Kephart's Cabin??

[Tenderheart]

I wonder if anyone knows the whereabouts of Kephart's old cabin remains or homesite in the Hazel Creek drainage. Is the Kephart shelter near the site? I just finished reading "Our Southern Highlanders" and was just curious. It seems the shelter is a long way from Hazel Creek, or so it appears on the map.

litefoot 2000

[Hikes in Rain]

If memory serves (haven't looked it up), it was way up the Deep Creek drainage. I don't think anything of it remains. I've wondered if the Deep Creek Trail, from near Newfound Gap down to Bryson City, goes by the site.

Southern Highlanders was a great book, wasn't it?

[Hikes in Rain]

OK, apparently I was a little confused. There is a monument along Deep Creek at the site of his last permanent camp. That's what I was thinking of. His cabin site, however, is across Lake Fontana in the Hazel Creek drainage. Apparently, you can take a boat there. Check it out.

[Seeker]

iirc, it's near campsite 82. he actually lived in a house that he borrowed from a mining company. not sure what's left there.

search the forum... i know there was a thread a few months back on this same topic... someone who seemed pretty knowledgable had posted there, and knew which campsite was nearby...

you might also check out the wikipedia article on kephart...

[Seeker]

hikes in rain, not trying to contradict...after i re-read the thread, i remembered that he spent time in a couple different places, didn't he...

[MintakaCat]

This subject rang a bell in the back of my mind. After a little searching I found this link:

http://www.mtleconte.com/JFRHCM.htm

Toward the botton of the link you'll see the info you're looking for.

[veteran]

"Cabin on the Little Fork of Sugar Fork of Hazel Creek, where he lived alone for three years."

"The Everett copper mine. The cabin was just above it.

Link to more photos:
http://wcudigitalcollection.cdmhost....=%2Fp4008coll1

[Hikes in Rain]

hikes in rain, not trying to contradict...after i re-read the thread, i remembered that he spent time in a couple different places, didn't he...

Not at all! My first post was from memory; always an iffy thing for me.

He did live in a variety of places, including taking a room upstairs of the restored drugstore in Bryson. Shoot, with his "permanent camps", there's probably several we don't even know about! As much as I enjoy his writings, I really should start the "pilgrimages" to visit some of them. Perhaps after I retire.......

[chelko]

According to the "Little Brown Book" the site of his last permanent camp is at Campsite # 57 on the Deep Creek trail. I was ther last fall, large horse site along the creek but I didn't see the millstone memorial that is supposedly there.

[chelko]

The little fork of sugar fork off haxel creek would put the cabin just northwest of campsite # 84 on the hazel creek trail.

[veteran]

The little fork of sugar fork off haxel creek would put the cabin just northwest of campsite # 84 on the hazel creek trail.

Horace Kephart's cabin site coordinates (N35.50813°, W-83.70958°)

[Hikes in Rain]

You've always got the good stuff! Thanks!

[veteran]

Did you know that he lived in a cabin a couple of summers where the AT and one of the current shelters are in the Smokys?

[Hikes in Rain]

Derrick Knob, maybe? That's either a former herder's cabin, or at the site of one. (I was never sure) The location might be right.....

[veteran]

Derrick Knob, maybe? That's either a former herder's cabin, or at the site of one. (I was never sure) The location might be right.....

You win the prize.

In 1906 he spent the summer in a herders’ cabin on top of the divide at
Hall Cabin While living at Hazel Creek, Horace Kephart reported having spent summers in this herder's cabin on the border between North Carolina and Tennessee along the ridge line of the Great Smoky Mountains. Here, with friends and fellow hunters, Kephart pursued a more frontier like existence filled with dangerous creatures and wild weather patterns. "The Hall Cabin (North Carolina room on left, Tennessee room on right - State line- the watershed of the Smokies - runs through the entry- Elevation, 4900 feet above sea-level- J.B. Anderson and he lived here through the three summer months of 1906-1907.)" "The cabin in the Smokies. Altitude 4,900 ft. The room with window is in Tenn.; the other in N.C.

Old topo Map from the 1930s showing the trail to the cabin from Hazel Creek.

From Kepharts map book showing the location of Hall Cabin.
Notice Green Brier Knob to the right of the cabin site, it is now named Mt Davis.

Kephart cooking in the cabin.

[Tenderheart]

Thanks so much for everyone's imput. Ask and you shall receive.

litefoot 2000

[veteran]

Kephart's first camp in western North Carolina, on Dicks Creek near Dillsboro, North Carolina. The caption indicates that he named his encampment, "Camp Toco -- Dak-waw-I (fish monster place) - near Dick Creek (Here I lived alone Aug. 7 to Oct 28, 1904)." A side caption to this photograph notes, "For the legend of Toco or Dak-waw-i, localized here, see Mooney's "Myths of the Cherokee." This picture appeared in "Our Southern Highlanders" (1922 revised ed., p. 16) as "The Author's First Camp in the Smokies.
In October 1904 Kephart moved from Dicks Creek, near Dillsboro, North Carolina, to the Hazel Creek area of Swain County, North Carolina.

Directions to Hazel Creek and the cabin on Little Fork

Hazel Creek,
To get there you will have too travel by boat, across Lake Fontana, or pack in by one of the wilderness trails. The old homesteads no longer stand along Hazel Creek or up the branches, but you can spot the clearings, which, in season, are marked by the roses the settlers favored for their dooryards. Camp at the primitive campsite #84 at the junction of Sugar Fork and Hazel Creek. You can find the ruins of Medlin nearby if you try hard enough.

In the morning walk west along the Sugar Fork Trail. At 1.6 miles you’ll see on the right a clearing marking an old homesite. Just beyond, the Little Fork enters the Sugar Fork from the north. Farther on uptrail there’s a road leading to the Everett Mines that was cut long after Kephart left. It’s tough going, but the best way to get in is to follow the old wagon-ruts through the laurel on the east bank of the Little Fork. When you come to the second mine shaft along the creek, cross the Little Fork and go high up on the west bank.
Kepharts cabin was situated in the leveled area you’ll find at the foot of the steep draw that runs up the ridge. It’s still very quiet there as it was in his time.

From Kepharts Photo Album:
http://www.wcu.edu/library/digitalco...ont_01Full.jpg

Kephart's Topo Map

Camp TOCO today

Current Topo Map

The Cabin

The town of Medlin

[generoll]

great stuff!! there's so much more to this area then just putting down miles on the AT. nice to see someone doing some good research on this area.