Man in the Great Smoky Mountains
Up to a century ago, the area we now know as Great
Smoky Mountains National Park was virtually unknown. Cherokee Indians
whose reservation joins the park to the south, came in occasionally to
hunt or fish and a few hardy white settlers dwelt in simple cabins which
they built from the forest trees. By the start of the 20th century,
several hundred families, mostly descendents of colonists from England
and Scotland, were living in the Great Smoky Mountains. Isolated from
the outside world, they lived a life of self-sufficiency. What they
couldn't make they had to do without. Their resourcefulness in the
construction of simple implements for use on their farms and in their
homes becomes very evident when we examine these objects as displayed in
the visitor center at Oconaluftee, near the park's Cherokee
entrance.
Farming was done along the narrow bottomlands in the
wider coves, and, often enough, on fairly steep hillsides. The tending
of livestock occupied a considerable portion of the
mountaineer's time. Cattle, sheep, and hogs roamed the forested
mountainsides, where food was ample during most of the year. Hunting,
trapping, and fishing served to bring welcome variety to the monotonous
fare of these people. On those infrequent occasions when trips were made
to a nearby community, needed items were obtained by barter. The entire
family usually engaged in the harvesting of wild berries and nuts.
Some of the works of man seem indigenous to
the region.
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Mostly unaware of the great changes which were taking
place beyond these mountains, the people continued in their relatively
primitive way of life until recently. Their names, their speech, and
their music are reminiscent of past generations.
A number of log cabins, barns, and other structures
that became part of Great Smoky Mountains National Park when the
mountaineers sold their property and moved away have been rehabilitated.
Park visitors now, and for generations to come, can examine these
buildings in such places as Cades Cove and Roaring Fork, where some of
the structures remain on their original sites, and in the Oconaluftee
Visitor Center area, where they are grouped to facilitate easy
inspection.
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