Looking back over the last 90 years in the Smoky Mountains
As the managing editor of an Associated Press newspaper – as my day job – I have access to the AP photo archives. They are comprised of tens of thousands of archived photos marking world history going back more than 120 years. It is a treasure trove of dozens of diverting rabbit holes that lead into the forgotten corners of world events, people and more.
Want to track the journey of the Beatles from the early days of Ed Sullivan through their solo careers? The AP has your back. Want to see what World War II or Korea or even World War I looked like through the eyes of the news photographers there to document it? Lawrence of Arabia, Muhammad Ali or Weird Al, the photo archive tracks the life and times of all the world’s most famous and infamous people. The AP has it all.
The Smokies are there, too. You can track the foundation of the park and its changes through the years. Alas, the photo archive isn’t just open to the public. The AP runs some social media accounts that give you a small taste of what’s available but it’s not the same as having full access to your heart and mind’s content.
Luckily, fans of the Smoky Mountains have another option. The Tennessee Virtual Archive offers a way to travel back in time to the early days of the park and before. You see the people through the decades, both the mountain residents and the tourists. And also, you see the mountains themselves, which have not terribly changed through the decades. You see wildlife and Gatlinburg and more.
Our top 10 favorite photos from the mountains in the Tennessee Virtual Archive (TeVA)
1. FDR speaks at dedication ceremony
I love walking in the echoes of history and thus these photos of President Franklin Roosevelt speaking from the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial are fascinating to me. Taken Sept. 2, 1940, they mark the opening of the park as America is fighting its way out of the Great Depression and a little more than a year away from joining the battle in World War II. This picture captures a remarkable moment in U.S. history, and I’m captivated by it.
2. Members of the See Tennessee Tour
Newspaper men and women from 1940 gathering for an oddly posed group picture in three-piece suits and fedoras with large press cards? Yes, please.
This picture poses so many unanswerable questions. Why is the one guy seated and facing 90 degrees in the wrong direction? Why is the guy who looks like Dick Tracy kneeling on the end not looking at the camera? What is with the overly jovial guy with his arms draped around the two beside him? What publication did the guy standing on the far left represent? It’s just a fascinating collection of people and there are several pictures from this tour included in the archive.
3. Man at Ephraim Bales log cabin
A couple of summers ago, we stopped at this very cabin during a tour of the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail. My family was exploring the grounds while I stood near the historic marker that gives the history of Ephraim and Minerva Bales and their nine kids.
A young girl walked up and pointed to the picture of Nervy Bales taken circa 1930 – standing in the same doorway as the unidentified man in this picture. “Look mom,” she said. “That’s the woman I saw in the cabin.” Friends, I noped it right back to the car. When I saw this picture – maybe it’s one of the Bales’ 9 kids? But I don’t know.
I thought it was nice that the ghost of Nervy likely has some company. Minerva – if you’re wondering – died a little more than a year after this picture was taken and is buried in White Oak Flats Cemetery just behind Fannie Farkles on the strip in Gatlinburg. Go get a giant corndog and stop by to say Hello.
4. Snow Covered Clingmans Dome (now known as Kuwohi) Highway
One of the problems with the collection is that the black and white pictures of the mountains don’t really “pop.” I’d love to go in use Photoshop to enhance the levels making the darks darker and the lights lighter to give a more dramatic – and visually pleasing – view of the old mountains. But in this photo of snow on the winding road up to what is now known as Kuwohi, you get a little better feel for the dramatic beauty of the mountains.
5. View of downtown Gatlinburg
I love the old pictures of Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge as they are in the process of becoming what they will be. This picture is – I’m fairly sure – the intersection of the East Parkway and the Parkway. The round roofed building is home to the Gatlinburg Brewing Company today.
If you zoom in on the left, you can see the sign for the Pancake Pantry – which in this 1970 photo – would be about 10 years old. If you squint hard enough, you can see the future location of No Way Jose’s.
