The Smoky Mountains Ghost Town Trifecta: Elkmont Cabins, Jakes Creek Trail, and an Artist's Abandoned Cabin
explore 19 abandoned buildings and cross a creek to an artist's cabin
Did you know there’s a ghost town near Pigeon Forge, TN? While the Gatlinburg area is crowded and overcommercialized, Elkmont is a true hidden gem. Here’s a trifecta for a super fun day in the Smokies.
Distances and Cost
All three activities are from the same parking spot, Jakes Creek Trailhead, which is a little over an hour from Knoxville.
Everything is free, but a daily parking pass to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is $5. You’ll need to stop in a visitor center for this.
Stop #1: Explore the Elkmont Cabins
This ghost town’s history is unusual because, unlike long-abandoned towns we’ve visited in Colorado, these homes were abandoned in the 90’s, and the national park is gradually preserving them. The buildings are not nearly as rickety as you might be hoping. People vacationed here starting in 1910 and were forced to vacate in 1992 because—though they were promised lifetime leases—the government wanted the land back for the national park.
The homes are in varying styles, ages, and conditions and are built very close to each other. To explore them, you just meander up and down both sides of the road and check out each house. Like I said, there are nineteen buildings, which means it takes quite a bit of time to enter each one. If your kids are like mine, they’ll want to go in each one multiple times, too, as they claim their favorites as their own and give tours of their “house” to each family member, then they pick new favorites and give tours of that house. Again. More on this in the “takeaway” section.
It’s a weird experience, but it’s fun, especially for kids, and the trees are beautiful.
Stop #2: Hike Jakes Creek Trail
This trail starts at the same parking lot as the Elkmont cabins. AllTrails clocks this segment in as 2.7 miles out-and-back, but let me tell you, it feels like more (especially when you’re hiking with kids who are tired from giving tours of 19 houses…over and over.)
The beginning of the hike is super cool because you see lots of old fireplaces. You get to see a ghost town and ruins all on the same day. Legit.
It just feels like a gravelly uphill climb in a tunnel of trees for the rest of it. If you’re lucky, you might run into some thru-hikers since this trail connects to many others. I always stop and talk to thru-hikers because they’re so dang inspiring. One time in Durango, we met some people finishing up their last few of the 567 miles of the Colorado Trail. I have lots to learn from people who do things like that.
Anyway, here’s the most exciting spot, and it’s easy to miss. There’s a spur trail that makes a right and then goes down, down, down. It’s a challenging little stretch, but it’s worth it.
Then you’ll come up to a super cool creek crossing across a very sketchy-looking footbridge. Check. This. Out.
I felt like Indiana Jones! It’s way too fun. Doesn’t that look dangerous? Obviously you’ll need to closely supervise your kids or throw ‘em on your back.
Then you’ll hike up a slightly flowing creek (also super fun) and finally reach the sign for the Avent Cabin. You made it.
Stop #3: Poke Around in the Avent Cabin
A cabin in the woods! After all this hiking! Super fun to see.
Look around back for the door to get in. We weren’t certain if we were supposed to go inside or not because there was a rock in the way, but it soon became evident that, yes, this National Historic Place is yours to explore.
Once you’re inside you’ll learn that this was the studio of a woman named Mayna Treanor Avent, who lived from 1865–1959. In the kitchen you can sign your name in a log—there are notebooks and notebooks of recorded visitors through the decades!—and flip through laminated pictures of Mayna’s artwork. I genuinely enjoy her style and use of color.
It’s fun to think about what it would be like to spend twenty of your summers in a remote cabin to focus on your craft. It’s a gorgeous spot in nature and not difficult to imagine how she found inspiration there.
Inside the cabin is also an invitation to do your part and sweep the porch! The cabin feels like a treasure hunt and getting to participate in this way feels like a prize.
Side Quest
Find this old newspaper in one of the Elkmont buildings!
And for dinner, you can go to the Wears Valley Social Food Truck Park, which is only 24 minutes from the trailhead, or to one of the awesome restaurants in the hidden-gem town of Townsend…which will be featured in another post. 😉
Takeaway: Daydreaming About Hospitality + A Good Use of Space
Having nineteen empty buildings to roam around gives you the chance to use your imagination in what you would do with that space. This is an especially cool opportunity for kids to think through. How would you use each room to be a blessing to your family, neighbors, and guests? It’s so fun to hear what they come up with.
Visiting the Avent cabin adds another layer to this theme. Mayna’s artistic space reminded me of the Virginia Woolf quote, “A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction.” I know very little about the Avent family, but kudos to Frank for investing in his wife’s gifts and providing Mayna a studio. I’m grateful for the ways my husband has supported me in my desire to write, and I want to set myself up for what I need to write well, too. I want to be looking out for how I can make inspiring spaces for my children and for other people—especially women—to explore their creative gifts.
We might not be able to buy entire cabins for the people we love, but how can we be better stewards of the spaces we do have?
So there you have it. A lovely time in the Smokies doing far less overstimulating things than navigating the crowds of Gatlinburg. I’ll bet this trifecta is gorgeous in fall.
Warmly,
Hope from Trip Trifectas
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