What is it that's "new-found" about Newfound Gap? Well, for most of history Indian Gap Road served as the route over the Smokies. It was long understood that Indian Gap was the lowest pass over the mountains, but in 1872 surveyor Arnold Guyot determined that...
During the greater span of history in the Smoky Mountains, Indian Gap has been the main route across the mountains. Long a Cherokee trail, Indian Gap Road actually charged a toll in the 1830s. In exchange for the payment, farmers and merchants and travelling families...
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...
This was just a fun assignment. I had the photo above, taken by Jim Thompson sometime in the 1920s or 1930s along Little River Road in the Smoky Mountains, between Townsend and Metcalf Bottoms. So I set out one day last week to see if I could find the exact location,...
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....
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....
100 years ago in the early 20th century, the Elkmont area of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was a bustling center of tourism for the wealthy. The Appalachian Club, Wonderland Hotel, Daisy Town, Society Hill and Millionaires Row comprised the new Smoky...
The first eight Presidents of the Smoky Mountains Hiking Club gathered in December of 1936 and posed for a photo by Dutch Roth. From left to right, and in order of their Presidencies, they are: George Barber, Brockway Crouch, James Thompson, Dr. H. M. Jennison, Harvey...
“We will fight to preserve the status quo in the Greenbrier. May the Greenbrier remain ax-less, pathless, and roadless, as an act of contrition for Little River, Charlies Bunion, Forney Ridge, and Big Creek.” Harvey Broome spoke these impassioned words in 1944, in his...
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...
From the journal of Dutch Roth, Tales From the Woods, describing the history of winter hiking in the Smoky Mountains: We hiked in all kinds of weather and I never forgot my camera, despite the cold or rain. You never know when you might miss a good shot. We hiked...
From Dutch Roth's journal, Tales from the Woods: MARKING THE A.T. AUGUST 18,1929 Many present-day hikers tramping through the Smokies on grade A trails have undoubtedly wondered what adventurer would travel a slippery stream and force his way through miles of wet...