Nestled in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, located just eight miles away from Gatlinburg, Tennessee, lies a hidden gem: Elkmont.
Once the site of a logging camp, and later a bustling resort destination, visitors seeking unique trails, Tennessee history and natural beauty may still explore Elkmont and its now-abandoned buildings.
Today, visitors to the Elkmont community can wander among a cluster of abandoned cabins of all different colors and shapes, as well as surrounding trails and streams.
The cabins are actually open for park-goers to enter, walk though and imagine vacationers staying there during decades past and the resort town’s former glory.
Though the cabins themselves are no longer available for overnight rentals, visitors are welcome to come and explore this unique slice of Tennessee mountain history. Plus, with over 200 sites for RV and tent camping, the Elkmont Campground remains the largest and busiest campground in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
The Elkmont site includes the .8-mile Elkmont Nature Trail loop trail, access to Little River and Jakes Creek, the Old Elkmont Cemetery, and the trailhead to the popular Laurel Falls sits about a mile from the campground entrance.
Additionally, visitors still flock to the area each May and June for one of the most exciting natural events in the Smokies: the synchronous fireflies. Parking passes are in high demand for these nights.
Elkmont got its start as a human population center when a businessman from Pennsylvania named W.B. Townsend established the Little River Lumber Company in 1900, according to information from the Tennessee State Museum.
Townsend purchased almost 80,000 acres of land—this well before the 1934 formation of the surrounding Great Smoky Mountains National Park—and the town of Elkmont was established as a base for the lumber company.
In 1910, the LRLC sold 50 acres of land to a group of wealthy businessmen from Knoxville.
Two years later, another group of Knoxville developers purchased another plot of the land there and constructed lodging of their own.
The site would become a popular vacation destination. Those staying at Elkmont seem to have had a blast in the mountain getaway, with records and stories passed down telling of vacationers enjoying swimming, horseshoes, cards, horseback riding, dances, parties and dinners while staying at the site in the roaring 1920s.
Reportedly, parties would often end with a boisterous round of singing the town song “Elkmont Will Shine,” presumably a reference to the area’s active fireflies.
A fire destroyed the Appalachian Clubhouse, one of the large community buildings at Elkmont, in 1932, but vacationers would stay at the Elkmont cabins up through the 1980s. The Appalachian Clubhouse has been rebuilt and restored, offering a glimpse into past grandeur, and that space is still available to rent for special events and gatherings.
After the National Park Service acquired all of the land and all leases expired, the park service determined that the days of the Elkmont buildings being occupied by vacationers would come to an end, though historic preservationists wanted much of Elkmont to be preserved as a testament to history. Others thought the buildings—74 structures standing at this point, according to the Tennessee State Museum—should be removed so the forest could return to undeveloped parkland.
A compromise was eventually reached for 19 structures to be restored and maintained, and the remaining structures demolished.
For those seeking a taste of history and nature, a trip to Elkmont offers a Smoky Mountain journey back in time, where the echoes of the past mingle with the whispers of the wind through the trees and the gurgling streams. And as the sun glows upon Elkmont, visitors may imagine folks enjoying this unique mountain town a century ago.
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IF YOU GO:
Elkmont Campground
434 Elkmont Rd.
Gatlinburg, TN 37738
