Walker Valley Living History Outline

Big Idea People’s lives and the environment changed with the creation of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Essential Questions • How has the park changed over time? • How did the creation of the national park change the lives of the people who lived here? • What purpose and role do national parks play?

Vocabulary • Eminent domain—the government’s power to take private property for public use, after paying a fair price to the owner of that property • Great Depression—beginning in 1929 and lasting until World War II, a time of poverty and unemployment for many Americans • Industrial Revolution—In the late 1800s and early 1900s, a time of great change in the economy and society resulting from more manufacturing, better transportation, and less small-scale farming • John D. Rockefeller, Jr.—Son and heir of John D. Rockefeller, billionaire owner of Stan- dard Oil Company; He donated $5 million to buy private land for the establishment of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. • Lease—an agreement between the owner of a house, land, or other possession and someone who wants to use it, in which the user pays for the right to use the owner’s possession • Little River Lumber Company—the logging company that cut trees on much of the western side of what is now Great Smoky Mountains National Park • Living History—a way to explore the past by recreating societies from a certain time period, with costumed characters, props, and a lot of imagination • Mr. and Mrs. Davis—a Knoxville couple who visited national parks in the western states in the early 1920s and were inspired to establish one in the East; Ann Davis was elected to the Tennessee General Assembly in 1924 and sponsored the decision to buy over 78,000 acres of land from the Little River Lumber Company to add to the park. • Roaring 20’s—The 1920s was a decade of growth for art, music, and the economy. Many people were wealthy and cities were growing, and some of the wood to con- struct those new buildings came from the Smoky Mountains • Skidder—a piece of logging equipment used to bring logs down from a mountainside. In the Smokies, skidders used a cable pulley system.

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• Sled—a livestock-drawn vehicle with runners instead of wheels, used to carry equipment, crops, and other miscellaneous loads • Splash dam—a way to transport logs down a small river by building a dam of logs, allowing water to pool and many more logs to accumulate behind it, then blowing up the dam so the resulting flood of water carries the lumber downstream to the saw mill • Walker Valley—The valley where Tremont is located, named for settler and patriarch Will Walker

Lesson Outline • Walker Valley History Slide Show • Central Activity • The Hike and Survey • Group Sharing • Conclusion

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THE TEACHER’S ROLE LEAD IN Slide Show and Time Travel 60 Minutes

Procedures During the lead in to Walker Valley Living History, the lesson coordinator (a Tremont staff member) will present a 45-minute slide show and explain the living history activity to the students. The teacher’s role during the slide show is simply to watch the students’ behavior, provid- ing discipline when necessary. After the slide show, the students will split into their teaching groups to prepare for the hike and character interviews. At this time, teachers should make sure there is at least one adult with each group, helping the students write questions and get into character. CENTRAL ACTIVITY Hike and Survey 90 Minutes

Procedures Following the slide show, Mr. or Mrs. Davis will meet the entire group on the bridge for a final review of expectations for the interviews. He or she will hand the adult leader from each small group a map de- tailing the path and direction you will take to find the characters. When your small group encounters a character on the trail, allow the students to conduct the interview. Make sure each student gets a turn to ask questions. Timing is important. The time from when the group arrives at a sta- tion until it finishes talking to that character should be approximately 15 minutes. Please hold to this schedule in order to make the lesson run smoothly. Timing is up to each teacher, not the characters. The teacher’s role throughout the main activity is to provide continu- ity and keep the students thinking about the main question of whether or not to establish a national park here. After leaving a character, take a few minutes to review with your group. How did the character respond to their questions? Were the students on task and respectful? How did the character influence the students’ ideas? What questions might they ask the next character they meet?

Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont 3 Walker Valley Living History Activities WRAP UP GROUP SHARING AND DISCUSSION 30 Minutes

Procedures After the interviews are completed, bring your group to the meeting location, which will probably be the Council House or Cove Room. The lesson coordinator will meet you there to conclude the lesson. Following a few minutes of discussion, each small group will be asked to present the results from their interviews. As needed, teachers can help their students prepare to share with the large group. LESSON ACTIVITIES WALKER VALLEY HISTORY SLIDE SHOW 45 Minutes

Procedures The lesson coordinator (a Tremont staff member) will tell the students that today they will be participating in a living history program to learn about the story of Walker Valley and the creation of the national park. The slide show they are about to see will help them get a feel for what life was like here in the days before Great Smoky Mountains Na- tional Park was established.

