The Elkmont Historic District in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is about to be virtually done away with altogether by very poor decision-making on the part of the National Park Service. This treasure was listed National Register of Historic Places in 1993, being nominated ironically by the Park Service itself, which also nominated it for Save America's Treasures in 1999. In 2004, it was named one of Tennessee’s 10 Most Endangered Historic Sites by the Tennessee Preservation Trust, and also in that year, it was named one of the 11 Most Endangered Historic Sites in America by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Sadly, the U.S. Government itself is about ensure that its historic significance will be lost forever.
The site of the internationally famous synchronous fireflies will only have 18 empty shells of buildings left once the Park Service follows its preferred choice, known as “Alternative C,” demolishing the Historic Wonderland Hotel and nearly 70 other cabins that could be preserved and used for historic purposes, overnight rentals, etc., just like similar structures are used in National Parks all across the USA. A unique treasure is about to be gone forever unless we as citizens act now to do something about it.
Public hearings are taking place at 1:30 p.m., this Saturday, March 25, 2006, at the River Terrace Resort on River Road in Gatlinburg, and at 4:30 p.m., this Monday, March 27, at the U.T. Conference Center on Henley Street in Knoxville, to allow us as citizens to have input into this process. I urge every historic preservationist in East Tennessee and those who would like to eat meals at the Wonderland and spend the night in the cabins again to attend those meetings.
Many people, such as the elderly and disabled, can’t hike to Mount LeConte, but could drive to accommodations at Elkmont to enjoy the park, just as they do at the Grand Canyon Lodge, the Old Faithful Inn, and so many other wonderful places in the National Park System across America. The chance to comment publicly will be lost forever if we don't so by May 11. You can do so by accessing the Park's website at: www.elkmont-gmpa-ea.com
The Park’s plan calls for saving only a handful of the Elkmont Historic District's century-old mountain structures as empty shells and tearing down the remaining 75% of them. The chance to stay at the Wonderland Hotel or in one of these cabins, something that has been done for decades, will be gone forever.
Elkmont is for everyone. How will demolishing the Wonderland Hotel that sheltered 100 years of guests benefit future park visitors? Elkmont will no longer serve the elderly, the handicapped or large families of mixed ages and interests who, since before the park even existed, enjoyed the mountains' beauty, often from a rocking chair.
While the majority of large national parks across the nation provide accommodations in and cherish their many historic lodges, we are rushing to obliterate ours here in the Great Smoky Mountains. Removing many of the structures will definitely be cheaper and much less work for our Smokies staff. Fortunately for all of us, not all national parks think this way.
The structures still standing in Elkmont represent the only remaining, intact turn-of-the-century hotel and community in the Southern Appalachian mountains. Alternatives D, E or F with retention/reconstruction of the rustic Wonderland Hotel for overnight stays will much better serve the public and give all of us quality access to our park, and are much better choices than the announced Alternative C plan that will be implemented unless the public outcry demands otherwise.
The Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) upon which the Park Service purports to make its decision on Elkmont is inaccurate and slanted. This is typical and is why lawsuits clog our court system and delay most projects. The Service is bound by law to respond to comments about these inaccuracies, however.
Most people think there is no one left fighting for Elkmont. On the contrary, a small but determined group is still out there, still poring over the reams of documents, graphs and references in the DEIS, on which the entirety of Elkmont’s fate will be determined.
Several “silver bullets” have already been uncovered, revolving around (1) the linchpin of the entire DEIS, the supposedly imperiled Montane Alluvial Forest (MAF), (2) the issue of water quality and the Little River’s Tier 3 protected status, and (3) the Historic Wonderland Hotel.
Basically every waterway in the Park is potentially a MAF. This also means that every single campground (including the 100-acre Elkmont Campground), ranger station, parking lot, picnic area, visitors center and the new $5,000,000 Nature Center at Twin Creeks are also sited on MAF. There are no rare plants in the “Elkmont Historic District” (EHD) that set it apart from similar forests. Not even all the plants that an MAF should have are present. Instead, the forest growing along River Road is oak hickory with lots of poplars - NOT what they want it to be. So how would preservation of the historic buildings impact the forest? The answer is, not at all.
The footprint of the ENTIRE DISTRICT, if they saved EVERY building, would impact less than 2 acres of potential MAF. The word “potential” is highlighted because there is NO MAF on the map of the EHD, except for a tiny spot along Mids Branch, which is nowhere near the cabins. Contrast that with the 100-acre campground right next door, which is 100% on potential or existing MAF and floodplain.
Even more incredible is the fact that this campground is included as part of the “Elkmont Historic District”. If the Park simply removed only two cabins (#48 and #49), the entire "potential" issue goes away, BUT they have linked this MAF to somehow affect the fate of every single one of the 87 buildings, regardless of location or habitat.
