22 Applegate Lane: Road Trip: Smokey Mountain National Park

Yesterday dawned bright and sunny so we decided to spend the day in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

I had forgotten how beautiful it is here in the Smoky Mountains.

"May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds." – Edward Abbey

Swollen brooks run down through the woods to join the Little River as it runs through the valley.

And the sights and sounds of Spring are all around us.

We were looking forward to driving the eleven mile loop road through Cades Cove.

From the Smoky Mountains web page:

"The first European settlers arrived in Cades Cove in the early 1820s. They quickly built log homes, barns, corn cribs, smokehouses and cleared land for farming. The land was rich and fertile and provided the settlers with abundant crops, such as corn."

"When the states of Tennessee and North Carolina begin to purchase land for the creation of the national park, the first large piece of land purchased in 1927 included most of the land in the mountains north of Cades Cove. A few families welcomed the state's effort to buy land for the park; they willingly sold their land and moved out of the Cove. Some residents signed life-leases that allowed them to live on their land for the rest of their life. As residents left the cove and the community dispersed, there was no longer a need for facilities and services. The last school in Cades Cove closed in 1944 and the post office closed in 1947."

"Today, the National Park Service manages and maintains Cades Cove as it looked in the early days of the settlers. In 1945, the National Park Service designated Cades Cove as a "historical area" and restored several of the older log cabins and barns. "

After learning about Henry Lawson on Tuesday, we weren't totally surprised to learn that the Dan Lawson family once lived at Cades Cove. DH's grandparents were farmers in rural Amelia County Virginia. Now we're even more curious about possible ancestral connections to the many Lawson families who farmed here.

When you sit quietly and look out over these mountains, you realize how well the name "Smoky Mountains" fits them. They are every shade of blue and gray.

"The Smoky Mountains are a rare jewel…Why not have a place where you can still see the stars? There is value to keeping things primitive." – James Dawson

If you look carefully, you can see mountain roads on each side of the Little River down in the valley.

Later in the afternoon, we passed yet another "Lawson" home and business; this one belonged to Paul Lawson (DH's brother;s name).

Again, DH went to the door to introduce himself. But the house was closed up with shades drawn as if no one had lived there in awhile.

DH was disappointed to think that maybe Paul Lawson was deceased as well. We would have like to say "Hello" and ask about possible relatives in Virginia.