The lesson coordinator will show the slides to the entire group and explain how each one fits into Walker Valley’s history.

The lesson coordinator will answer any questions the students may have. Would they have enjoyed living in Walker Valley in the past?

BRIEFING: TIME TRAVEL 15 Minutes

Procedures Teachers will divide students into groups of 10-12, with at least one adult leader per group. The lesson coordinator will conduct the following introduction.

Coordinator’s Introduction: Today the students will be learning some of the cultural history of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. They will be hiking in Walker Valley, which has its own unique history. They are going to get a taste of what life was like in the year 1924 for people living in these east Tennessee mountains before the land became

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a national park. The way that they are going to learn about these things is called Liv- ing History. In today’s living history activity, the students are all going to become characters in a kind of play. This play is going to write itself with their help. Each student is a member of a small group, and will become a character in the play. The groups are coming to do some research which relates to their jobs and the proposed park. They will be walking a trail along which they will meet characters who may have lived in these mountains. The students’ job will be to find out about these characters and how they feel about the proposed park situation. These characters are not trying to fool anyone into believing they are really from 1924; they are trying to help the students imagine that they are living in 1924. Living history activities such as this require a person who can use his or her imagination very well. It takes a kind of actor: someone who can easily adapt to a different situation, in a different environment than he or she is familiar with; someone who can slip into a scene and appear as if he or she were always a part of it.

The year is 1924. Calvin Coolidge is president. There was a large outbreak of influenza about six years ago (20 million people would die world-wide, including 548,000 in the U.S.), and the Great War has been over for six years. (Remember that it would not have been called WWI at that time.) There are 48 states (Alaska and Hawaii have not been added yet). The life expectancy of a person living in the U.S. is about 59 years. Committee members have met in the city of Knoxville from places all over the U.S. Knoxville is a large city with electricity, running water, and some automobiles. From Knoxville they travel by train to Maryville, which is a growing town. Maryville has some electricity and running water but few automobiles. Horses are still the main mode of transportation. From Maryville they travel to Townsend, where they board a train operated and owned by Colonel Townsend, who owns the Little River Lumber Company. Presently, Colonel Townsend owns much land in the area and is logging some large tracts. Colonel Townsend is very important to the effort to develop a park because he owns or has logging rights on much of the proposed park land. For years he tried to buy some land from Will Walker, who owned most of this valley until his death in 1919. Will plays an important role in the development of the park as well. Some of his land was the last to become part of the park. His daughters sold the land to the Little River Lumber Company in 1922 after their mother’s death. The lumber company will not stop logging operations until 1938, four years after the park is established.

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The area in which the students will travel today looked a lot different in 1924. They will need to use their imaginations incredibly well because there were very few trees in the area. Most of the hillsides and valleys were fields for crops such as corn, sorghum, wheat, or for livestock graz- ing. People were still using fires and cook stoves for heat and cooking. Water was carried from springs; houses did not have electricity, only candles or kerosene lamps. Most people farmed and hunted for their survival. Most people did not travel very far from their homes. One account says that a woman married and moved to a hollow four miles away from her parents but never got out to see them. There was too much work to do just to survive. The students should keep these things in mind as they travel and ask questions. Also, remind them that it is not their job to make these people sell their land, but only to find out what their feelings are about the proposed park. Remember the rules of a national park are to protect the wild animals and plants that inhabit the land. If this is to be a national park some historic structures will be kept up, but most people’s houses and barns will have to be torn down because maintenance will cost too much. There will be no hunting, farming, or picking of any plants. Fruits and seeds may be taken only in small amounts. Some of the professional roles that students may take are listed be- low: • Bankers The people of the Knoxville area have been asked to pay one- third of the purchase price of the Little River Lumber Company’s property. The bankers are interested in looking over the area to decide whether this would be a worthwhile venture.

• Foresters Foresters are interested in checking over the area for its timber value. Cove land currently is valued at $5 an acre. Lower slope land is valued at $2.50 to $3.50 per acre. Upper slopes, ridges and bad burn areas are valued at only $.50 to $1.50 dollars an acre.

