The Sugarlands
Formerly home to a string of small Appalachian communities, the valley is now the location of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park headquarters and the Sugarlands Visitor Center.
When the first Euro-American settlers arrived in the early 19th century, they named the valley after the many sugar maple trees growing in the area at the time.
[5] Erosional forces throughout the Mesozoic and Cenozoic eras—especially during the last ice age—have carried rocks of various sizes down from boulder fields high up on the surrounding mountain slopes, leaving the valley coated with a bouldery alluvium.
[6] Early farmers, having to move these rocks in order plant crops, stacked them up to make crude stone walls, many of which remain today.
Walasi'yi included Mount Le Conte and Bull Head, as well as "the ridge extending into Sevier County, Tennessee, between the Middle and West forks of Little Pigeon River.
[13] A standard farm in the Sugarlands consisted of the cabin or house and a small vegetable garden, all of which was surrounded by a paling fence, and several outbuildings.
Thomas erected a small fort on Burg Hill in hopes of protecting salt peter mines at Alum Cave, along the northern slopes of Mount Le Conte.
Among them were Richard Reason Reagan (1830–1912), who owned a general store near the Sugarland Branch ford, and Alex Cole, who operated a storefront further up the river.
Former resident Alie Newman Maples recalled in a poem: The Sugarlands so clear and clean, Altho our meals were mighty lean.
[23] Another recalled a dining experience with a family in the Sugarlands where the food was served on "large pail lids" while chickens roamed freely through the house.
[26] The dense forest, isolated coves, and ready availability of corn made mountain valleys such as the Sugarlands the perfect places to hide and operate illegal stills.
Horace Kephart, a writer who lived on the North Carolina side of the mountains in the early 20th century, described the Sugarlands during this period: ...a country of ill fame, hidden deep in remote gorges, difficult of access, tenanted by a sparse population who preferred to be a law unto themselves.
Mineral-rich mountain springs were thought to have health-restoring qualities, and the cool air of the higher elevations lured people seeking relief from allergies and hay fever.
Colonel W. B. Townsend, the owner of the Little River Lumber Company, began to see the value of creating recreational areas on land that had already been stripped of its wood.
Wiley Oakley (1885–1954), the most famous of these guides, lived on the northern slopes of Mount Le Conte in an area known as the Scratch Britches (now traversed by the Rainbow Falls Trail).
Known as the "Roamin' Man of the Mountains," Oakley's navigational instincts and extensive knowledge of area plant and animal life and oral traditions would later prove invaluable to park service scientists and anthropologists.
Russell recalls: Most folks were happy with the prospects of selling their rocky fields and hillsides for more money than they estimated it to be worth, but some felt they didn't want to be driven from their old homeplaces at any price.
The forest quickly reclaimed the farmland, and other than a few small mountain cemeteries and the occasional odd clearing or pile of stones, few signs of the former inhabitants remain today.
Two short trails labelled "Quiet Walkways" connect Newfound Gap Road with an area of stone ruins along the West Fork of the Little Pigeon River.
An interpretive loop trail behind the Sugarlands Visitor Center leads past the John Ownby Cabin and the ruins of the Noah McCarter place.
Various stone foundations, chimney falls, and crude rock walls remain scattered throughout the valley, giving hints of the layout of the early Appalachian settlements.
During the tourism boom in subsequent decades, Cole was a much sought-after mountain guide due to his knowledge of the Mount Le Conte area.
[20] The "Rock House," as it is locally known, can be found along a moderately difficult and faint footpath extending roughly a half mile off of the Old Sugarlands Trail.
