Great Smoky Mountains National Park - A hiker has discovered an entire neighborhood long deserted in the center of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Elkmont, Tennesse.
Jordan Liles was visiting the UNESCO World Heritage Site last year when he came across the amazing little forgotten town and documented it.
"About a mile up an unnamed gravel road inside Great Smoky Mountains National Park," he writes on his blog, "is the back way into an abandoned neighborhood and hotel, some of which was originally constructed more than 100 years ago."
The Tennesse Wonderland Club, as it was reportedly referred to, is surprisingly still well preserved. But many properties show signs of disrepair. Reports indicate that patronage to the settlement slowly dwindled over the years and it eventually became defunct after being transferred into the hands of the government when the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was formed in 1934.
Elkmont was an important location for the procurement of timber in the 19th and early 20th century. The earliest settlement in the Elkmont valley, which sits by the Little River, was reportedly inspired by the need to establish a base for logging operations. But the massive deforestation of the region is reportedly also one of the inspirations behind the formation of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
The Wonderland Park was originally owned by the Little River Lumber Company, who operated it as an Appalachian vacation club. Eventually, the company began selling pieces of land to individuals as patronage of the site increased. The Wonderland Park Hotel was built shortly afterwards in 1912. But low patronage to the site once again forced the Little River Lumber Company to cede its property (this time the hotel) to private interests. The new investors, a group of businessmen, built a few cottages in adjunct to the hotel and renamed the place the 'Wonderland Club.'
The complete ownership of the Wonderland Park was officially transferred to the hands of the US government in 2001.
The Wonderland Park Hotel and its adjoining cottages have since been listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1994. Reports indicate that in 2005 the Wonderland hotel collapsed. In 2009, park authorities announced plans of restoring the original Appalachian clubhouse and its nearby cottages. It is unclear if the same maintenance will be extended to the Wonderland properties.
The Great Smoky Mountains is the most visited national park in the country with nearly 10 million sight seers recorded since the turn of the last decade.
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