From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Little Greenbrier (Great Smoky Mountains)
Little Greenbrier (Great Smoky Mountains)
Coordinates: 35°40′59″N 83°38′19″W / 35.6831°N toms, or the much longer Cove Mountain Trail from the
83.6386°W / 35.6831; -83.6386 Sugarlands Visitor Center several miles to the east.
History
The earliest documented settlers in Little Greenbrier
were Alexander McKenzie and Arthur "Brice" McFalls.
McKenzie and McFalls, who had been neighbors in South
Carolina, arrived in the 1830s.[1] McFalls is believed to
have built a cabin in the 1840s that was reassembled by
later arrival John Walker as the "kitchen" half of the
Walker Cabin.[2]
Around the time of the Civil War, William and Riley
Metcalf, two brothers of Cherokee descent, moved their
families to the flats around the confluence of Little Brier
Branch and Little River that now bears their name.[1]
The King-Walker Place at Little Greenbrier During the construction of Little River Road in the 1920s,
members of the Metcalf family supplied drinking water
Little Greenbrier is the name of a former Appalachian to road construction crews, and in appreciation the pic-
community that is now an historical area in the Great nic area later established in the area by the National Park
Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee. The community was Service was named for the Metcalfs.[3]
situated in a hollow rising from Metcalf Bottoms along
Little River to the upper slopes of Cove Mountain, in the Little Greenbrier School
northeastern section of the national park. Little Green- Main article: Little Greenbrier School
brier was once known simply as "Greenbrier," but the Built in 1882, the Little Greenbrier School functioned as
"Little" was added to its name to distinguish it from the the community school until 1936. Over its fifty-four year
larger Greenbrier located between Mount Le Conte and history, it was used as a schoolhouse under the supervi-
Mount Guyot to the east. sion of nearly fifty teachers, and it was the house of wor-
Little Greenbrier is currently home to the Walker ship for a Primitive Baptist church.[4] It is located at the
Schoolhouse—
Cabin and the Little Greenbrier Schoolhouse both on center of what was once Little Greenbrier.[5]
the National Register of Historic Places.
Walker Sisters Place
Geography Main article: Walker Sisters Place
Little Greenbrier is located in a gradually-ascending hol-
low 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 a
natural boundary between Wears Valley and the national
park (the park boundary roughly follows the ridgecrest).
Little Brier Branch, its source near the top of Cove Moun-
tain, flows southward 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
The Walker Cabin
trails, namely the Little Brier Gap Trail from Metcalf Bot-
1
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Little Greenbrier (Great Smoky Mountains)
The Walker Sisters Place (sometimes referred to as the
King-Walker Place after its primary builders) was the
home of five spinster sisters who refused to sell their
166-acre (0.7 km2) plot to the national park and main-
tained their traditional 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.[6]
The "kitchen" part of the cabin was built in the 1840s
by early settler Brice McFalls. The larger cabin was built
in the 1850s by Wiley King. His sons completed the cab-
in’s massive chimney, and his son-in-law, John King, built
the cabin’s porch and merged the larger cabin with the
smaller McFalls cabin.[2] By 1921, the cabin and farm had
passed to five of Walker’s daughters— Margaret Jane, Pol-
ly, Louisa, Hettie, and Martha— who had lived on the land The Greenbrier Cemetery at Little Greenbrier
their entire lives.[6] The National Park Service assumed
control of the land when the last of the Walker Sisters
died in 1964.[2]
References
In the 1930s, the commission responsible for buying [1] ^ Michal Strutin, History Hikes of the Smokies
land for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park un- (Gatlinburg, Tenn.: Great Smoky Mountains
successfully attempted to persuade the Walker sisters to Association, 2003), pp. 217-230.
sell the homestead. Fearing bad publicity, the commis- [2] ^ Paul Gordon, National Registration of Historic
sion balked at forcing the Walkers out via condemnation Places Nomination Form for King-Walker Place, 16
suits. The Walker sisters finally sold the farm in 1941 in April 1974. Retrieved: 2009-09-17.
exchange for a lifetime lease.[7] A local legend claims the [3] Vic Weals, The Last Train to Elkmont (Knoxville,
sisters were paid a visit by President Franklin Roosevelt Tenn.: Olden Press, 1993), pp. 85-88.
who convinced them to sell the land (Roosevelt was in [4] Paul Gordon, National Registration of Historic
the area to dedicate the national park in 1940, but there Places Nomination Form for Little Greenbrier
is no known record of a visit to the Walker place).[8] School-Church, 31 July 1973. Retrieved: 2009-09-21.
[5] Strutin, 220-222.
Greenbrier Cemetery [6] ^ Bonnie Trentham Myers, The Walker Sisters:
Greenbrier Cemetery is located next to the Little Green- Spirited Women of the Smokies (Maryville, Tennessee:
brier Schoolhouse. In many ways, the cemetery is repre- Myers & Myers Publishing, 2004), pp. 2-10.
sentative of typical Appalachian cemeteries. Awkwardly [7] Daniel Pierce, The Great Smokies: From Natural Habitat
constructed on a slope, nearly half of the graves are those to National Park (Knoxville: University of Tennessee
of children. Press, 2000), 168.
[8] Myers, 97.
See also
• Wears Valley, Tennessee
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/in-
dex.php?title=Little_Greenbrier_(Great_Smoky_Mountains)&oldid=459965117"
Categories:
• Geography of Sevier County, Tennessee
• Communities of the Great Smoky Mountains
• Appalachian culture
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