In the early 20th century, the logging communities that formed at Elkmont and Tremont branched out across the relatively broad northern slopes of Meigs Mountain.

Meigs Mountain is a ridge stretching for roughly 5 miles (8.0 km) between Blanket Creek to the east and the Middle Prong of Little River to the west.

Geologically, Meigs Mountain is composed of Precambrian rocks (primarily sandstone) of the Ocoee Supergroup, formed from ancient ocean sediments nearly a billion years ago.

[4] Extensive logging operations on Meigs Mountain began in the 1880s with Knoxville-based entrepreneur John L. English.

Although English's operations ceased in the late 1890s after a flood washed away his splash dams, small-scale selective logging continued until the arrival of the Little River Lumber Company around 1908.

[7] In the early 20th century, the various logging operations led to the development of a small community along what is now the Meigs Mountain Trail.

What is now Backcountry Campsite 19 was once the homesite of Andy Brackin (1888–1924), whose sister and brother-in-law ran a boarding house for loggers at Elkmont.

Mechanical detritus from the early 20th century is scattered around Blanket Creek, and the remnants of a stone wall is visible immediately downstream from the trail.

A headwater stream of Henderson Prong has sliced a deep gully in the western half of the campsite, providing its water source.

The Meigs Mountain Trail, however, veers northwest and descends to Buckhorn Gap, where it terminates at a trailfork.