We drove into Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg and could not have been more surprised. It was everything we never wanted to see! (Vegas, Fairs, Carnivals all wrapped into one. Huge crowds and traffic jams.) So we avoided the throngs and drove into the Smokey Mountains to view some early mountain settlements. The story that comes out is close families who yearned to be self sufficient, they were Christian folk, lived with very little (we call it poor today - they didn't think of themselves as poor). The stories are much like Dolly Parton's - one of twelve children - roaming the hills, singing together, going to church and often made fun of by the kids at school. Dolly talks about going to school with holes in both shoes, her stockings and having the kids laugh at her. IT made for a tough breed of folks. By the way the graveyard was one of the first where we stopped and read the markers. There were basically about three family names on the markers - still being buried there to this day. The one Jon wanted a picture of is " Here lies Samuel Oliver - Murdered by North Carolina Rebels."
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| Church built by hand - hardwood of course |
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| Hardwood pews, floor, and ceiling! |
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| Primitive Barn |
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