More From Cataloochee

The Cataloochee Valley area of Great Smoky Mountain National Park is more than Palmer Chapel.  It is several miles of verdant valley that was once life sustaining farm land.  It is hiking trails and historic buildings, trout streams and wild turkeys.  And if you arrive at just the right time of day you might even catch a glimpse of majestic elk grazing contentedly in the fields.



Elk sightings were not in the cards for us on this day but a visit to the Caldwell farm house was.  It is my humble opinion that the Caldwell family was one of the wealthier occupants of the Chataloochee Valley.



Successful farmers with a home larger than most. Five rooms up.  Five rooms down.  I can only assume that the Caldwells filled those rooms with children who gave them joy and also served as farm hands.  In fact at one point during my visit I am certain that I heard laughter emanating from one of the upstairs bedrooms.



Admittedly I am a romantic at heart.  My vision of the lives lived here is one of close family ties, hard work,  and fishing and swimming in the rushing water of the little stream.



It is one of cows grazing in green pastures that were herded and milked by people with happy hearts.



Of children attentively listening to kind hearted instructors



all the while yearning for the opportunity to run barefoot in the grass.



My version of life in the Cataloochee Valley is void of sickness, premature death and natural disasters.  It is tinted by the rose colored glasses of Little House on the Prairie and the Waltons.   It is of life lived in a quieter, slower paced world.  A world I believe I would have loved.



But one that must include an automatic washer and a Mr. Coffee.   Some things a girl just can't live without.
Isn't that right Jim Bob?