History, Hospitality, and Apple Stack Cake

When you live in, or visit, The Great Smoky Mountains you have to take in Cades Cove. It seems magical today, as you walk the trails to cabins and churches left behind. But, when the community first began, I’m sure there was magic, but it was also a hard place to survive in. Cades Cove is still isolated today, so just image what it was like when John and Margaret Jane Walker built their two-room cabin in an area known as Little Greenbrier in the late 1800’s.

The Old Mill had been around for more than a quarter century, but as remote as Little Greenbrier was, the mill, which was still known as Trotter’s Mill back then, might as well have been halfway around the world. It’s unlikely any of the Walker’s ever stepped foot in the mill.

Building a homestead

The Walker cabin was the home where John & Margaret Jane raised their 11 children, seven of which were girls. John served in the Union uniform during the Civil War, and after released of his imprisonment from the Confederates, he married Margaret Jane King and immediately set about building their homestead. Along with the cabin he built a springhouse, barn, corncrib, apple barn, pig pen, and a blacksmith shop. They lived completely off the land; making, raising, and hunting for everything they needed, right down to weaving cloth for the clothes on their backs.

Raising a family in the wilderness

Raising a family in that vast wilderness was hard, but they persevered, and all 11 children grew to adulthood. The only girl to marry was Sarah Caroline. One of her great-granddaughters, Lynda, has worked for us over the years, and she embodies the values and hospitality so often read about with all the Walker Sisters.

Formation of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Shortly after John died in the 1920s, Tennessee and North Carolina began raising money to purchase the land needed to form the Great Smoky Mountain’s National Park. The remaining six sisters were Hettie, Louisa (pronounced Lou-i-za and called Aunt Lou by Lynda), Nancy, Martha, Polly, and Margaret. Nancy died 10 years later, and the last five sisters held out selling until President Roosevelt visited them himself in 1940. When he left their cabin, they had agreed to sell with the understanding that they would live there for the rest of their lives.

From homestead to tourist destination

In 1946 The Saturday Evening Post did a story on the sisters and they and their cabin became a tourist attraction, known to sell handmade items, handwritten poetry, and more. They were also known for feeding folks. After the sisters got their own, visitors were welcome to fix a plate for themselves and they all said grace.

A lasting legacy

Louisa was the last sister to live in the cabin, passing in 1964. Lynda treasures a picture of Aunt Lou holding her in a rocking chair on the porch of the cabin. Her great grandmother, Sarah Caroline passed in 1966. The cabin will forever be a part of the most visited National Park in the country, and their legacy will forever be threads in the fabric of the Great Smoky Mountains. 

A taste of history

In October of 1950, Margaret, Hettie, and Louisa shared their recipe for Apple Stack Cake with the National Park Service. We are reprinting it with their permission. John Walker grew more than 20 varieties of apples on their homestead, which is why one of his barns was dedicated just to apples.