OLD HOUSES NEAR CADES COVE - Henry Whitehead Place
Posted by: 
vhasler
N 35° 34.695 W 083° 50.302
17S E 242795 N 3940880
October 1948 photograph of a double cabin in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Waymark Code: WME53E
Location: Tennessee, United States
Date Posted: 04/04/2012
Views: 8
In October 1948, Ansel Adams traveled to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park as part of an effort to take photographs of US national parks for a Guggenheim Fellowship. The Knoxville Museum of Art currently has an exhibit (
link) displaying on-line the 47 photographs created on that trip for educational purposes.
Discussion with a park ranger manning the information booth at the start of the Cades Cove loop road confirmed that this photograph was of the Henry Whitehead Place. To reach this location, travel the loop around to the visitors' center. A gravel Forge Creek Road veers off right from the loop road. After traveling roughly half mile, the cabins are seen on left with a small four car pull-off.
From the driving tour information on the yoursmokies website, we learn why there are two cabins built right next to each other. The small original 1880s cabin with the stone chimney was constructed by the brothers of Matilda Shields Gregory after her husband ran away leaving also a small son. The second cabin with the brick chimney was built when Matilda married widower Henry Whitehead who had three daughters.
The coordinates are where I took my present-day photograph, but later when comparing it to the original I believe Ansel Adams was standing a couple of steps to the right as more of the front cabin's roof is viewed. Besides the lawn being mown, another difference noted is that the back window of the original cabin has been replaced.