Just the Facts

(Along with a Little Gossip and a Few Mistakes)

Background of the Cades Cove NPS Display

The Backstory

The Beginning of a Beautiful Place

The Beginning

Long before the Euro-American settler, (AKA – white settler) the Native-American (AKA – American Indian) were the residents and the Cherokee were the dominant tribe in the central and southern Appalachians. They had the same needs as everyone else. Of which food was one of their primary needs. Given the fact that there were no supermarkets to be found in the area, and that the Cherokee were hunters and gathers, and farmers. And, knowing they grew corn, squash, and beans near their villages throughout eastern Tennessee, north Georgia, and the western Carolinas, it would be logical for them to do the same in Cades Cove. Supposedly three Cherokee sites have been located in Cades Cove, but finding any factual information concerning their locations has proved to be impossible.

The Land

Although illegal to own land in this area in 1818 because it belonged to the Indians, white settlers did move into the Cove as early as 1818, and maybe earlier; however, they did not own the land. It was 1821 before white settlers legally possessed any property in the Cove.

The Tough Part

Through successive treaties, beginning in 1761, the Cherokees lost more and more of their territory, until the Calhoun Treaty of 1819 changed the boundary of East Tennessee, opening the area to white settlement.

The Bottom Line

The US Federal Government took the land from the Native Americans and used the acquired land to pay US soldiers, through land grants, for military service. Then, the white settlers moved into the Cove, worked hard for more than one hundred years, only to have the State of Tennessee acquire their land via condemnation proceedings between 1928 and 1936. Following this takeover by the State of Tennessee, the US Federal Government, by 1937, once again possessed the land. Some people were slow to leave, but by 1940, most people had moved out of the cove.

The Transition Period

During this transition period, the late 20s to mid-30s, preservation, and interpretation plans gradually evolved, resulting in the establishment of an "outdoor museum of mountain culture" located in Cades Cove. The determination at that time was that the focus of the preservation of the museum would be the early stage, or "pioneer" age, of settlement. Therefore, the NPS relocated buildings, deconstructed water management techniques, destroyed roads, allowed many fields to revert to forests, and dismantled frame structures such as homes, schools, and stores, as well as many other farm buildings as they created this imaginary landscape of mountain culture.

The Restored

Of the seventy-five farms that the government purchased in 1933, the NPS decided to restore and maintain the following historic structures:

John and Lucretia Oliver Place
Methodist Church and Cemetery
Primitive Baptist Church and Cemetery
Missionary Baptist Church and Cemetery
Elijah Oliver Place
Cable Mill
Cable Cemetery
Henry Whitehead Place
Peter Cable and Dan Lawson Place
Tipton-Oliver Place
Carter Shields Place

Along with the following:

The Cades Cove Valley Floor is defined as land within the valley up to the 2,000' contour elevation, except:

Gregory Bald
Cooper Road to Wedge Ridge
Rich Mountain Road to the park boundary
Parsons Branch Road to Bunker Hill Road

The Rational

What if?

What if - the Cherokee still possessed the land?
Look at Cherokee, NC, for the answer.

What if - the NPS had not taken the land?
Look at Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge for the answer.

What if - TVA had built a lake in the valley?
Look at the Tellico Project and The Little Tennessee River Valley for the answer.

"Some of the land is now [2012] being sold in 1/4 acre lots in the development for as much as 200,000 dollars. The average price paid to the original landowners was about $200 per acre [$50 per quarter acre]."

What if - the State of Tennessee had taken the land, but changed their plans, like the Tellico Project, and eventually sold it to a developer?
FACT: 116.6 acres of the John Oliver Place was approved for purchase on 7/8/29 and bought from J.R. Oliver for $3,000.

Let's do the math:

1929 dollars sale price - $3,000 / 116.6 acres = $25.73 per acre paid to John Walter Oliver

1934 value – $2,310 / 116.6 acres = $19.81 per acre - The value of the US dollar fell in 1929 and five years later had lost 23% of its value.

Dollar to Dollar Comparison

Now, we need to compare the 1929 dollar with today's dollar.

2019 dollars – equivalent sale price - $44,070 / 116.6 acres = $377.96 per acre would need to be paid to John Walter Oliver.
Looks better at today's prices, but what could it be worth if sold by a developer?

2019 value – $933,630 / 116.6 acres = $8007 per acre – This is the cost of typical 2019 mountain land in East Tennessee with road frontage.

[Opinion]

I don't think I would cruise the Cove to: