1 - SETTLING Cades Cove Tn
In 1820 this was frontier country, newly acquired by the State of Tennessee from the Cherokee Indians. Families did not simply wander in and say to themselves, “My, how pretty, let’s settle here.” The land was owned by speculators who bought it from the state of Tennessee. Settlers bought it from the speculators, whose intent was to make money. In this way Cades Cove Tn became a typical cumulative community...a miscellaneous collection of people who were not oriented toward a common purpose, as in the early religious settlements of New England. It grew without a fixed plan, and families chose land that was available and affordable whenever they arrived. Most of the people came from established communities in upper east Tennessee, southwestern Virginia, and western North Carolina. Very few were “fresh off the boat.
By 1850 the population peaked at 685. With the soil growing tired, and new states opening in the West, many families moved out in search of more fertile frontiers. By 1860 only 269 people remained. Slowly, human numbers rose again to about 500 just before the Park was established in the late 1920s.
Beginning a new life here was basically the same for everyone. The east end of Cades Cove was settled first, being higher and drier than the swampy lower end. Huge trees were cleared by girdling them with an axe. The first crops were planted among the soon-dead timber. After a few years the standing trees were cut down, rolled into piles and burned. Orchards and permanent fields followed quickly on the “new ground. Common sense told farmers to reserve the flat land for corn, wheat, oats and rye. Their homes circled the central basin, and pastures and woodlots hung on the slopes. Apples, peaches, beans, peas and potatoes were supplemented with wild greens and berries. Meat was varied and plentiful. Cattle grazed in summer on the balds (grassy meadows bald of trees) high above the Cades Cove, while deer, bear, wild turkey and domestic hogs ranged the woods. |
