their money’s worth! It’s been snowing ever since … all through Christmas Day, and now still some light snow on the 26th. About 8 inches on the ground now. Of course the wonderful view of the Smoky Mountains and Mt. LeConte from this cabin has vanished…
The Smoky Mountain autumn was a good one this year. At lower elevations some pockets of leaves are hanging on, but as you can see in the photo above, the forest is bare on Mt. LeConte. For some, this is a favorite time to get away to the Smokies. The October crowds are gone, but…
I take a lot of photographs log cabins for resort rental companies. And I’ve seen every cute little thing related to bears in these cabins. Many of them are a tacky dis on the proud and mighty black bear. But I like the one pictured above. The cheerful bear holding out the acorn lamp to…
It’s a blue-sky morning, clouds floating by. The Smoky Mountains are shimmering in the distance. Two cheerful rockers wait for you on the deck. Take a few moments, sit down, take it all in. It’s a good day for a hike or a good day to wander the shops on Glades Rd. Please stop in…
The Ogle family goes way back in the Gatlinburg area. In fact, Noah Ogle’s great-grandparents, William (1756–1803) and his wife Martha Huskey (1756–1826), made a life here in the early 1800s. Noah (aka Bud) and Cindy Ogle settled on this 400 acre homestead in 1879 and lived here until Noah’s death in 1913. The Smoky Mountains…
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…
Elijah Oliver was John Oliver’s son, and he was born in Cades Cove in 1824. After a time away from the Smoky Mountains, he returned to Cades Cove after the Civil War. Notice the “strangers room” enclosed on the front porch. Cades Cove hospitality was so well known that hunters and fishermen travelled, knowing that…
One of the ways that I survive here in the paradise of Gatlinburg and the Great Smoky Mountains is by taking photographs of the many resort rental properties in the area. I love to get up before daybreak, get a log cabin all lit up and wait for those rosy fingers of dawn to just…
Porters Creek Trail is a delightful meander in the Greenbrier section of the Smoky Mountains. Head east out of Gatlinburg on Route 321, then after about 6 miles, the Greenbrier entrance will be on the right. Eventually the road will turn to gravel and you’ll pass the bridge to the Ramsay Cascades Trail. Continue straight…
There are many old pioneer cabins in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Most of them were constructed from native wood, shaped with hand tools such as the broad ax, froe, adz, and drawknife. The wood in these buildings seems unique and different, with a life of its own. Or perhaps it is the life…
I’ve always been fascinated with the concepts of time and place. For example, the Smoky Mountains have been unchanging for centuries, but in my photography gallery here in Gatlinburg, I can’t tell you how many stories I’ve heard about families returning to the Smokies every year for decades! Families have grown through many generations while…
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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