by William Britten | Mar 11, 2011 | Great Smoky Mountains National Park, photography
One of my favorite places in the Smoky Mountains opens today after the annual winter closure. The Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail is a goldmine for pictures. Pioneer homesteads, amazing moss-covered boulders, waterfalls, and trails. On a typical year, I will go...
by William Britten | Dec 3, 2010 | Great Smoky Mountains National Park, philosophy
In addition to a newly paved loop road for the Roaring Fork in 2010, the Reagan Mill got a brand new flume to carry the water to where the mill once was. So, although it is pretty and adds to the charm along the Roaring Fork, it is really just a “flume to...
by William Britten | Dec 2, 2010 | Gatlinburg, Great Smoky Mountains National Park
When you come down the hill at the end of the Roaring Fork Motor Trail in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, stop in at Ely’s Mill. It’s a neat little gift shop that dates from the 1920s with local crafts, and honey taken from the hives that stand in...
by William Britten | Nov 18, 2010 | Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Ephraim and Minerva Bales subsisted on 70 rock-infested acres along the Roaring Fork in the early 1900s. Walking around this homestead, it’s hard to escape the sense of overwhelming difficulty that surely characterized the life here. Compared to some of the home...
by William Britten | Nov 2, 2010 | Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Alfred Reagan lived along the Roaring Fork in the Smoky Mountains in the late 1800s and early 1900s. His home is different than the other settlers cabins in this area in that it is constructed with sawn boards and painted. Supposedly Reagan chose the colors from a...