Day Twelve: Great Smoky Mountains

We stayed two nights in Oak Ridge, and today we went back to the Smokey Mountains to go to Cades Cove. The plan was to spend a few hours there and then go the Museum of Appalachia in Clinton. We did that, but we spent way longer in the Cove than we'd planned, so only got to spend an hour at the MoA...

We didn't see bear, but we did see some deer, birds, and butterflies.

Road sign for Townsend. As opposed to the Gatlinburg or Cherokee entrances to the park, Townsend is "the quiet side of the Smokies".









On the road inside the park



Inside the Cove



This is the view across from the John Oliver place



And this is the John Oliver place



In the graveyard (one of several), one family's recurring nightmare





This graphic is rather amusing





This is the old mill, still grinding corn







Last week a really bad summer storm closed the Cove for a few days and actually killed some campers. This is some of the still-visible damage.



Here are a few shots from our short visit to the Museum of Appalachia, which really deserves a good half a day:









A handmade bed





A small doctor's office from up in the mountains - this is where he worked out of when he wasn't riding circuit