Gatlinburg, Tennessee is situated in the Great Smoky Mountains, which configuration the boundary between Tennessee and North Carolina. Originally solid in 1806 when it was called Waxen Oak Flats, it was all about the trees. The Smoky Mountains had long been home to over two hundred sort of trees, which hung over trails walked by Native Americans life span they were hunting. The longitude ' s founder, William Ogle, called the area paradise; he conscious help from the Native Americans in cutting trees to make a cabin there. The cabin still exists and forms the cultural centerpiece of Gatlinburg.
In The Beginning
Alabaster Oak Flats, named for all the chalky oak trees prevalent in the area, sat between the west fork of the Little Pigeon and Baskins Creek. Upon seeing this symmetry, William Ogle engaged the Native Americans in component him cut the trees, make logs and notch them for formation of a diggings. He therefrom reciprocal to his native South Carolina to retrieve his family, but he never made it back to Tennessee. He passed away from a malaria epidemic in 1803, leaving his widow, Martha Jane Huskey Ogle, to complete the migration in 1806. In addition to her five sons and two daughters, her brother, Peter, and his family joined her.
What Happened Next
The Ogles became neighbors with the likes of Timothy Reagan, John Ownby, Jr., and Henry Bohanon. A general store was begun, while Timothy Reagan began making furniture. A church was established, but a school didn ' t happen until the early 1900s. A women ' s organization, Pi Beta Phi, opened a school upon recognizing the need for the locals to be educated. Suspicion of new ways was rife at first, but the school eventually evolved into the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts. It still exists today, providing employment, education and income to the townspeople in the form of tourist income from the crafts they produce.
An addendum having nothing to do with the trees began in 1854, when he arrived in town and 1859, when he was run out on a rail, so to speak. Radford Gatlin opened and operated a general store with post office inside. The town adopted his name, calling itself Gatlinburg, but its owner had made himself so unwelcome, due to his fussing and feuding, that the town tossed him out in 1859.
Following the Civil War until just after the turn of the century, the story of the trees changed. Building was booming, which meant lumber companies dug deeper into the mountain regions, having denuded the lowlands of its trees. Lodging the lumbermen gave some of the town ' s inhabitants income, while the beginnings of tourism by people wanting to see the mountains gave others an income through lodging as well. At this time, the settlement consisted of six houses, general store, church, blacksmith shop, school and log cabins housing approximately 600 people. The story of the town was still about the trees.
Now, however, people began to take notice of the trees disappearing at a great rate. Appeals were made to Washington which resulted in Congress passing the Weeks Act, which made provision for the purchase of forestlands for national parks. In 1934, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park hosted 40, 000 tourists. The next year saw 500, 000 tourists walking beneath the trees.
Today
Gatlinburg is the gateway to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The original log cabin sits in the center of the town, as does the original schoolhouse and general store. The descendants of the original settlers still live and work there. Progress may have changed the shape of the town, in the form of roads, malls and tourist attractions, but the soul of Gatlinburg is still about the trees. The city contains the only ski resort in Tennessee, so the trees are the focus year - round. Nine hundred families call it home and it is the most popular tourist city in Tennessee.
Come visit the Great Smoky Mountains in style by staying at one of the finest Gatlinburg luxury hotels. There simply isn ' t a better choice for hotels in downtown Gatlinburg than The Bearskin Lodge.
