The story
Elkmont lived twice: first as the Little River Lumber Company's rowdiest camp, railroad and all, stripping the Smokies; then — as the cutover land sold toward a national park — as an improbable summer resort where Knoxville society built the Appalachian Club cottages and the Wonderland Hotel.
The park arrived in 1934, but cottage owners negotiated lifetime leases that were renewed into the 1990s, so Elkmont became a ghost town in slow motion, emptying cabin by cabin as leases lapsed. The Park Service has restored the best of 'Daisy Town' and removed the rest; every June the surrounding woods host the synchronous fireflies, when a vanished resort briefly draws bigger crowds than it ever did alive.
What remains today
Nineteen restored Appalachian Club cottages and the clubhouse, the Spence and Levi Trentham cabins, and ruins along Jakes Creek — inside Great Smoky Mountains NP.
Questions from the field
- Why did Elkmont's cabins survive inside a national park?
- Owners traded their land for lifetime (later extended) leases when the park formed; the last expired in 1992, leaving the park a resort colony's worth of historic cottages to triage.
From the field
The most valuable part of this record is the part only visitors can write.
Stamp your passport
Check in at Elkmont — GPS-verified visits earn an inked stamp.
File a field report
Road conditions, what's still standing, what's gone — your report joins the record.
Add photographs
Credited, dated, and preserved as part of Elkmont's permanent record.
No field reports yet — sign in to file the first.
Sources consulted
- — USGS GNIS feature 1283655
- — NPS — Elkmont Historic District
- — Little River Lumber Company records