BRUCE McCAMISH PHOTOGRAPHS THE LAST DAY OF 55 CABINS
September 17, 2020
by Joe McCamish
FROM KNOXVILLE WVLT.TV INTERVIEW -- April 5, 2017
Time is a tricky thing to stop. While we can't slow it down, we have found a way to catch it.
Bruce McCamish learned the trick when he started capturing photographs with his camera at the age of eight. "The beautiful thing about photography is it captures that moment forever," McCamish said.
His desire to document a piece of East Tennessee history drew him to Elkmont and delivered him on the steps of the historic cabins.
Over the years, 74 cabins were built in the wooded community, some as early as the mid 1800's. McCamish said photographing them was like visiting the past.
"You have all these visions when you’re photographing what’s going on, of music playing and people out on the front porch playing the fiddle and kids singing. You hear all of that when you’re taking these photographs, it’s very much alive even though no one’s there," McCamish explained.
Appalachian pioneers first settled Elkmont along Jakes Creek in the 1840's. According to the National Register of Historic places, the creek's namesake, Jacob Hauser, was most likely the first to arrive. The family of David Ownby followed shortly after in search of gold. Eventually a small community developed and was known as "Little River."
A lumber camp arrived in the 1880's, before a full scale logging operation started in 1901. Then, in 1910, hunting and fishing enthusiasts from Knoxville created the Appalachian Club and built the Appalachian Clubhouse to be used as a lodge. According to the National Park Service, club members built cottages over the years paving the way for a vacation area for countless Knoxville families.
"There’s so many people in Knoxville that it touched their lives in very special ways and so I felt it was very important to document it," said McCamish.
Upon the creation of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, cabin owners were given a lifetime lease. Most of those ran out in 1992 and nobody's lived in the cabins since. In the decades they've remained empty, nature has taken its course, creating dilapidated and run-down structures.
McCamish said, "When I went in to a couple of the places to shoot the kitchens, you could feel the floor spring beneath you."
Of the 74 cabins, the National Park Service slated 55 to be torn down. Crews were expected to preserve several of them in the Daisy Town area in 2017. As of February, two structures were fully restored and four had been demolished.
Several cabins were placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Only two structures from the pioneer period remain in Elkmont. The Avent cabin built in 1850 and the Levi Trentham cabin built in 1830.
While McCamish called the demolition a "sad ending to a long history," that's precisely what motivated him to capture the buildings in photographs, to make sure they never disappear.
Time is a tricky thing to stop. While we can't slow it down, we have found a way to catch it.
Bruce McCamish learned the trick when he started capturing photographs with his camera at the age of eight. "The beautiful thing about photography is it captures that moment forever," McCamish said.
His desire to document a piece of East Tennessee history drew him to Elkmont and delivered him on the steps of the historic cabins.
Over the years, 74 cabins were built in the wooded community, some as early as the mid 1800's. McCamish said photographing them was like visiting the past.
"You have all these visions when you’re photographing what’s going on, of music playing and people out on the front porch playing the fiddle and kids singing. You hear all of that when you’re taking these photographs, it’s very much alive even though no one’s there," McCamish explained.
Appalachian pioneers first settled Elkmont along Jakes Creek in the 1840's. According to the National Register of Historic places, the creek's namesake, Jacob Hauser, was most likely the first to arrive. The family of David Ownby followed shortly after in search of gold. Eventually a small community developed and was known as "Little River."
A lumber camp arrived in the 1880's, before a full scale logging operation started in 1901. Then, in 1910, hunting and fishing enthusiasts from Knoxville created the Appalachian Club and built the Appalachian Clubhouse to be used as a lodge. According to the National Park Service, club members built cottages over the years paving the way for a vacation area for countless Knoxville families.
"There’s so many people in Knoxville that it touched their lives in very special ways and so I felt it was very important to document it," said McCamish.
Upon the creation of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, cabin owners were given a lifetime lease. Most of those ran out in 1992 and nobody's lived in the cabins since. In the decades they've remained empty, nature has taken its course, creating dilapidated and run-down structures.
McCamish said, "When I went in to a couple of the places to shoot the kitchens, you could feel the floor spring beneath you."
Of the 74 cabins, the National Park Service slated 55 to be torn down. Crews were expected to preserve several of them in the Daisy Town area in 2017. As of February, two structures were fully restored and four had been demolished.
Several cabins were placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Only two structures from the pioneer period remain in Elkmont. The Avent cabin built in 1850 and the Levi Trentham cabin built in 1830.
While McCamish called the demolition a "sad ending to a long history," that's precisely what motivated him to capture the buildings in photographs, to make sure they never disappear.
