CADES COVE

May 9, 2006

For our adventure this day we decided to combine some bike riding with our history lesson.  We drove out to Cades Cove to explore.

The Cades Cove area is a wide, fertile valley—much better for farming than Roaring Fork.  In the 19^th century the valley was home to about 685 people and their farms are sprinkled throughout the area.  Many have been restored and are open for us to visit and learn about pioneer life.

We parked near the Visitor Center and rode our bikes out along the gently rolling road.  The broad valley is covered in green grasslands and wildflowers blooming in abundance.  There is a river meandering through the middle of the valley, and numerous little brooks and rills flowing down out of the mountains to feed the river.  Edging the valley are stands of maples, hickory, and dogwood, with firs and hemlocks higher up the mountainsides.  The underbrush is replete with wild azalea, rhododendron, ferns, and mountain laurel.

We enjoyed riding along the one-way road with the pretty scenery and little traffic.  Every few miles we stopped to explore a farm or little church, and read the history and explore old cemeteries.  For a population of 685 there were a lot of churches, and we learned that some churches split into two when the Civil War broke out.  Since church was the main social event, and a place where business deals and crops and services were bartered, it was really important to be a member in good standing at church or you couldn’t make a living.

In the cemeteries the toll of this hard pioneer life was evident.  Babies—1,2,3 from the same family—were buried one after another.  Young wives, just teenagers, were buried, along with later wives, next to their husband, who lived to a ripe old age.

We stopped at the old mill, which is still in operation.  Stone ground corn meal and flour, ground on the very mill, are available for sale there.  Don had a good chat about mills and Grandpa Gary’s Iowa farm with the fellow doing the milling demonstration.  We got a chuckle out of the three little brothers who were chasing the salamanders around the mill flume.