6. Picnic on Andrews Bald
Love a good picnic. Love a good Bald. These folks did some serious hiking on the Forney Ridge Trail to get there. I also love that the lady in the striped shirt is forever in history – from a single moment in June 1946 – just chowing down on that roll or sandwich or donut or whatever that is. Like, hey Ansel Adams, you toted that camera all the way up here. You couldn’t have waited three seconds and let me finish this bite?
7. Roy Ogle and Mr. F. Scherr – owner of Parrott’s Jungle Miami, Florida on the Appalachian Trail four miles east of Davenport Gap, in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park
I love the specificity of this cutline. Some of these photos are like here’s some randos at a picnic. Others give you everything you ever wanted to know about these random people on the Appalachian Trail.
So, I did a little research. This photo taken in June of 1953 shows Roy Ogle – I believe it’s Roy Charles Ogle though there’s quite a few Roy Ogles. Roy is descended from Hercules “Hike” Ogle – born in South Carolina in 1854. His brother William “Black Bill” Ogle started to build a cabin in what would become White Oak Flats and then Gatlinburg. Black Bill died before he could finish. However, his wife and Hike’s sister-in-law Martha Jane began the migration of Ogles from South Carolina to the mountains in the early 1800s.
The other guy, Franz Scherr founded Parrot Jungle in Miami in 1936. The location is still in operation today under the name Jungle Island, self-billed as Miami’s premier entertainment destination.
And – if you’re interested in another World War II connection – on a tour of America in 1946 Winston Churchill stopped by Parrot Jungle. He gave Scherr a pair of turkeys that he had been given during a VIP tour stop in Texas. Why did someone give Winston Churchill two lives turkeys in the midst of a VIP tour? Reader, there is only so much rabbit hole I can go down without getting lost forever.
Ok, I couldn’t resist. Apparently, Uncle Johnny Mills, a Texas businessman sent Churchill the living, “broad-breasted, grand champion” turkey while the prime minister was in Miami Beach as a show of “Texas hospitality.” Rather than eat the thing, as was apparently intended, Churchill named it and gave it to Scherr.
8. Alex Occoma, 100-year-old Cherokee Indian
Some of the best pictures in the collection are of the people of the mountains but many of them don’t show much personality. This picture of Alex Occoma taken in May of 1939 is all personality. There are other pictures of Cherokee in the collection, including a young woman with her baby in a papoose.
I chose this one because I was skeptical of the photo identification. Alex looks pretty spry for 100 years old. That’s because he wasn’t, according to the Find-a-grave website. It puts his age at the time of his death in 1953 at 86. But even that is unclear. The great-grandson of Yonaguska, a Cherokee Chief, said that Occoma died at the age of 89, according to the newspaper that reported his death.
9. Bud Ogle of Gatlinburg
This is purportedly Noah “Bud” Ogle. His cabin still stands just before the entrance to the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail. Last year, we saw a bear walking through the cabin.
But this photo, taken in May of 1939, would have been 26 years after Ogle’s death. That leaves two possibilities. First, there are a lot of Ogles and I thought this might be a different Bud Ogle. Bud’ brother Joseph did have a son he named Noah who would have been in his 60s in 1939 and a possible candidate for this photo. However, there’s no indication that the Rev. Noah Ogle went by “Bud.”
I also found an undated Ogle family photo that included a younger man identified as the Noah “Bud” Ogle whose homestead remains at the entrance to the Motor Nature Trail. It’s not an exact match, but the patriarch in the middle of the family photo resembles a younger version of the man in this picture. I tend to believe this photo is of the right Bud Ogle but is improperly dated.
10. A family viewing the Smokies from Newfound Gap. Lorene Hatcher standing on the rock, of Gatlinburg, Tenn.; Mr. & Mrs. A. R. Johnson and daughter Lerira of Birmingham, Alabama
Sir, get that baby away from that ledge! I tried to find Lerira online to see if she made it off the mountain despite her parents’ questionable judgement. But no such luck. Bonus note: This photo was taken – September 17, 1954 – almost exactly 20 years before I was born. Off by a day.
What do you think about these interesting historical photos? Let us know in the comments!