• Tennessee and North Carolina Governors and Their Aides Politicians are interested in checking out this land for the people of their state. A wise decision must be made about whether or not to support the creation of this park. It could mean votes in the next election! Tennessee wants a park in the Smokies, but North Carolina is undecided between having a park in the Smokies or in the Blue Ridge area at Grandfather Mountain.

• Photographers Photographers are interested in the scenic beauty of the area. They need to decide whether this area is the best place for a na-

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tional park based on whether it provides some spectacular views.

• Geologists Geologists are interested in unique rock formations. This area has an unusual inverted rock-age-strata. (Older rocks lie above younger ones.) They want to see this area preserved for future study.

• Highway Commissioner At this time, there is no road between Knoxville, Tennessee and Asheville, North Carolina. The Highway Commission is interested in the park idea because it would provide funds for building a road between the two cities. • Other members might include teachers, doctors, lawyers, government officials, and business people.

15 Minutes

Wrap Up Have the small groups discuss which professions the members would like to represent, and take about 10 minutes to let students write down questions they plan to ask the characters they meet. CENTRAL ACTIVITY THE HIKE AND SURVEY 90 Minutes

5 Minutes

Walk to the Tremont bridge where Mr. or Mrs. Davis will be waiting. Lead In He or she will greet the groups, lead them to the West Prong trailhead, and give them their assignment as follows: Greetings, everyone, and welcome to Walker Valley! I hope the train ride and wagon ride were not too tiring for you. My name is Mrs. Ann Davis. My husband, Willis, has asked me to coordinate this survey. Although he is on the committee for creating the Great Smoky Moun- tains National Park, business conflicts prevented him from being here in person to greet you. We have been here for about a week, doing some advance work in assessing feelings about making this area a national park. We’ve found a couple of things we felt you should be aware of before you go out to talk to these people. People here are suspicious of strangers. If the first thing you do is ask them about buying their land for a park, you won’t get anywhere. Peo-

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ple tend to wait until they feel like they know you before they’ll trust you enough to tell you what they really think. So I suggest approach- ing them very cautiously. Get to know the person—help him or her do whatever chore they have to do, or just “set a spell” and listen to what they have to say. Treat them with respect, and they will do the same for you. Your assignment is two-fold. First, the committee has asked that all of you try to find out how the people in these mountains feel about giving up their land for a national park. Keep track of how many are in favor of it, how many are against it, and the reasons for these feelings. Second, using the information you get from the residents here, the committee for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park wants you to decide the following: Is the natural beauty of this area so unique that it is the best choice for a national park in the Southeast? Is a park worth moving all of these people? Is it necessary to make this area a park to preserve its beauty? Some of the people on our committee have talked about wanting a park, but they want to put it somewhere else. We want to know if you think the park is a good idea, and if this is the best place to put it. You may have your own ideas about these questions, since you are from as varied a set of professions as we could find. And again, the committee and I thank you for your time and expense in helping us make a good decision. We do want you to keep in mind your own interests when you decide your answers, but also find out what these people think. When you have visited all the people you can, meet me back here and we will discuss your results. I’m going to leave you now, but before you leave on your visits, please discuss among your groups exactly how you’re going to approach the assignment. Take care, and good luck!

85 Minutes

Procedures Mr. or Mrs. Davis will hand out a map to each group, showing where they will see characters on the trail. Follow the directions marked on the map he or she gives you to avoid running into other groups. The characters will be waiting for your group along the trail. Each character the group meets will speak as if the time is 1924. It is important that the teacher act this way in order to help the students stay in their roles. The characters are not going to be famous people. They are meant to represent the types of people who lived in the Smokies in 1924. Some examples of possible characters are a hunter, lumberjack, schoolteacher, preacher or farmer. Each will have a story to tell and an opinion to give. Encourage the characters to provide as much information as possible

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about themselves in the time allowed, but do not harass the characters. If they feel the children are being rude or not playing along, they may leave and no longer talk to your group. CONCLUSION GROUP SHARING AND DISCUSSION 30 Minutes

5 Minutes

Lead In When the groups have all returned from meeting with the residents of Walker Valley, the lesson coordinator will gather them together in either the Council House or the Cove Room.

