First Trail we took was the :

The Fighting Creek Nature Trail is a trail that’s about 2.5 miles long that begins near the Sugarlands Visitor Center, and then from there you can venture off a number of trails like we did taking the Cataract Falls Trail. For much of the trail we followed The Fighting Creek, which was named that supposedly due to an concerning argument among mountain residents over where a schoolhouse should be situated.

 

Site of Noah McCarter’s former cabin.

Further down , the John Ownby Cabin that was restored by the National Park Service, his house dates to about 1860.  When you look inside and see the craftmanship and marvel at how humbly they lived late in the 19th and 20th centuries, long before Great Smoky Mountains National Park existed.

I always have to remind myself when I see old settlements like this, especially where there was farming, when they were operational there wasn’t any trees like there is now.

 

We followed the trail and came to a great section to view The Great Smoky Mountains

Great Trails, Glad we took them!

 

Our next stop was a “Quiet Walkway” there are a few of these in the park. The name of this trail is Big White Oak Quiet Walkway.

It’s a not a long trail but at the top we were very surprised to find a cemetery! Especially in such an out of the way place. Obviously once upon a time there was an old community that had it’s own cemetery.

It’s been there for a very long time.  But we noticed that flowers were placed around and the grave marker above says he died in 2019.   We found out that the park calls it the Fighting Creek Cemetery, other sites claim it’s the William Stinnett Cemetery.

 

I really enjoyed being in the Smoky Mountains being away from the crowds and the tourist attractions, it was how I remembered it being years back being both serene and magnetic.