1856 - The Dan Lawson Place was built on land he bought from his father-in-law, Peter Cable.

Henry Shields married Martha (second daughter of John Oliver) who was most likely the first white child born in Cades Cove.54 Henry and Martha had nine children. One of their sons was George Washington "Carter" Shields (1844 - 1924). This cabin gets its name from him. He was severely wounded and crippled for life in the Battle of Shiloh. Returning to Cades Cove, he married Angeline Gregory in 1865. Soon after their marriage, they moved to Kansas. In 1903, he returned to Cades Cove and, in 1910, bought this cabin and land from John Sparks. He lived here until, in 1921, he moved out of the Cove. He had sold the property to J. G. Gregory in 1919.55

The John P. Cable Mill is a restored and operating grist mill. It was built in 1868 by John P. Cable who was a nephew of Peter Cable, one of the early settlers of Cades Cove. [See also Dan Lawson Place] Of all the buildings in this complex, the mill is the only one in its original location. The mill race that feeds water to the wheel, although reconstructed on more than one occasion, is generally as it was in the 19th century. As originally constructed the mill was both a grist mill and a sawmill.

C. 1870

. The Cades Cove Primitive Baptists began moving toward a doctrine of free-will late in the 19th century. They began expelling or excommunicating members for having extreme predestination beliefs in 1875. This issue led the church to withdraw from the Tennessee Association of Primitive Baptists in 1914.

The Gregg-Cable House, also known as the Becky Cable House, was built by Leason Gregg in 1879. Aunt Becky Cable, the second daughter of John P. Cable, and her brother, Dan, bought the house in 1887 and lived in it until her death at age 96 in 1940. Originally the house was built south of its present location along Forge Creek Road. The house was moved here by the National Park Service when it was determined that the Cable Mill area should developed as an outdoor historic museum.

The movement to establish a conservation area in the Great Smoky Mountains began in the late 1890’s. There was no National Park Service at the time. Many interested parties leaned toward designation of the Smokies as a national forest. When the National Park Service Act became law in 1916, groups of businessmen in Knoxville, TN and Asheville, NC began pushing for a national park. There also was a great deal of controversy about where it should be, but finally, the Tennessee group won Congressional designation of the Smokies as the site of a National Park in the southern Appalachian Mountains.

Built in 1898, the Henry Whitehead cabin has an interesting story. Matilda Shields married a Gregory and they left the Cove. When their son was born, her husband deserted her. She returned with the boy to Cades Cove, and her brothers, David and Jonathan Shields built her a rough one room cabin. This cabin is the “back room” of the Henry Whitehead cabin. In the meantime, Henry Whitehead’s wife died leaving him with three young daughters. Henry and Matilda married and the sawn log structure was built in front of the older building. Cades Cove lore has it that Henry built the house as fulfillment of a promise to “build her the finest log house in Cades Cove”43 While the two buildings are separate, the roof of the newer building overhangs the roof of the older one. With a wooden gutter on the lower roof, this provides a covered area between the two structures.