20 Minutes

Procedures In their small groups, students will be asked to prepare reports that can be taken back to the National Park Commission. There should be a secretary and a spokesperson for each group. In their report, groups should include: What were the feelings of the residents of Walker Valley about the national park and why did they feel this way? What is the decision of the group about pursuing the idea of the park? Yes or no, and why?

The lesson coordinator will call up each spokesperson to give the reports. The group will thank and applaud each one, but there will be no discussion yet.

5 Minutes

Wrap Up The lesson coordinator will lead a wrap-up discussion, inviting questions and comments from teachers and students. Following are some talking points for the lesson coordinator: • What was it like to go back in time? • How did it feel to try to put yourself in someone else’s shoes and see things from a different point of view? • Talk about some of the things that actually happened to allow the formation of the national park: 6,600 different parcels had to be purchased in order to acquire the land for the park. Some of this land was owned by family farmers, other

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lands were the summer homes of city people, and a large portion was owned by lumber companies such as Colonel Townsend’s Little River Railroad and Lumber Company. School children from Tennessee and North Carolina saved their pen- nies and nickels to donate to the park fund. This inspired adults to work for the wilderness, too. Children today can still take action and be an inspiration. Ask the students what they think this land might look like now, had the park not been created. Would it still be wilderness? Would there still be small family farms like the ones the characters wanted to keep? What is happening to the countryside around the park today? The people who created this park did so knowing that they would never see a complete return to wilderness in their lifetimes. Can the students think of other things that have been done with a strong vision of the future in mind? OPTIONAL ACTIVITIES For younger students, the lesson can focus more on the ways people lived in Walker Valley in the past, rather than on the sacrifices residents made in order to create a national park. In this version of the lesson, the national park idea would only be brought up at the concluding discussion, and students would interview characters about their lives and work. For schools that are putting together their own trip journals, there is a worksheet available in the following Walker Valley Living History Resources section to help the students take notes during the interviews.

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Walker Valley Living History

Things to remember during Walker Valley Living History: • The year is 1924, • The best way to have a conversation with someone is to take the time to get to know him or her first. When you get to know someone, you also share a little about yourself. Use your imagination and pretend to be someone in 1924 who would be on the Davis’ committee. Please fill out this worksheet with the help of your group.

Mrs. Davis

Where does Mrs. Davis live? ______

What gave her the idea of trying to create a national park in the Smokies? ______

______

Why has she asked you and your committee to come to Walker Valley? ______

______

Character #1

Name ______

What does this person do for a living or how do they spend their time? ______

______

Could the national park have any positive effects on their life? ______

If yes, how? ______

______

Could the national park have any negative effects on their life? ______

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If yes, how? ______

______

Character #2

Name ______

What does this person do for a living or how do they spend their time? ______

______

Could the national park have any positive effects on their life? ______

If yes, how? ______

______

Could the national park have any negative effects on their life? ______

If yes, how? ______

______

Character #3

Name ______

What does this person do for a living or how do they spend their time? ______

______

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Could the national park have any positive effects on their life? ______

If yes, how? ______

______

Could the national park have any negative effects on their life? ______

If yes, how? ______

______

Character #4

Name ______

What does this person do for a living or how do they spend their time? ______

______

Could the national park have any positive effects on their life? ______

If yes, how? ______

______

Could the national park have any negative effects on their life? ______

If yes, how? ______

______

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Final Questions

Tell two ways that life was different in Walker Valley in 1924 than your life today.

Tell two ways that your life is the same as someone in Walker Valley in 1924.

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U.S. and World (1915-1925) In 1915, the first telephone call, from New York to San Francisco, was accomplished by Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Watson. The United States entered the Great War (now called World War I) in 1917. The war ended in November, 1918. Also in 1918, an influenza ep- idemic killed an estimated 20 million people world-wide, 548,000 in the U.S. The first trans- atlantic flight was made by a U.S. Navy Seaplane in 1919. The trip, which began in New York, was made in 19 days, with stops in Newfoundland, Azores, and ending in Lisbon. Two constitutional amendments were ratified during this time period. The first, the 18th Amend- ment in 1919, legalized Prohibition. The second, the 19th Amendment, in 1920, gave women the right to vote. The first sound-on-film motion picture was shown in 1923. Some notable in- ventions during this time period included stainless steel (1916), the automatic toaster (1918), and automobiles, which began to appear in the area regularly in the early 1920s.