Because the MAF issue is pure hogwash, to put it bluntly, the only real issue is about water and sewer – a point that has never been addressed in any of the public meetings. Additionally, the DEIS does not provide a figure on pumping and piping it to Gatlinburg, the only truly sound ecological solution for Little River.
Regardless of which alternative is chosen, the 50-year-old campground sewage plant has no business pumping anything into the river, neither campground waste nor visitor use waste. However, the old, original roadbed to Elkmont could be used, so that nothing new would be disturbed, to pipe water from and sewage to Sugarlands, only four miles away across the gap.
In checking both the Park’s and Eleanor Creekmore Dickinson’s applications to place Elkmont on the National Register of Historic Places, the Historic Wonderland Hotel is prominent in both in importance. Despite that fact, "no action" and "demolition by neglect" have both been illegally allowed to happen to the hotel and certainly also to all of the Elkmont cabins.
Now that the hotel has finally fallen down around itself, the Park wants to remove it as early as this spring! The National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) states that costs of preservation activities are eligible for federal funding, and the 1992 amendment says that the head of the federal agency, in this case the Park Service, must assume responsibility for preservation of historic properties. However, the Park never applied for such federal funding, nor did they properly carry out their responsibilities in this regard.
The Park was required to maintain all these buildings until a decision was made, yet few structures in Elkmont have had proper, consistent maintenance. A physical “no action” that permitted buildings to simply decay in place, was illegal. The park was required to maintain properties until a management decision was made. In August 2005, the majority of the Wonderland Hotel building collapsed due to the failed structural system, due to illegal neglect by the Park. If you break the law, isn't there a penalty? Shouldn’t they have to rebuild what they have illegally allowed to collapse?
The DEIS also says, "Currently, no partnerships have been identified as being integral to any of the proposed alternative management options for the Elkmont Historic District.” Does "partnerships" mean a concessionaire? If so, then the question has to be asked exactly which and how many concessionaires have the Park contacted? Stokely Hospitality Management currently operates LeConte Lodge in the Smokies and Charit Creek Lodge in Big South Fork. However, they were not asked to provide any input into this process.
There are several other extremely successful, highly respected concessionaires managing dozens of “historic” hotels, lodges and cabins that are rented by vacationers in numerous national parks at the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, etc., with mega-millions more being spent by the NPS on renovations of those historic structures. So why is the Park unwilling to do the same in Elkmont, and why is concessionaire revenue never mentioned in the DEIS?
It is critical to understand the term “ethnography”, which are, in fact, “people connections” and the fact that there are thousands of “traditionally associated people” with Elkmont, since our ancestors were in the mountains before the Park ever existed. The Park website, quoting their own General Management Plan, states, “Traditionally associated peoples – For purposes of these Management Policies, social/ cultural entities such as tribes, communities, and kinship units, as well as park neighbors, traditional residents, and former residents who remain attached to a park area despite having relocated, are ‘traditionally associated’ with a particular park when (1) the entity regards park resources as essential to its development and continued identity as a culturally distinct people; (2) the association has endured for at least two generations (40 years); and (3) the association began prior to establishment of the park.”
There is no mention of the importance of these ethnographic traditions, however, in relation to the Elkmont Historic District in the DEIS. Many East Tennesseans have a tradition with the District going back five generations or more. The Armstrong family established “Glen Alpine” in what is now Elkmont from a land grant in the 1840s, making an association of over eight generations. Thousands of citizens, with generational ties to the cabins, the Wonderland Hotel, the Appalachian Club, the logging era and pioneer families, still qualify as "traditionally associated peoples," according the NPS guidelines, since their association began before the Park existed, is culturally distinct, and has endured for at least two generations.
By reconstructing the Historic Wonderland Hotel at least as a restaurant as it was for decades and a number of the cabins for overnight use, the traditional associated use of Elkmont could continue into the future, enhancing the community-to-park ties and feelings of stewardship for all towards this Park. These are but a few of the readily apparent conflicts and contradictions within the “research” and findings in the DEIS.
We need to preserve the history, structures and cultural story of the Great Smoky Mountains' Elkmont Historic District for the public. We need to educate and encourage the public to experience the Elkmont Historic District by utilizing this community in its original historical context: as a place of fellowship, retreat, renewal and recreation. We need to save as many structures as possible for public enjoyment and overnight public use. And finally, we need to further the understanding of the public's role as stewards of our most precious public inheritance - our National Parks.
It was a travesty to see the Historic Wonderland Hotel and the entire Elkmont Historic District cabins community shut down and made to slowly crumble from neglect. That was supremely sad. We still, however, have the opportunity to do something about it and to right a wrong before the government makes it even worse. Don’t let our bureaucrats compound past mistakes. Let your voice be heard. Make Elkmont shine for everyone.
Please call, write, and email every U.S. Congressman and senator from Tennessee and North Carolina, as well as all who serve on committees in Washington that oversee the National Parks and the new U.S. Secretary of the Interior.
John Mark Hancock
jmh@icx.net