Photo provided by GSMNP archives
Tennessee Governor Austin Peay signs legislation authorizing purchase of Little River Company land, a key victory in the creation of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Standing second from left is Representative Anne M. Davis.
As the librarian archivist for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Michael Aday, along with his wife, Denise Aday, have put together a book from some of the 1.4 million documents in the Park’s archives.
The archive involves “reams of letters documenting the herculean task of establishing the park; and hundreds of documents chronicling the lives of many of those who lived here before the park existed, including the Cherokees,” they write,
“I was constantly awed by the stories I found in the archives,” writes Michael. “Some made me laugh out loud, some made me angry or sad, and some hopeful. But they all made me grateful to be the archivist for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.” He goes on to say: “In these ancient mountains humans have intersected and entangled for millennia. Several letters in this book explore these complex and complicated relationships.”
While many of the letters, illustrations and photos in this award-winning book bring to light heavy historical moments, others offer lighter and more fanciful fare.
In selecting topics brought to light by the Adays, I’ve selected a few of the chapters that drew my attention. Starting in 1785 with the chapter Franklin, the State That Never Was, we’re given the history after the end of the American Revolution and the four counties in Western North Carolina that voted to secede and form their own state named after Benjamin Franklin. In intricate historical detail, the Adays lays out the events and the participants of the 14th state movement, which ultimately failed but set up the basis for what would become the Civil War in years to come.
We then move forward to 1830 and the letters for the chapter on Enslavement in Appalachia. In a letter from landowner and enslaver Robert Love, we’re told that “enslaved African Americans were not only present in Southern Appalachia, they were integral to the region.” In his letter, he writes that he wanted to “sell a sufficient number of his negroes or slaves to pay off all of the above debts,” in a time when the percentage of enslaved people in the population of the 15 western counties of North Carolina was 10 percent. Aday writes: “The largest use of enslaved Black people could be found in mining (copper and gold) and railroad construction. That James Love and his father sold human beings to settle debt underscores the dehumanization at the heart of the institution of slavery.”
Next, we move to the period from 1924-1930 and the chapter titled A Blizzard Of Limericks. Here the Adays treat us to lighter fare with the (his)story of the creation and activities of the Smoky Mountain Hiking Club and a hike to the top of Mt. LeConte, where they composed a group poem that was found in a letter from Carlos Campbell to V.V. Stanley that goes something like this: “There was a nice man named Campbell/Up mountain trails he would scramble/Nothing more would he want/Than a trip up Le Conte/O Lord: How that bird does ramble.” On that day Campbell and several others (pictured together in the book) “spent an idyllic afternoon exploring Mt. Le Conte, Chimney Tops and Myrtle Point. Their hiking club spent the night crowded around the fire. They sang songs, swapped stories and composed limericks about each other.” The Smoky Mountain Hiking Club still operates today.
The chapter Anne Davis: For the Park and the People (1925) is about her role in establishing the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Her hand-written note describes its beginning: “I remarked that I thought the Great Smokies were as beautiful as any mountains we had seen in the west and I thought that with so many parks in the west there should be one in the east.” She moved to Knoxville, ran for a government position and in the end sponsored the legislation that would purchase 78,000 acres of land that would eventually become the park.
Selected concluding chapters include Harp Singing and Squirrel Stew (1930) and a letter from Bert Walker “reminiscing about Tennessee,” and writing his cousins, the Walker sisters, in the mountains who lived together and were self-sufficient and eventually even became a tourist attraction with one of the sisters even selling her illustrated poems. In the chapter dated 1935 A Proposal for Cades Cove Lake , the chapter starts with a letter by Arno B. Cammerer. Here, we have a story of the controversy regarding “a plan to build a 60-foot-high dam across Abrams Creek to create a lake covering 1,196 acres, inundating the farm and structures of more than 40 former cove residents.” In the chapter dated 1940 Balancing Act on Mt. LeConte we have a letter from the manager of LeConte Lodge, Jack Huff, outlining the problems he was having with day-trippers to the lodge complex wanting free amenities. “For Huff, the problem lay in guests who expected to enjoy his hospitality without having to pay for it. The Huffs ran LeConte for nearly 40 years. Though it was sometimes a bumpy ride, they left a lasting impression on tens of thousands of visitors and helped build a lodge with a reputation that still serves hikers today,” Aday writes. And, finally, we have the 1968 chapter A Plan to Beat and Banish Bears and the letter that sparked the controversy over feeding wildlife and even violently removing all bears from the Great Smokies National Park that were invading campsites searching for food. In the pro-wildlife letter to the Superintendent of Parks the writer says: “We don’t want you any longer. We much prefer the bear. They are not half as dangerous.” In 1976, a new bear-management policy was released that shifted the focus toward visitor education and away from “hitting bears with clubs.”
For residents of these mountains or people headed this way for vacation or hiking trips, Michael and Denise Aday’s Letters From the Smokies is a classic resource for the history and the stories from these hills. An educationally fun read for all.
About the author: Thomas Crowe is the author of the award-winning memoir Zoro’s Field: My Life in the Appalachian Woods and publisher of New Native Press. He lives in Jackson County, NC.