At its peak in 1850, Cades Cove had 685 residents in 132 households. A few years after that the population shrank to 275 as the soil became overworked and as new lands opened up in the West. Then the population rose again to about 500 just before the park was established.
The State of Tennessee had acquired this land in 1820 from the Cherokees and then sold it to speculators, who in turn sold plots to the settlers. They cleared most of the trees and built their houses at the foot of the surrounding hills. Corn, wheat, oats, and rye were raised on the flat lands, whereas the slopes were used for pastures, orchards, and vegetable gardens. The Park Service leases some of the land here today to farmers to keep the cove open as it was in the early settlement days.
In Cades Cove you will find some of the finest log buildings in America. Some are original; the others come from elsewhere in the park. The first log house on the 18-kilometer (11-mile)-loop-road tour belonged to John and Lurena Oliver, who bought their land in 1826. Their cabin, with its stone chimney and small windows, is typical of many in the Smokies, and it remained in the Oliver family until the park was established. A stone in the Primitive Baptist Church cemetery just down the road commemorates John and Lurena, the first permanent white settlers in the cove. The church was organized in 1827, and the log building was used until 1887, though the members, who were pro-Union, felt they had to shut it down during the Civil War because of strong rebel sentiment.
The Methodist Church supposedly was built by one man, J. D. McCampbell, in 115 days for $115, and after he was done he served as its preacher for many years. The frame Missionary Baptist Church was built in 1894 by a group that split from the Primitive Baptists in 1839 because it endorsed missionary work.
Elijah Oliver’s log house may well be one of the first split-levels. The lower kitchen section off the back formerly was the home of the Herron family and was brought here and attached to the main house. This is a good place to see some of the many auxiliary structures most families had: springhouse, barn, and smokehouse.
Many families also had a tub mill with which they could grind a bushel of corn a day. When they had more corn to grind, they would take it to a larger mill, such as John Cable’s. His was not the first waterwheel mill in Cades Cove, but it is the only remaining one today. It has been rehabilitated a few times, but the main framing, the millstones, and some of the gears are original.
In the Cable Mill area are several other structures that have been brought here from other parts of the park. Among them is the Gregg-Cable house, possibly the first frame house in Cades Cove. It was built by Leason Gregg in 1879 and later became the home, until her death in 1940, of Becky Cable, John’s daughter. At different times the house served as a store and a boardinghouse. The blacksmith shop, barns, smokehouse, corncrib, and sorghum mill are representative of such structures in the Smokies.
Heading east from the mill area, you come to the Henry Whitehead and Dan Lawson places. At both you can see some of the best log work, inside and out, within the park, and both have brick instead of stone chimneys. These houses represent the transition between the crude log house and the finer log house. Further down the road is “Hamp” Tipton’s place, where you can see an apiary or bee gum stand. Honey, sorghum, and maple syrup were common sweets for folks in the Cove.
The last house on the loop road is the Carter Shields place, a one-story log house with loft. This cabin is about the average size of Smokies cabins, but it is a bit fancier than most with its beaded paneling in the living room and a closed-in stairway.
The buildings in Cades Cove are open all year except for the churches and a few other structures.