Near Waynesville in Haywood County, North Carolina — The American South (South Atlantic)

Cataloochee

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Photographed by Tom Bosse, July 22, 2023

1. Cataloochee Marker

Inscription. Notice the valleys and ridges that stretch before you. Cherokees named this area Ga-da-lu-tsi, meaning "standing up in ranks," referring to the seemingly endless stands of timber that lined the ridges. Settlers later corrupted the word to Cataloochee. For more than 100 years Cataloochee grew and prospered. The 1910 census recorded 1,250 souls in this mountain valley — the largest single community in what would become Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

The road you traveled here follows portions of the old Cataloochee Turnpike. The route was first an Indian trail, then an avenue for cattle drovers. Permanent settlers arrived in the 1830s, building homes, churches, schools, and roads. When you leave Cataloochee, try to imagine traveling the "turnpike" by foot, horse, or wagon a hundred years ago.

[photo caption]
Since 1936 annual reunions of former residents and their descendants have kept the memory of Cataloochee alive. By the 1940s most residents had left to make way for Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Erected by National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior.

Topics. This historical marker

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is listed in these topic lists: Indigenous Peoples and Communities • Parks & Recreational Areas • Roads & Vehicles • Settlements & Settlers.

Location. 35° 38.384′ N, 83° 3.685′ W. Marker is near Waynesville, North Carolina, in Haywood County. It can be reached from Cataloochee Entrance Road near Old Cataloochee Turnpike (Cove Creek Road). Marker is located at the Cataloochee Valley Overlook, about 8 miles northwest of US Highway 276 via Cove Creek Road (State Road 1395). Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Waynesville NC 28785, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in North Carolina’s Mountains, specifically in Greater Asheville,

and in the Great Smoky Mountains.

It is also in the American South,

specifically in the Upper South,

in Appalachia,

and specifically in Southern Appalachia. Globally, it is in North America,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once the original Cherokee Nation,

the territory of the Mississippian Culture,

one

Marker detail: Palmer House image. Click for full size.

2. Marker detail: Palmer House

You can visit the Palmer House (above), a Cataloochee farmhouse built around 1860 as a "dog-trot" log cabin. Today it contains a small, self-guiding museum.

of the original Thirteen Colonies,

one of the Confederate States of America,

and the Antebellum South.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 9 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies: Welcome to Cataloochee (approx. 1.6 miles away); Cataloochee Homeland (approx. 1.6 miles away); "Cataloochee Trail" (approx. 4.1 miles away); Welcome to the Blue Ridge National Heritage Area (approx. 4½ miles away); In Memory and Appreciation of D. Reeves Noland (approx. 4½ miles away); No-till Farming (approx. 7.4 miles away); Kirk's Raid (approx. 8.6 miles away); Felix Walker (approx. 8.7 miles away).

Also see . . .
1. History of Cataloochee. The Cherokee first discovered the valley when they came through the Smokies hunting and fishing, but they never settled permanently in the valley. When the first Europeans arrived in the valley in the early 1800s, all of the land belonged to Colonel Robert Love. Colonel Love was a post-Revolutionary War speculator who granted land and homesteads to families to develop. (Submitted on March 19, 2021, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.)

2. Cataloochee

Marker detail: Mark Hannah image. Click for full size.

3. Marker detail: Mark Hannah

Mark Hannah personifies Cataloochee's evolution. His ancestors settled here, then he became one of the first rangers at Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Mark worked to save Cataloochee's historic buildings, and helped ease the transition from community to park.

History (Wikipedia). The Cataloochee Trail stretched from the Cove Creek area to what is now Cosby, Tennessee. The modern Cove Creek Road closely parallels this trail. By the time the first European explorers and traders arrived, the trail had been worn a foot deep in some places. The Cherokee gave up their claims to Cataloochee when they signed the Treaty of Holston in 1791. (Submitted on March 19, 2021, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.)

Marker detail: Steve Woody's Cataloochee Farm image. Click for full size.

4. Marker detail: Steve Woody's Cataloochee Farm

Notice the openness of Steve Woody's Cataloochee farm. Today the Cataloochee Valley looks much different than it did in the 1930s when Great Smoky Mountains National Park was established. Fields have regrown into forest and most of the original buildings are gone.

Photographed by Tom Bosse, July 22, 2023

5. Cataloochee Marker

Photographed by Tom Bosse, July 22, 2023

6. Cataloochee Marker

Cataloochee Valley Overlook image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, July 25, 2009

7. Cataloochee Valley Overlook

(view from near marker)

Cataloochee Area Entrance on Cove Creek Road image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, July 25, 2009

8. Cataloochee Area Entrance on Cove Creek Road

Credits. This page was last revised on August 9, 2023. It was originally submitted on March 19, 2021, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida. This page has been viewed 928 times since then and 70 times this year. Photos: 1. submitted on August 8, 2023, by Tom Bosse of Jefferson City, Tennessee. 2, 3, 4. submitted on March 19, 2021, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida. 5, 6. submitted on August 8, 2023, by Tom Bosse of Jefferson City, Tennessee. 7, 8. submitted on March 19, 2021, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.