Pioneer Era William Marion Walker married Nancy Caylor in 1859 and moved to the Middle Prong of the Little River, where they became the first settlers in this area. The valley soon became known as Walker Valley. It has been said that Will, known as Big Will to most, and Nancy read their Bible regularly. Will noted that God had blessed and granted prosperity to David and other men of olden times who chose to have more than one wife. Therefore, in about 1864, Big Will brought into the home a second wife, Mary Ann Moore, sister of Loon Grant Moore (Big Will’s son-in-law.) Nancy is said to have cared for Mary Ann and her seven children, all of whom grew to adulthood. It is supposed that Nancy learned from Big Will’s mother (Aunt Polly) to be a midwife for her valley just as Aunt Polly had been for Tuck- aleechee. Later Big Will built a cabin for Mary Ann and her seven children on the west side of the river, probably near the bridge into Tremont. Later, with no more children in his home, he took a third wife, Mary (called Moll which was short for Molly) Stinnett, who was the sister of Preacher John Stinnett, another son-in-law of Big Will’s. Moll and Will had 12 children, only one of whom died in infancy. He built a cabin for her and her children down the river near the location of Tremont’s sewage lagoon. This brought the total of Will’s children to 26 by 3 wives. Since only the children of Nancy could legally bear the name of Walker, the children of each of the other two wives bore their mother’s names. There are many descendants by the common-law wives who come back to the valley and cemetery once a year, the first Sunday in June, for decoration day and homecoming. Big Will was a man of many talents and was well liked. In a clipping from a newspaper, a reporter said that when Big Will was 79 and very active, he could “jump up and clap his heels together twice before he landed.” It was said that during the Civil War, when many of his neighbors from Cades Cove were off fighting, Will traveled from house to house and cut firewood for people who had no one at home to do it for them. He was also a good hunter and sharp shooter, made water tight oak buckets, and was a master beekeeper. At one time he had over 100 “bee gums” (hives made from hollowed-out black gum logs) in his yard and more on Thunderhead Prong. He traded the valued honey in Tuckaleechee (now Townsend). He also built three grist mills on his property used for grinding corn meal.

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Lumbering Era After the war, logging companies came into the area. Although Walker Valley was the most accessible, Will would not sell. He vowed that he would never sell to the loggers, but did allow splash logging from property that adjoined his upriver. With splash logging several dams would be constructed along the river. When logs were ready to be moved, the dams were closed. When the water level behind the dam furthest upstream was high enough, that dam was dynamited. As the rushing water and logs approached the next dam, it, too, was dynamited. As more dams were destroyed, the water level continued to rise, allowing more logs to be carried. By the time the last dam was opened, there was enough water to carry the logs to the mill in Townsend. In 1918 Will had been disabled by a stroke and Colonel W.B. Townsend of the Little River Lumber Company came to offer to buy the land Will had claimed on the Thunderhead Prong. It is told that Will agreed to the sale, but asked that it not be cut. The lumber company bought that 96 acre parcel for $1500 and it was not cut until shortly after Colonel Townsend’s death in 1936. Will had had his land surveyed and in all claimed eight square miles or 5,120 acres of land. Big Will was 80 years old when he died in 1919 and was carried across the footlog and down the river to the present day Townsend “Y”. From there his body was carried by a train, provided by Colonel Townsend, to be buried at Bethel Baptist Church in Townsend, although it was said he wished to be buried in his valley. Four of his daughters by Moll Stinnett, Dora, Sally, Millie, and Lillie, had cared for him during his final illness and it was to them that he left his valley. Nancy lived two years longer in their cabin, cared for by the four Stinnett sisters. When she died she was buried beside Big Will at Bethel, leaving this valley for the first time since she came here. After Big Will’s death, the Little River Lumber Company completed their deal with the heirs of the valley, which they had been unable to accomplish with Big Will. He loved his valley and did not wish to see the land spoiled as it had been at Elkmont (towards Gatlin- burg) and Cades Cove. As one hikes the trails here at Tremont and the surrounding areas, it may be difficult to imagine it as an area without trees. But if you had been here from about 1910 to 1936, that’s what you would have seen: few, if any, trees. The Little River Lumber Company logged the areas around the Middle Prong of the Little River (the river that flows through Tremont) from 1926 to 1939. The Tremont road follows the route of the logging railroad that used to haul logs from this valley to Townsend. Three miles upriver from the Institute was the logging town of Tremont, named because of the trees and the mountains. The town had a general store, hotel, post office, and a building which served as the school, movie house, and church. People in the town lived in portable “carshacks” that could be picked up and moved on railroad flatcars as the logging operations moved. During the time that the logging company was in operation, there were about 1,000 people living between here and the logging town. Logs were removed from the high country using a device called a skidder. There were two types of skidders. Ground skidders were V-shaped troughs that were raised a few feet off the ground. When logs were ready to be sent down to the tracks, they were put into

