We parked the motor home at Cades Cove campground in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park for two nights. While there were no hookups, no satellite TV and no cell phone service, that seemed appropriate in an area where the simple living of the past was featured. The park officially was opened in 1934 and the land was donated by the states of Tennessee and North Carolina, we were told. The people then living in the park sold out, some retaining life estates. Some of the old buildings in Cades Cove (really a long sloping valley) remain to show the kind of life these hardy folks lived. An impetus to the park being created was the clear cutting of old timber and the scars left on the formerly pristine mountains. Enough years have passed so that the effects of the clear cutting are not readily notice able to the park visitors.
The pictures were taken by a Canon Power Shot S2 IS 5 mp camera with a 10x zoom on June 27.
This hen turkey and her chicks were not bothered by traffic passing near them on the loop road.
The park is keeping the fields open by burning the growth every three years to prevent the forests from reclaiming the land. Most of the particles in the air are pollutants from nearby states a display sign said, rather than moisture.
Whitetail deer were commonly seen, not really disturbed by cars on the road. Black bears also are common in the area, but we were not fortunate enough to see any.
This large barn remains on display. Hay wagons were pulled in the door at the far left and a man on the hay wagon threw hay up to the mow and another man then distributed it with his pitchfork. Hence no second floor opening at the end for hay to be brought in with a hay fork. Their beef cattle were herded into the high country for summers, with just dairy cattle being kept at the farmsteads.
Jo paused on a footbridge on a nice hiking trail, of which there were many in the park. Just after we began going up the trail, two whitetail bucks sauntered along and stepped into the thick vegetation at the side of the path. The were a bit too quick to disappear for my camera.
A Visitors Center on the Cades Cove Loop road featured several buildings moved there to illustrate kinds of structures built by the natives. The mill for grinding corn and flour was original to the site. Its water wheel also powered a sawmill.
This cantilevered roof was common in the Smokys.
This mill was grinding corn to demonstrate how the mill worked. Corn ground there was available for sale.
Rain was moving toward the Visitors Center as we left.
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