During the period of extensive lumbering in the Smokys, a virtual town was created by the Little River Lumber Company in that part of the park known as Elkmont. Lumbermen and their families lived there. Deep in what is now the park there were schools, churches, doctors and even baseball fields for Sunday games. As the lumber started to play out, several wealthier individuals mostly from Knoxville, bought small plots of land and built summer cottages. When Tennessee and North Carolina began expropriating the land for a national park in the 30s, many people were granted a life tenancy, including the folks in Tremont. As the ownership of these plots eventually passed to the National Park Service that agency sought to remove the homes allowing nature to reclaim the area. The National Register of Historic Places intervened and the homes are presently in limbo until a decision is reached. Meanwhile, the 72 wood-frame cabins continue to decay and fall to ruin occasioned by the NPS’s de facto demolition by neglect.
On May 24, 2004 the Elkmont Historic District was added to the National Trust for Historic Preservation's 2004 list of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places.


For more information, see:
http://www.nationaltrust.org/news/docs/20040524_11most_elkmont.html