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Cataloochee Trail and Turnpike

  • record image
  • This section of "Great Smoky Mountains National Park Roads and Bridges," taken from the Historic American Engineering Record, describes the Cataloochee Trail and Turnpike. The trail was graded around 1825 and used to drive packhorses, cattle, and hogs. In 1860, the road was extended through Mount Sterling Gap.
  • GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK ROADS AND BRIDGES, CATALOOCHEE TRAIL AND TURNPIKE HAER NO. TN-35-N (Page 6) around blind turns as it ascends to Cove Creek Gap, located at 3.9 miles after the fork in the road . The Cataloochee Trail and Turnpike Long before white settlers arrived in the Cataloochee Valley, Indians traveled across this part of the Great Smoky Mountains. In the Cataloochee area, the Cherokee used the so-called Cataloochee Trail, which connected the area around present-day Cosby, Tennessee with Cove Creek Gap in North Carolina. A branch of this footpath followed Cataloochee Creek into the Cataloochee Valley. 1 After whites began settling in the region in the early nineteenth century, they improved these footpaths to accommodate wagons. Around 1825, residents of Jonathan Creek, North Carolina widened and graded Cataloochee Trail from the Jonathan Creek Valley over the mountains into Cataloochee Valley, calling the road the Cataloochee Turnpike . Rates to take packhorses, cattle, and hogs over the turnpike, and the absence of rates for wagons, 1 Lambert, "The Pioneer History of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park," 8. GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK ROADS AND BRIDGES, CATALOOCHEE TRAIL AND TURNPIKE HAER NO. TN-35-N (Page 7) indicated that this was intended to be a "stockdriver's road" to take herd of animals over the mountains. 2 In 1851, the North Carolina legislature authorized the continuation of the Cataloochee Turnpike through Mount Sterling Gap to the state line with Tennessee at Davenport Gap. This extension of the road was completed in 1860, and followed the route of the Cherokee's Cataloochee Trail. 3 The state widened and surfaced the Cataloochee Turnpike around 1930, and the road became North Carolina Route 284. 4 It was probably around this time that the two metal truss bridges which carry the road over Cataloochee Creek were built to replace two fords. Route 284 In 1933, the CCC began construction of a road along Big Creek in the northeastern section of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and established a camp along the creek near the 2 Givens, "Cataloochee and the Establishment of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park," 44. 3 Ibid, 45-47. ) 4 Inventory and Inspection Report, U.S. Bureau of Public Roads, 1950; Roads Vertical File; GSMNP Library. ) GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK ROADS AND BRIDGES, CATALOOCHEE TRAIL AND TURNPIKE HAER NO. TN-35-N (Page 8) park boundary. During the summer of 1933, North Carolina rebuilt 1.5 miles of Route 284 from Davenport Gap on the Tennessee line, south to Mount Sterling Gap, in order to make the camp "accessible." 5 Although North Carolina Route 284 was owned by the state, the Park Service made plans to improve the road using CCC labor, because sections of the road passed through the newly established Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and it provided the only access for automobiles to the Cataloochee area of the park. 6 From 1934 through 1938, CCC enrollees were widening the road, surfacing it with crushed rock, and installing "drainage features."' A quarry site was located 0.2 mile west of Cove Creek Gap, near the park boundary, to provide the rock for surfacing. 8 Surfacing North Carolina Route 284 between the town of Mount Sterling, where the road crossed Big Creek, and Mount Sterling 5 Superintendent's Monthly Report, July 1933; GSMNP. 6 Superintendent's Monthly Report, January 1934; GSMNP. 7 Superintendent's Monthly Report, October 1936; GSMNP. 8 Superintendent's Monthly Reporc.., July 1939; GSMNP. ) GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK ROADS AND BRIDGES, CATALOOCHEE TRAIL AND TURNPIKE HAER NO. TN-35-N (Page 9) Gap, was completed in June 1937. 9 Work continued toward Cataloochee, and included "widening [the road] at curves and narrow places, [and] sloping the banks where needed." 10 The reconstruction of Route 284 was completed by the CCC in July or August 1938. 11 As part of its work on North Carolina Route 284, in May 1935, the CCC completed a parking area and overlook at Davenport Gap, where the Appalachian Trail crossed the road on the border with Tennessee. Contemporary photographs included in the May 1935 Superintendent's Monthly Report show that most of the mountainsides around Davenport Gap were still relatively barren as a result of logging. The CCC's work included the construction of a landscaped parking area with log guardrails and a rustic style masonry retaining wall. 12 Today, the forest has grown back around Davenport Gap and there is no longer a view. In addition, the retaining wall and other features of the parking area have 9 Superintendent's Monthly Report, June 1937; GSMNP. 10 Superintendent's Monthly Report, December 19;37; GSMNP. 11 Superintendent's Monthly Report, June 1938; GSMNP. 12 Superintendent's Monthly Report, May 1935; GSMNP. ) GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK ROADS AND BRIDGES, CATALOOCHEE TRAIL AND TURNPIKE HAER NO. TN-35-N (Page 10) been removed, although the level area on which it was located is still visible. Information as to when or why the CCC construction was removed is not available. It is possible that as the forest grew and obscured the view, thereby negating the purpose of the overlook, the retaining wall and other features were removed by the Park Service, rather than continuing maintenance of these structures. Although sections of North Carolina Route 284 ran through the park, and the Park Service maintained parts of the road, it was still considered a state road. At a February 7, 1969, meeting of the North Carolina State Highway Commission, it was decided that with the completion of Interstate 40, which ran along the Pigeon River just east of Route 284, the state no longer needed to maintain jurisdiction over the sections of the road within the park. Therefore, it would abandon Route 284 within the park, thereby turning it over to the federal government, and the sections of the road outside the park would become secondary roads. As a result, the road lost the ) ) GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK ROADS AND BRIDGES, CATALOOCHEE TRAIL AND TURNPIKE HAER NO. TN-35-N (Page 11) designation North Carolina Route 284, and was referred to simply as Route 284. 13 In the 1960s and 1970s, the Park Service concluded that Route 284 did not provide motorists with adequate access to the Cataloochee area of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and the agency wanted to build a new road from Interstate 40 into the park . With a newer and more modern access road available, the Park Service planned to close most of Route 284, and convert it into a truck trail. However, opposition from the local community to the construction of the new road led the Park Service to cancel its plans, and Route 284 remained the sole road through the east section of the park. With Route 284 remaining open, the Park Service had to continue maintaining the road. The two metal truss bridges which carry the road over Cataloochee Creek, which the Park Service referred to as being "historic," were reconstructed in 1987 by Payne and Stalcup of Brasstown, North Carolina. This $324,990 contract was awarded in January, and work probably began in 13 Staff Meeting Minutes, February 18, 196 9; GSMNP. ) ) GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK ROADS AND BRIDGES, CATALOOCHEE TRAIL AND TURNPIKE HAER NO. TN-35 -N (Page 12) February or March. 14 The lower bridge was completed in September, 15 and the upper bridge in December. 16 14 Staff Meeting Minutes, January 27, 1987; Box Staff Minutes; GSMNP. 15 Staff Meeting Minutes, August 18, 1987; Box Staff Minutes; GSMNP. ) 16 Staff Meeting Minutes, December 8, 1981; Box Staff Minutes; GSMNP .