Thinking about getting in the Smokies to go camping, but don’t want to get too far into the Smokies? Cades Cove is home to a wonderful campground and a number backcountry sites you can reach via one of the many hiking trails. The main one is right on the left as you enter Cades Cove. At last count, they offered 159 camping sites and can handle trailers up to 35 feet. RVs are allowed to be a little larger than 40 feet. Sites are equipped with picnic tables, fire rings and a tent surface. And you can also find camping supplies at the Cades Cove Campground store.
You’ll also find that the Cades Cove Campground has a wealth of other conveniences in the form of comfort stations with toilets and running water. However, there are no showers at the Cades Cove Campground so our suggestion is to shower up before coming or just jump in a creek. No, in all seriousness, we’ll leave that one up to you.
On Bears: Fair warning, there are bears in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, so if you do decide to camp in Cades Cove you’re very likely to see one, or two, maybe even three. Attacks however are rare, and the ones that have occurred usually have to do with food left unattended. So, don’t leave food out at your campsite or store it in a tent. The Black Bears that call the national park home have a keen sense of smell and even the smell of toothpaste can lure them to a campsite. If you do see one in the campground, bang something together to create a loud noise, shout, wave your arms and act like you’re a loon…. Anything to try to scare them away. If nothing works, RUN to a building, into a car, whatever.
Upon your departure, please attempt to leave no trace of food or litter in the campground that will attract bears. No burying or burning of food either. If you bring something in to the Cades Cove Campground, you must pack it up and take it out when you leave.
On occassion, you may see photos of people interacting with park bears. Still, Smoky Mountain Black Bears are extremely unpredictable when it comes to their interactions with humans. It’s in your best interest not to try to interact with them or attempt to feed them.
Outside of the Cades Cove Campground, Russell and Spence fields provide shelters and there are 16 backcountry campgrounds as well throughout the Cades Cove trail network. To make reservations, call 865-436-1200.
A quick word of advice, wear hiking boots or shoes comfortable enough for a good walk. For day-hikers, running shoes should suffice, but the National Park’s uneven trails require hiking boots. Please stay on the trail. Hikers can easily lose their way when they leave the trail. If you get temporarily lost, try to retrace your steps until you cross the trail again.
The Oliver’s Cabin was the first in the Smokies–
cozy environment for this branch of the Oliver family. Elijah was the son of John and Luraney and was born in their original Cades Cove cabin in 1824. Elijah grew into a young man and married before eventually bringing his bride to the site where they built the Smokies cabin that bears his name.
located on Forge Creek Road but following her death the Great Smoky Mountain National Park service decided to relocate the house to the Cable Mill area. Becky Cable herself, lived a long, productive life in the cove. She raised her brother’s children following an episode where he and his wife became ill. Becky also ran a boarding house in addition to her brother’s farm. She was a gardener, raised cattle and grew food for herself , her family and her brothers.
Most of the barns in Cades Cove were of the cantilever design, but not all of them. These barns were of a similar design of which we have today with a row of stalls on each side of an isle. In the cantilever design, the stalls were constructed in the middle of the structure with a large loft overhang on each side. There were many advantages to each, one being the shelter provided by the cantilever barn. This shelter provided animals not kept in stalls some shelter as they could wander from the pasture to stand under the large eaves. More common barn designs were also used to protect domestic animals and livestock from the predators of the Smokies.
protected it were put at a premium by early pioneers. Corn was ground into corn meal and used for making corn bread and grits, mush or left whole to make hominy as well as grain for livestock. You’ll notice that the Cades Cove corn cribs were designed with slats which would hold the corn in while allowing maximum air circulation. The harvested corn ears were tossed in the above hatch in the crib usually with the shucks still on the ears where they air dried into hard kernels still on the cob. There is a small door at the bottom of the crib. Corn was shucked and rubbed together briskly to knock the hardened corn from the cob. Once off the cob, the corn kernels could be made into hominy, hominy grits, mush, cornmeal, or chicken and livestock food.
son of John P. Cable inherited the mill and farm from his father, he decided to also become a blacksmith – a much needed trade. Inspiration perhaps came from the many people bringing grain and logs to be milled by means of wagons drawn by mules and horses. Once the products were milled, it was more convenient for his customers to also have their animals shod rather than traveling somewhere else. A primitive service station. About every eight weeks mules and horses needed their metal shoes pulled and reset, so this produced a constant need for blacksmiths.
Henry Whitehead Place
George Washington “Carter” Shields lived in this Cades Cove cabin named after him from 1910 through 1921. Shields was crippled in the Battle of Shiloh and retired to this beautiful cabin. It’s particularly popular because of the dogwood trees that bloom here in the early spring making it one of the loveliest in Cades Cove.