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the skidder. A rope or cable was tied to one end of the log(s), and the other end attached to mules or oxen. These animals would then pull the logs from the mountains down to the tracks. The logs were then loaded onto flatcars and taken to the mill in Townsend. Overhead skidders consisted of a crane-like machine which moved on rails, and metal cables. After the cables were attached to a large tree or stump as far as one mile away from the tracks, logs could be “reeled” back to the skidder using pulleys and a large “J” hook. In this part of the park many spurline sections of railroad branched out far into the mountains and hollows to provide access to the timber. In areas like these a specialized engine known as a Shay engine was used to haul the logs back down into the valley. Unlike conven- tional engines, a Shay engine was able to withstand the steep grades and sharp turns that were common in the mountains. When Great Smoky Mountains National Park was established, the Little River Lumber Company sold its holdings to the park. Although the Little River Lumber Company land was the first land purchased for the national park, it was the last accepted for such use because of continued cutting. After a long legal battle and years of negotiation, the Middle Prong and its tributaries were finally included in the boundaries of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Many relics remain to remind us that the logging company was here. If you have a sharp eye while hiking some trails here at Tremont, you may see skidder cables, pieces of railroad tracks, train parts, foundations of buildings, old railroad beds, or manways (trails used by loggers to get from one place to another). This area has only had since about 1939 to recover, but if you look around, today’s forest is a testimony to the power of nature to reclaim its own, if given the opportunity to do so. The park gave the forest that chance. National Park Era By 1938, all developments of Little River Lumber Company had been moved out of the valley. The National Park Service, having purchased 77,000 acres from Little River Lumber Company, destroyed all the buildings except for the area which had been given by Colonel Townsend to be used as Camp Margaret Townsend by the Girl Scouts (now Tremont). In 1933 and 1934, the government built a Civilian Conservation Corps Camp (CCC Camp) about four miles above the location of the former Tremont logging community site, which was named the Tremont CCC Camp, the second location to use the name TREMONT. This camp was in operation for about eight years. The CCC boys located there built and main- tained trails in this area of the park and helped establish and maintain picnic areas, campgrounds, and trails in other parts of the park. At the close of the camp, the government again dismantled all buildings. The foundations, however, can still be seen. A small primitive campground, built on the site of a former residence, was also given the name TREMONT by the park. In 1964, the government built the Job Corps Center at the location of the former Girl Scout camp. It was named Tremont Job Corps, and became the fourth location to use the name of TREMONT. It was in operation 4 ½ years. An average of about 112 young men were sta- tioned at the center doing trail work, improving roads, trails, picnic areas, and campgrounds at Tremont and throughout the park. They also received valuable training, including basic education, shop work, and specific skills. Upon evaluation of the many Job Corps Centers in

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the United States, it was decided that the expenditure per corpsman was too high at Trem- ont. Since there was insufficient room for expansion, the facility closed in June 1969. Representatives of Maryville College, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Blount County Chamber of Commerce, and the public school systems of this area petitioned government authorities that the facilities of this center be used as a center for environmental education, to be administered by Maryville College. This was the first proposal for the use of any of the 59 abandoned Job Corps Centers. This opened the possibility of using all the centers for “socially useful” purposes. Tremont Environmental Education Center was opened with almost a record number of students and teachers from Chattanooga, the 3rd week in October 1969. During the first year of operation, more than 4,000 students, teachers, and parents from school systems from Chattanooga to Johnson City spent a week at the center. Weekend and summer use of the center included college students, church groups, garden clubs, and ex- perimental groups of special education children. The center was closed in September 1979 for remodeling and Maryville College was unable to reopen the center. In May 1980 the Great Smoky Mountains Natural History Association (now Great Smoky Mountains Association) became the administrative agency of the center. STORIES FROM WALKER VALLEY Some of the characters during the “Walker Valley Living History “ lesson may tell the following stories in their presentations. Please wait until AFTER the field lesson to tell these to the students.

