Emert's Cove is situated in Pittman Center, a broad valley along the Middle Fork of the Little Pigeon River.

[7][8] Among the first Euro-American settlers to move into the newly gained territory was Frederick Emert (1754–1829), who arrived with his family sometime between 1785 and 1793.

Among them was Johan Martin Shultz (1740–1787), a Revolutionary War surgeon that had served alongside Emert and John Sevier in the "Overmountain Men" in the Battle of King's Mountain.

[13] In spite of the establishment of a settlement school in Gatlinburg by the Pi Beta Phi fraternity in 1912, education in the region was still appallingly lacking.

To help remedy this situation, Dr. John Burnett, a Methodist minister who visited the Smokies in 1919, envisioned the establishment a large-scale school in the area that would operate with virtually no tuition rates.

In 1920, Burnett purchased Garfield Scott's farm just above the confluence of Webb Creek and the Middle Fork of the Little Pigeon River.

The Pittman School supported itself by canning tomatoes and growing apples, with students doing all the maintenance work.

Pittman Center spans most of Emert's Cove, which is located just north of the Greenbrier section of the Smokies.

The cove cuts into Webb Mountain, a low ridge that runs roughly parallel to the national park boundary.

The main section of Pittman Center, which includes its city hall and maintenance buildings, an elementary school, and Burnett Memorial Chapel, is situated just above the confluence of Webb Creek and the Middle Fork of the Little Pigeon at the northern tip of the cove.

Pittman Center's road signs are distinguished by gold lettering on an olive green background.

Pittman Center's economy mainly comes from tourism, being located on the border of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.