No ghosts allowed

Search for a stroll in the mountains leads to pleasant surprise

I wasn’t looking for a story. My wife, Tisa, and I had planned a leisurely afternoon knocking around in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Tisa had read years ago about a “ghost town” near the Elkmont campground, and somewhere in the back of my mind I vaguely remembered stories about dilapidated buildings. Still, we hadn’t been motivated to search for it. I’ll admit I had bypassed signs for Elkmont campground for years; my idea of camping is a Hampton Inn or comparable lodging.

When we reached Elkmont campground, signs pointed us to “Daisy Town,” just past the campsites. I didn’t recall noticing that name on previous markers or maps.

As we topped the hill, we saw several neatly painted homes, clearly older but with a more modern feel than the cabins at Cades Cove. National Park Service low-profile interpretive placards, though somewhat faded, explained Daisy Town’s history. The area had once been a resort community for wealthy Knoxville residents who traveled — often by train — for mountain getaways.

Elkmont began as a logging camp for the Little River Logging Company and evolved into a small community in the early 1900s, before the national park was established in 1934. The Daisy Town cabins sat at the confluence of the Little River and Jake’s Creek and served primarily as vacation homes. When the park was created, many owners received lifetime leases, most of which expired in 1992. The remaining properties were turned over to the park service in 2001, with restoration beginning in 2009.

Daisy Town includes 19 charming buildings built in what the park service sign describes as craftsman-style. Over roughly 15 years, they were restored through a partnership between the non-profit Friends of the Smokies and the National Park Service.

The unique, renovated homes were open to explore, so we took full advantage. Most were unfurnished, though some still had kitchen cabinets, sinks, old water heaters, and tattered linoleum. The rooms were generally small, and the construction seemed haphazard in some areas, as some features had been added at different times.

Each structure is painted in period-correct colors based on the originals. Nearby, you can see the remains of chimneys and foundations of original Elkmont buildings that were too far gone to save. I can only imagine why the folks were drawn to the scenic area in the location’s heyday — probably for many of the same reasons we keep returning to the mountains.

Upon discovering Daisy Town for the first time, we are quite certain that there were plenty of memories made in the area — but, thankfully, we never encountered a single ghost.

Story by Glen Liford,

Contact gliford@ourcoop.com