Smoky Mountains photos need not always be in color, as these three vistas illustrate. The photo above is the classic shot from Mortons Overlook near the top of Newfound Gap Rd. Looking down the valley back towards Gatlinburg, with the Chimneys visible in the upper left. A nice mist rising up the hillsides. The photo…
It’s not too late to schedule a Smoky Mountain getaway, find yourself a cabin like this one, and sit back to gaze at Mt. LeConte and count your blessings for the year. The autumn leaves may have faded, but there’s plenty of blue skies and perfect temperatures to enhance your reverie. Between now and Thanksgiving…
This edition of Smoky Mountains history shows the outdoor kitchen on Mt. LeConte circa 1925. This kitchen was near the original LeConte Lodge built by Jack Huff. Photos and descriptions of that early lodge can be found in the blog post titled The House That Jack Built. The photo above was taken by Knoxville photographer…
Smoky Mountain Moonrise is a recent addition to the William Britten Gallery. This stunningly beautiful photo was taken east of Gatlinburg in the Glades area. It is actually a location that I pass every day because it is on the street where I live. Many of my photos of Mt. LeConte are taken from this…
So many resort cabins with a stunning Smoky Mtns view. Like stepping into a photo … what a day for a daydream! Custom made. A perfect day for taking a walk outside. On a day such as this your daydream might last right on into the night. And tomorrow … who knows? If you have…
It’s a lazy summer Monday in June. Nothing much to do but park yourself out on the deck chairs, contemplate the Smoky Mtn fabulous view and start the day out slowly. One of the magical things about the Smoky Mtn area around Gatlinburg is that although there are hundreds of cabins with a view of the Smokies,…
Happy Friday! It’s been a while since we had a Philosophical Friday. Today’s thoughts are about living in an area like Gatlinburg that features great changes in altitude. Downtown Gatlinburg is about 1500 feet above sea level, yet only about 20 miles away, on the top of Clingman’s Dome, the altitude has climbed to 6,643 feet!…
In the late 1920s Gatlinburg entrepreneur Jack Huff built a 20 by 24 foot cabin out of balsam logs that was the forerunner of today’s LeConte Lodge. The roof was tarpaper, with a floor of native clay. For more than 35 years Jack and his wife Pauline operated Mt. LeConte Lodge. Jack was the son…
Mt. LeConte is the third-highest Smoky Mountains peak, but to me it represents the skyline of the Smokies. As you approach from the north, Mt. Leconte is a Smoky Mountains landmark seen from 50 miles away, or further on a clear day. As you travel around the Gatlinburg area, there is LeConte, above you in the sky,…
A free winter wallpaper/screensaver in appreciation for all my blog and facebook fans. This is Bull Head on the right and Balsam Point on Mt. LeConte on the left, in January 2011, taken from the observation deck of the Space Needle in downtown Gatlinburg. This image, and all other wallpapers, can be downloaded from http://williambritten.com/wallpaper/…
Friday philosophy time combined with a photo tip … a two-fer-one! For me, so much of photography is about seeing the world within the world. Most photographs don’t jump out of the jumble in front of our eyes and say “here I am, take me!” Some do, but mostly not. Instead, I think of them…
The picture above is Mt. LeConte and the Smoky Mountains looming over downtown Gatlinburg. Taken from the observation deck of the Space Needle two weeks ago after our big Christmas snowstorm. The Space Needle offers a great vantage point to view the Smokies up close and also get a panoramic view of Gatlinburg and the…
Jim Thompson was a founding member of the Smoky Mountains Hiking Club and a prominent Knoxville photographer during the 1920s to 1940s. Along with his friend and fellow hiker, Dutch Roth, Thompson created a large body of images from the early days of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. I will be posting images from…
This time of year can be absolutely breathtaking in the Gatlinburg area. Both of these images show a winter panorama of the Smoky Mountains with Mt. LeConte center stage. They were taken from a ridge way out on Upper Middle Creek Rd. about 10 miles or so from the Smokies. A long telephoto lens was…
It has been frigid cold here in Gatlinburg! Temperatures in the teens for several days. The morning light has a watery winter translucent quality. Our little cabin stares into the face of a stern and slumbering Mt. LeConte. But it’s also a warm time of year. A fire in the stove, bread in the oven,…
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…
Today’s Miles Away is the view I see every day, and a view that has appeared in this blog many times, in many variations, in all the seasons. October is over. The season is winding down. Still need to get over to Cosby for a few bushels of apples and make sauce for our winter…
A spring snow dusted Mt. LeConte on Tuesday night, closing the road to Newfound Gap in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It’s not unusual to see the contrasts of winter and spring in one scene as in the picture above. The summit of Mt. LeConte is around 6500 feet, while the green trees in…
A packtrain of llamas is used to carry bed linens and supplies to Mt. LeConte Lodge. The llamas are easier on the heavily used Great Smoky Mountains National Park trails than horses. In the picture below the llamas are passing behind Grotto Falls. Normally, the packtrain makes the trip from the Grotto Falls Parking area…
I think fog gets a bad name. It’s typically about what fog can obscure: living life in a fog, the fog of war, the fog of depression. Well, like our neighbor over in the mountains of western North Carolina, Carl Sandburg, I think fog has delightful qualities. For example, in the picture above, a dash…
Usually by the end of February, winter is losing its grip in our quiet little village on the edge of the Smoky Mountains. But this year we’ve still got the twice-weekly snowstorms, still wearing the triple layers, still the hot chocolate and tea, the howling wind at night, the cats that refuse to venture outdoors…
Still the snowcap on Mt. LeConte, still the cabin fever. So head downtown for a walk-around. Gatlinburg on a winter weekday can be slow, with few tourists on the Parkway promenade. The wishing well is frozen, and hardly a brave soul on the chair lift. The ticky-tack gaudiness of the Parkway is on stark display,…
Another dusting of snow last night, but finally some sunshine today revealed the full majesty of Mt. LeConte, one of the highest peakes in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park at 6593 feet. This is the view Sarah and I see every day from our little cabin in the Glades near Gatlinburg. Mt. LeConte has…
Sarah and I ventured out to dinner last night at the Cherokee Grill in downtown Gatlinburg. It was a magical evening as we sat by the fireside with a view of snow falling outside on the Gatlinburg streets. Sharing the seafood salad with a loaf of fresh-baked bread is our favorite option from the Cherokee…
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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