Little Greenbrier (Great Smoky Mountains)

Little Greenbrier is the name of a former Appalachian community that is now an historical area in the Great Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee. The community was situated in a hollow rising from Metcalf Bottoms along Little River to the upper slopes of Cove Mountain, in the northeastern section of the national park. Little Greenbrier was once known simply as "Greenbrier," but the "Little" was added to its name to distinguish it from the larger Greenbrier located between Mount Le Conte and Mount Guyot to the east.

Little Greenbrier is currently home to the Walker Cabin and the Little Greenbrier Schoolhouse— both on the National Register of Historic Places.

Geography

Little Greenbrier is located in a gradually-ascending hollow on the southwestern flank of Cove Mountain. This mountain links up with the eastern flank of Roundtop Mountain to form a long wall-like ridge that provides the boundary between Wear Cove and the national park.

Little Brier Branch, its source near the top of Cove Mountain, traverses and drains Little Greenbrier before emptying into Little River at Metcalf Bottoms.

Lyon Springs Road, which connects Wears Valley Road (U.S. Route 321) with Little River Road, passes near Little Greenbrier. A short gravel road leads from Lyon Springs Road to the Little Greenbrier Schoolhouse. The rest of Little Greenbrier can be reached via short hiking trails.

History

The Little Greenbrier School

In 1880, the residents of Little Greenbrier petitioned Sevier County in hopes of establishing a school. The county agreed to provide a teacher if the residents would provide the schoolhouse.

The school was constructed on land donated by William Abbott. Ephraim Ogle donated yellow poplar logs [Ed Trout, "Historic Buildings of the Smokies" (Gatlinburg: Great Smoky Mountains Association, 1995), 6.] which were moved to the site by ox teams, hewn, and notched using dove-tail joints. Billie Ogle, a 76-year old grandson of the first permanent settlers in Gatlinburg, helped to build the roof. The school originally had log benches, with dressed lumber benches added later.

The Little Greenbrier School held its first classes on January 1, 1882. Some students walked barefoot through the cold (classes were usually held in winter months) from as far as nine miles away. Church services were held at the school for several years until a new church was constructed on land donated by the Metcalf family. [Bonnie Trentham Myers, "The Walker Sisters: Spirited Women of the Smokies" (Maryville, Tennessee: Myers & Myers Publishing, 2004), 59-64.]

The King-Walker Cabin

The King-Walker Cabin (usually just referred to as "Walker Cabin") was the home of five spinster sisters who refused to sell their convert|166|acre|km2|1|sing=on plot to the national park and maintained their mountain life into the 1950s. In 1946, the "Saturday Evening Post" published an article on the Walker sisters that drew a flood of tourists to the area. [Myers, 2-10.]

The "kitchen" part of the cabin was built in 1859 by Wiley King (1793-1859), who had purchased the land in Little Greenbrier a few years earlier. King died shortly after its completion.

In 1866, King's youngest daughter, Margaret Jane, married John Walker (1841-1921) of Wears Valley. The marriage was delayed by the Civil War, in which John (along with five of Wiley King's sons) served with the Union army. Over the years, John and Margaret's family grew to include three sons and seven daughters. To accommodate his growing family, Walker constructed the larger section of the cabin, and placed it adjacent to the original King structure. The cabin eventually passed to five of Walker's daughters— Margaret Jane, Polly, Louisa, Hettie, and Martha— who had never married. [Myers, 2-10.]

In the 1930s, the commission responsible for buying land for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park unsuccessfully attempted to persuade the Walker sisters to sell the homestead. Fearing bad publicity, the commission balked at forcing the Walkers out via condemnation suits. The Walker sisters finally sold the farm in 1941 in exchange for a lifetime lease. [Daniel Pierce, "The Great Smokies: From Natural Habitat to National Park" (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2000), 168.] A local legend claims the sisters were paid a visit by President Franklin Roosevelt who convinced them to sell the land (Roosevelt was in the area to dedicate the national park in 1940, but there is no known record of a visit to the Walker place). [Myers, 97.]

Greenbrier Cemetery

Greenbrier Cemetery is located next to the Little Greenbrier Schoolhouse. In many ways, the cemetery is representative of typical Appalachian cemeteries. Awkwardly constructed on a slope, nearly half of the graves are those of children.

ee also

Wears Valley, Tennessee

References

External links