Lost Elkmont

“Prior to the formation of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP) in 1934, the small community of Elkmont was established as a logging camp by Col. Wilson B. Townsends Little River Lumber Company around 1908. This was after he purchased 86,000 acres of mostly virgin forest. The area that was previously inhabited by various American Indian groups, and later by European-American settlers beginning around 1830, was to become for a time the second largest town in Sevier County, Tennessee. “