The children of Loon Grant Moore and Margaret Shields There were many tragedies in the valley through the years, especially in the rough pioneer days when travel was slow and difficult and doctors were impossible to get. Many ba- bies died in infancy, and other children died quite young. Little Susie Moore was the daughter of Loon Grant Moore and Margaret Shields (his second wife). One cold January day, she started across the footlog across Middle Prong to her Uncle Will’s. The river was full and the footlog was icy. She fell in and drowned. (She was less than five years old.) Loon and Margaret suffered another tragedy as their daughters Annie and Margaret were walking down the trail together. They were shot by Annie’s husband, Henry Walker, Big Will’s nephew. He was later declared insane and spent the rest of his days in a mental insti- tution where he was a cook. Margaret was not killed, but Annie was. Some say they were divorced before this happened. One of the most touching stories which sheds light on the care of children in the valley was told by Emma, youngest daughter of Loon and Margaret, who was born blind. She cried and begged to go to school like the other children, but the teacher at Walker Valley had not been trained to teach blind children. He told Loon and Big Will about the school for the blind in Nashville, and arrangements were made for Emma to go. There, they were able to correct her vision. She later returned to Maryville, where she got off the train and heard a woman say, “I’m supposed to have a little girl on this train.” Recognizing her mother’s voice, she ran to her saying, “I’m Emma. I’m your little girl.” She also told how Loon, her father, and her Uncle Will had carried her on their shoulders through the woods; teaching her many things

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about the trees, flowers, and animals. She also described Nancy Caylor as the “best woman God ever made. She was good to everybody. She took care of everybody.”

Old Berry Learns How to Jay Two nephews of Big Will had been given permission to cut some logs off Lumber (Tim- ber) Ridge. They called themselves the Fist and Skull Lumber Company. They used a mule to start the logs down one of their “skids.” When the logs got a good start, the boys would yell, “Jay!” The mule would step aside and let the logs continue down the “skid” to the river. Mules can be the most stubborn creatures in the world, and this mule was no exception. He decided one day that he would not work anymore. Nothing they could do would make him go. They remembered that their Uncle Will had a big ox named Old Berry. He was named that because Will said he was the color of a ripe blackberry. They went down to borrow Old Berry to finish getting their logs down to the river. Big Will said, “You boys know that Old Berry is a valuable animal. I was offered $100 for him recently and you also know he has never worked in timber. If anything happens to him, you boys will owe me $100.” With that admonition ringing in their ears, the boys took Old Berry up the ridge, hitched him to his first load of logs, and started him down the skid. When they yelled, “Jay,” Old Berry did not understand and kept going on down the skid. The boys followed, discussing what they expected to find at the foot of the ridge and how their profits from the logs, already down, would have to go to pay their Uncle Will. Imagine their surprise when they reached the bot- tom of the skid and saw Old Berry sitting astride the largest log, unharmed. Rejoicing, they led Old Berry back to the top of the ridge to finish their job of bringing down the logs. There- after, each time Old Berry heard the boys yell, “Jay!” he stepped aside—he had learned his lesson well.

Big Will the Hunter It has been said that Big Will was a great hunter and such an expert marksman that he was often excluded from shooting matches, unless he would use someone else’s gun. His gun was six feet long and called “Sudden Death” or “Ole Death.” Big Will was very careful and very proud of his gun and used it for many years. In fact, he said that he had killed more than 100 bears with it. One of his favorite bear stories is about the time one of the biggest bears he had ever seen eluded a group of hunters and escaped into a cave. The leader of the group offered $25 to the hunter who would go into the cave after him and bring him out. Big Will volunteered. He went into the cave with his gun loaded and ready to shoot, and moved cautiously forward until he felt the hot, moist air of the bear’s breath. Will fired in that direction and killed the bear with one shot. He refused the $25, for the bearskin itself was worth more than that.

