Cades Cove

We stayed at Gatlinburg, Tennessee, just on the northern border of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Our hotel room has a balcony overhanging a gushing river, and the town itself is a theme park in its own right, full of (apart from gunshops) a wide array of amusements (exemplified by Ripley's Believe It or Not) and rides, all no doubt designed to separate tourists from their money. Despite this, it is a very pretty place, jammed between mountains and divided by numerous rivers and creeks, and populated by tourists who seem to be totally unprepared for cold weather, judging by their clothing and footwear. We saw the same in Florida, but there, cold weather is unusual, here it is surely the norm! The next town, almost joined with Gatlinburg, but lacking its mountainous location and charm, is Pigeon Forge (it's on the Pigeon River), also full of motels and fun parks, and very busy with tourists. The photo shows fishermen in the Roaring Fork Creek or Little Pigeon River in the centre of Gatlinburg.

There is a ski resort above the town, although you cannot see any snow from the town. Gatlinburg reminds us of Jindabyne, but much bigger and flashier. We drove up to the slopes and still did not see a flake of snow, so it must be 100% artificial at the skiing area. We didn't go past the car park, because at 5pm, they still wanted us to pay for a day's parking. It is certainly cold enough here to make snow, and they have more than enough water.

We spent the day at Cades Cove, an old remote community from the 1800's in a wide valley surrounded by mountains, where "homesteaders" or "hillbillies" lived before the land was acquired for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Cades Cove is a long, twisty, slow 30 mile drive out of Gatlinburg (along the Little River, being enjoyed by kayakers), and then to see the Cove you drive round an 11 mile loop (reserved for pedestrians and cyclists on some days in summer). It was a beautiful cool, sunny day, and it was so nice to be in this Shangri-la-like hidden valley where about 700 people once farmed and raised crops. There were several restored churches and houses [photo], with barns. We saw old waterwheel mill, a forge, smokehouse etc. The visitors' centre there was very impressive, with lots of information.

This is a very popular area, and the limited roads were quite crowded. People were fascinated to see wild deer - one can only imagine their reaction if a black bear appeared! The Cove has large empty fields and visitors really wandering off into those fields and enjoying the relative solitude and quiet [photo]. We think this Park, and Cades Cove in particular, is quite unique in the USA.

The descendents of the original Cades Cove families have a reunion every year, and we note that many of them are still being buried in the tiny cemeteries at the churches there.

Judging from their number plates, many people visiting Cades Cove, and indeed in Gatlinburg, were from the nearby states, Alabama, Georgia, and Nth Carolina and most were from Tennessee. We figure this is a popular place for weekends away.