Little Greenbrier is the name of the Appalachian community which is now a historic area in the Great Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee. The community lies in the towering valley of Metcalf Bottoms along Little River to the upper slopes of Cove Mountain, in the northeastern part of the national park. Little Greenbrier was once known simply as "Greenbrier," but "Little" added to its name to distinguish it from the larger Greenbrier that lies between Mount Le Conte and Mount Guyot in the east.
Little Greenbrier is currently home to Walker Cabin and Little Greenbrier Schoolhouse - both at the National Register of Historic Places.
Video Little Greenbrier (Great Smoky Mountains)
Geography
Little Greenbrier is located in a gradual valley up on the southwest side of Cove Mountain. The mountain is connected to the eastern side of Roundtop Mountain to form a long back like wall that provides a natural boundary between the Wears Valley and the national park (the park boundary roughly follows the ridgecrest). The Little Brier, its source near the top of Cove Mountain, flowed southward and drained the Little Greenbrier before emptying itself into Little River at Metcalf Bottoms.
Lyon Springs Road, which connects Wears Valley Gap Road (US Route 321) with Little River Gorge Road, passes near Little Greenbrier. A short gravel road leads from Lyon Springs Road to the Little Greenbrier Schoolhouse. Little Greenbrier's remains can be reached via a short hiking trail, the Little Brier Gap Trail from Metcalf Bottoms, or a much longer Cove Mountain Trail from the Sugarlands Visitor Center a few miles to the east.
Maps Little Greenbrier (Great Smoky Mountains)
History
The earliest documented settlers at Little Greenbrier are Alexander McKenzie and Arthur "Brice" McFalls. McKenzie and McFalls, once a neighbor in South Carolina, arrived in the 1830s. McFalls is believed to have built a cabin in the 1840s which was replaced by John Walker as part of "Walker Cabin".
Around the time of the Civil War, William and Riley Metcalf, two Cherokee brothers, moved their families into flats around the Little Brier Branch and Little River encounters that now bear their names. During the construction of Little River Road in the 1920s, Metcalf family members supplied drinking water to road construction workers, and in recognition, the picnic area later established in the area by the National Park Service was named for Metcalfs.
Little Greenbrier School
Built in 1882, Greenbrier Small School served as a community school until 1936. During its fifty-four year history, the school was used as a schoolhouse under the supervision of nearly fifty teachers, and it was a place of worship for Primitive Baptist churches.. It lies at the center of what was once the Little Greenbrier.
Sister Walker Place
The Walker Sisters Place (sometimes referred to as King-Walker Place after its main builder) is the home of five elderly virgin sisters who refuse to sell the 164 acre (0.7 km km) plot to the national park and maintain their traditional mountain life into the 1950s. In 1946, the Saturday Evening Post published an article about sister Walker who attracted many tourists to the area. The "kitchen" cabin was built in the 1840s by early Brice McFalls settlers. The larger cabin was built in 1850 by Wiley King. Her children complete the cabin cabin chimney, and her son-in-law, John N. Walker, builds a cabin porch and incorporates a larger cabin with a smaller McFalls cabin. In 1921, cabins and farms have turned to five Walker girls - Margaret Jane, Polly, Louisa, Hettie, and Martha - who have lived on the ground all their lives. The National Park Service took control of the land when the last Sisters Walker died in 1964.
In the 1930s, the commission responsible for buying land for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park failed to try to persuade the Walker Sisters to sell the homestead. Worrying bad publicity, the commission balked at forcing the Walkers out through a censure lawsuit. The Walker Sisters eventually sold the farm in 1941 in exchange for a lifetime lease. A local legend claimed that the sisters were paid by President Franklin Roosevelt who convinced them to sell the land (Roosevelt was in the area to dedicate the national park in 1940, but no records were known about the visit to Walker's place).
Greenbrier Cemetery
Greenbrier Cemetery is located next to the Little Greenbrier Schoolhouse. In many ways, graves are representative of a typical Appalachian cemetery. Awkwardly built on the slopes, almost half of the graves are children.
See also
- Wears Valley, Tennessee
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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