County of sign: Swain County
Location of sign: US-441 (Newfound Gap Rd.), Mountain Farm Museum, N. of Cherokee
Phone: 865-436-7318
Marker erected by: Great Smokey Mountains National park; National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior
This organ was inside the log home, and we were told it was the families, and was moved with the home and the other furniture
Marker Text:
Mountain Farm Museum
Most of the buildings on a mountain farm related to the most basic of all needs: preserving food. The historic buildings at the Mountain Farm Museum were moved here from throughout the national park in the early 1950s. These buildings reflect challenges faced daily by every mountain farm family.
John Davis spent two years building this house near Deep Creek, North Carolina. It was completed about 190. The log walls are "matched"; GDavis split chestnut logs in half along their length and placed the halves in matching positions on opposite walls.
Photo Caption: The Davis house at its original location (Left) near Deep Creek, North Carolina. John E. Davis (above, with family) built the house with help from his tow oldest sons, who were very young at the time. The sons gathered the stones for the chimneys. The other three children were later born in the house.
Davis house
"The Mountain Farm Museum is part of an effort to preserve some of the cultural heritage of the Smokies. These buildings, most dating from about 1900, were moved from their original locations throughout the Smokies to this site to create an open-air museum. These structures offer a glimpse into the past and, hopefully, a greater appreciation of the rural heritage of this country.
"When John E. Davis began building this house about 1899, he had been farming in the Indian Creek are of the Smokies for about ten years. He spent almost two years building this new home for his wife Sarah Lucretia (Creacy) Parris Davis and their young family. The last three of their seven children were born in this house.
"Although sawmill-produced lumber was readily available ande many new houses were of frame construction, Davis chose to build a log house. Tradition and personal preference may have played a role in his decision, but he probably also considered cost and his own woodworking skills.
"avis constructed the house with "matched" chestnut logs. A log was hewed flat on tow sides, then split in half along its length to produce two building logs. These were used in "matching" positions on opposite walls. The ends of the logs were joined with half-dovetail notches.
"The half-dovetail joint took more time to prepare than some other notches, but it "locked" the logs together and the downward sloping surfaces of the notch shed rainwater away from the structure. Unlike many log houses, Davis chose to seal the chink, or crack, between the logs with hand-split boards instead of clay. More than 50 years later, Davis recalled, "when it was finished I had myself a might fine palace."
"The house may seem small by today's standards, but farm families spent a great deal of time outside. Separate structures like springhouses, corn cribs, and meathouses provided space for food storage. During warm weather, the front porch became an extra room for work and socializing." ~ Text by Tom Robbins, for Great Smoky Mountain Association & Nationals Park Service.