The Feud and Vannie Cook The people of Walker Valley were hunters and trappers who made part of their living from trading pelts of wild animals. As good hunters, they had excellent hunting dogs. Around 1910, a group of settlers over the ridge in the “Spicewoods,” near the West Prong, brought in some sheep to raise. As could be expected, the hunting dogs got into the sheep

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19 Walker Valley Living History Resources

and killed several. Immediately, the dogs were shot. In seeking reprisal for the loss of their dogs, someone set fire to the ridge between West Prong and Walker Valley. Sometimes the wind changes suddenly on these ridges, and that is probably what happened that beauti- ful April day in 1910. All the men and boys of the valley were on the ridge fighting the fire, which seemed out of control and was threatening the valley. Among the fire fighters was a man named Sam Cook, a great woodsman, who had a creek named for him (Sams Creek, up Middle Prong) and also a gap on the Appalachian Trail (Sams Gap, between Newfound Gap and Fontana Dam). His son, Dock, and his little daughters, Vannie and Eva, were helping their father. Dock was helping establish a fire line, while Vannie and Eva were watching the fire line to see that the fire did not jump over it. Dock saw that the top of the tree under which the girls were sitting was on fire and about to fall. He yelled to his sisters, who went in opposite directions. The top of the tree fell on little Vannie, mortally wounding her. The story is told that when they brought her to a nearby cabin, a white dove appeared and stayed until Vannie died, when it disappeared to be seen no more. They said that the dove had come to “guide her home.”

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Walker Valley Timeline

1859 Will Walker and Nancy Caylor Walker moved into the valley. They cross through Schoolhouse Gap and go through Spicewoods and West Prong to get here. They have seven children.

Will takes a common-law wife, Mary Ann Moore. The reasoning for this is because Nancy is unable to have any more children, and in the Bible the men had more than one wife. She and Will have seven children. Mary Ann’s cabin was where the horse parking lot is now.

~1892 Will takes his third wife, Mol Stinnett. They have 12 children. Her cabin was where the lagoons are now.

1901 The Little River Lumber Company begins logging Elkmont. Will only allows selective logging and splash dams on the Middle Prong.

1912 Wonderland Hotel at Elkmont is built.

~1917 Will has a stroke at age 78.

1919 Will dies at 80 years old. He leaves the valley to Nancy and four Stinnett daughters; they are in charge of taking care of Nancy.

1922 Nancy dies, and the Stinnett daughters sell the land to the Little River Lumber Company.

1924 Railroad, hotel and logging community is built at what is now upper Tremont.

School in Walker Valley is in its last year.

The daughter of Margaret Townsend (Colonel Townsend’s wife) is looking for a location for a Girl Scout camp.

1925 The town of Tremont is constructed. Tremont is chosen as a name because Walker Valley was already used in Tennessee. This was the first place in Tennessee to be alled Tremont.

School moves to Upper Tremont until 1935. Students attend eight months a year.

Camp Margaret Townsend begins in Walker Valley (they later have a lease with the National Park Service until 1965).

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1926 The dam is built at Girl Scout Island.

1933-1934 CCC camp at Upper Tremont.

1934 Great Smoky Mountains National Park is established. There are years of negotiations to buy Walker Valley from the Little River Lumber Company.

1938 The developments in Upper Tremont are removed.

1939 Little River Lumber Company stops logging the Middle Prong, which is the last load of logs from the national park.

1940-Sept. 2 Franklin Roosevelt dedicates the park at Newfound Gap.

1959- Girl Scout camp moves to Norris Lake at Camp Tanasi.

1964-1969 Tremont Job Corps occupies Walker Valley. The present-day dining hall (their gym), and dorm (their garage) are built. Their barracks were near the director’s house and the lower fields.

1969 In October, Maryville College takes over to make Tremont Environmental Education Center. The Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) comes in the summer.

1977 Park Superintendent Boyd Evison recommends to continue having an environmental education center and upgrading facilities.

1979 Tremont closes, converts Job Corps buildings to present-day structures. Maryville College withdraws.

1980 The Great Smoky Mountains Association takes over.

1981 YCC loses funding.

1982 Tremont Road bridges are condemned. Tremont closes.

1984 Ken Voorhis arrives as executive director.

1986 Renamed Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont in an effort to identify with the national park and other national centers

2001 Tremont becomes its own entity as the Great Smoky Mountains Institute

—Compiled by Jen Martin, with information from Robin Goddard and Ken Voorhis

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