Sorghum Mill
In the Great Smoky Mountains the settlers had several sources of sweetener including maple syrup, honey and maple sugar. Besides these was a very dark sweet syrup called molasses. To the Smoky Mountain pioneers molasses was pretty good especially on corn bread with a little butter. The sorghum mill was the means by which the molasses was made in the Cades Cove. Molasses begins as sorghum cane which is stripped of leaves and then fed...
Elijah Oliver Place
Deep in the Smokies nestled in Cades Cove, the Elijah Oliver cabin, smokehouse, corn crib, springhouse and barn provided a cozy environment for this branch of the Oliver family. Elijah was the son of John and Luraney and was born in the original Cades Cove cabin in 1824. It was there Elijah grew into a young man and married. He eventually brought his bride to the site where they built the Smokies cabin that bears his name. Elijah...
Oliver’s Cabin
The First Cabin in the Smokies The Smokies pioneers started settling Cades Cove on the north eastern side where the loop begins, for this is the higher and dryer part of the cove, away from the swampy land found elsewhere. John and Lurany Oliver were the first to come to this area of the Smokies. Typical of the European immigrants and their descendants, the Olivers came despite the fact that there was no Indian treaty allowing them...
Henry Whitehead Place in Cades Cove
Life was not always perfect in Cades Cove. Divorces and separations, though rare, sometimes happened. Take Matilda Shields Gregory, of Cades Cove, for instance. She and her young son were deserted by her husband. But in the Cades Cove culture, if you had family nearby, you had help. Her brothers quickly built a small mountain cabin to give her shelter which was no small task when you consider they also had to build the fireplace and...
John P. Cable Mill
In Cades Cove there were few sources of power which the frontiersman knew how to harness. One of those power sources was the water wheel such as drove the early grist mills. Cable Mill is one of those. The Smoky Mountains Natural History Association keeps Cable Mill running in Cades Cove to teach the Smoky Mountain visitor a little about life in the 1800’s. The mill is operated April-October. A handful of enterprising residents...