"Springtime Blooms at the Elijah Oliver Homestead" in Cades Cove, The Great Smoky Mountains

“Springtime Blooms at the Elijah Oliver Homestead” in Cades Cove, The Great Smoky Mountains by Steve Norris Elijah Oliver was born in the Cove in 1824.  After he married, he and his family moved out of the Cove before the Civil War. After the war, he bought this property and moved back in. When you visit this place you will find several outbuildings and barn structures. With no refrigerator or freezer, they needed the springhouse to keep milk and butter cool, and they needed the corn crib to store grain until the next harvest. The smokehouse was used to store and preserve hams, shoulders and side meat for an entire year. The barn was required to shelter the animals and to store hay in the loft. Water for drinking, cooking, bathing and laundry had to be carried from the spring. Everything required hard work and long hours. This painting of the Elijah Oliver Homestead shows the stoutly-built Smoky Mountain house at the very height of spring’s green explosion. The little red ground flowers work to bring a splash of bright color to an otherwise bland color scheme. The red tailed hawk must be watched quickly before it has vanished from sight. Can you see the rabbit, and the little fawn waiting for its mother? Gaze at this painting a few moments and you can almost smell that special spicy aroma of the mountain evergreens and flowering flora that can only be found in the Great Smokies. Available in size 24” x 30” and smaller