It’s a bright and sunny day in mid-spring and you can easily imagine how it must have been in the days when the God-fearing locals met at this Smoky Mountain church for Sunday Meetin’. You can see the old and young alike gathering for a few old hymns and a little “hellfire and brimstone” from the preacher. Souls were saved and lives renewed before everyone loaded up on horse-drawn wagons and carriages for the ride home in the Cove. This was a place that helped build America and its legacy lives on in the descendents of Cades Cove.
This painting shows the spring colors at their most dazzling and the details at their most delicate. You can see the mockingbird on the rock, but can you find the deer?
This church building dates from 1915. The church was originally formed in 1839 by members of the Primitive Baptist Church who were dismissed because they favored supporting missionary work. This was a national issue that concerned Baptists everywhere. During the Civil War the church ceased to meet, but reopened after the war with a revised membership list. Confederate sympathizers were absent. Membership started at forty and eventually grew to 115 before the church closed in 1944.
Fall in the Smokies is a time of overcast skies, cool comfortable air and easy walking amongst the falling leaves. But when the clouds part and the sun shines through, the colors of fall burst out as bright and varied as a mountain rainbow. This church is surrounded by maples, oaks and poplars with a sprinkling of evergreens in the background. This combination makes for a particularly impressive autumn display, usually running mid to late October. The sunken gravel road leading to the church is lined with tall stately hardwoods and hemlocks that provide the perfect framing for photographs and beautiful paintings like this one.
This square little church building demonstrates the spirit and lifestyles of Cades Cove in days gone by – simplicity and function. The settlers of the cove made everything they needed for daily living, so there was little or no spare time and resources for the niceties that we would take for granted today. All the churches of Cades Cove have steeples, each with a stout iron bell that was rung before the start of Sunday morning services decades ago. So the only real attempt at any visual accent would be found in the steeple housing. The pot-bellied wood burning stove used to heat the building was stationed in the center, thus necessitating the chimney poking through the middle of the roof.
Steve has spent many hours hiking around this little church building over the years. The tall trees have a great canopy of leaves that keeps ground cover to a minimum, thus allowing for effortless walking through the woods. Recently when making an afternoon sojourn behind it, Steve was confronted by the largest black bear he had ever seen in the Smokies. Luckily for Steve, the big brute was well fed and wasn’t looking for a meal.
Steve likes to add little mountain critters in his paintings. Though they are small, the raccoon and the cottontail are easy to find in this colorful painting.
As to this church’s history, some of the cove’s earliest settlers established this church in 1827. A log building was used for the services until this one was built in 1887. The church closed during the civil war. The church journal wrote after the war: “We the Primitive Baptist Church in Blount County in Cades Cove do show the public why we have not kept up our church meeting. It was on account of the Rebellion and we was Union people and the Rebels was too strong here in Cades Cove. Our preacher was obliged to leave sometimes, and thank God we once more can meet.”
Much of the Cove’s history lies silent behind the church. In the cemetery lie Olivers, Gregorys, Shields, Anthonys and others who first populated the Cove.
This painting of the Tipton Place in Cades Cove shows the house as it looked a few years ago before the red-wheeled carriage was removed and the carriage shed boarded in. The Smoky Mountain tree colors are accurate and show autumn’s glory at the height of October’s grand leaf changes. The walnut tree to the right of the house is still there, but the tree is shown here in its “healthier” days when the big limb hanging over the roof was still there.
As to the house’s history, “Col. Hamp” Tipton had this house built in the early 1870s, a few years after the Civil War. In 1878, James McCaulley, a blacksmith, lived here until he built his own house elsewhere. Others who lived in the house included Tipton’s daughters, “Miss Lucy” and “Miss Lizzie,” who taught school in the cove.
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.
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This painting of John Oliver’s Cabin shows the cozy Smoky Mountain cabin at the very height of spring’s green explosion. Note the “spackled” sunlight scattered across the little cabin and yard that creates the feeling of airy openness and springtime freshness. The mother bear and cub approach the split-rail fence and rest there a while as if waiting for a meal at the dinner table. The dogwoods bloom and the robin sings. These mountain creatures are easy to find in this beautiful and exquisite painting, but can you find the raccoon? 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.
The split-rail fence is the same as those that surrounded several dozen other homesteads in the Cove a century ago. The Oliver family bought land in the Cove in 1826 and this cabin site remained in the family until the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was established. This house is typical of many found on the eastern frontier in the mid-1850s, and reflects the skills and techniques brought into the mountains by descendants of British and European immigrants.
Privacy in the home was rare. Life centered in the main room. Children were welcomed.
This painting of the cantilevered barn at the Tipton Place in Cades Cove shows the typical "Smoky Mountain family" in a most serene setting. The contentment shown here in the eyes of a beautiful doe and her little ones at the peak of spring can be felt by any one of us when hiking the most peaceful and picturesque place on earth - the Great Smoky Mountains.
This painting was done from an unusual angle at the bottom of the hill where most tourists rarely venture. The little rocky stream runs year-'round and the noisy miniature waterfall can be heard for many yards before you actually find it. Some wild shrubs and saplings grow along the stream now, and deer like the ones shown here can be found grazing around this beautiful site almost any day you wish to visit Cades Cove.
Many barns once stood in the Cove. Cantilevered barns like this one were built by farmers who needed shelter for their animals during heavy snows, and where tools and farm equipment could be stored from the elements. Tons of hay and fodder were stored in the loft and was used to feed livestock during the winter. Cantilever construction (counterweighted overhanging beams) was used frequently in east Tennessee, but originated centuries ago in Europe.
This painting of Cable Mill in Cades Cove shows the gristmill as it looks today with the maples, buckeyes and dogwoods in full autumn bloom. The variety of tree colors around the mill can be compared to the colors of a Smoky Mountain rainbow. The trees and foliage as shown here are accurate and reveal autumn's glory at the height of October's grand leaf changes. Steve actually used water from the mill to finish this acrylic painting.
This mill was built about 1870 by John P. Cable. His son, James V. Cable, operated the mill well into the twentieth century. Today the Great Smoky Mountains Natural History Association operates it as an historical exhibit.
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Of all the most visited landmarks in Cades Cove, this charming scene of the Carter Shields cabin is said to be the most photographed. It is a perennial favorite of out-of-state tourists and, for those shopping at the local art galleries and shops, is often the most requested by those looking for a beautiful memento of their visit to the Great Smoky Mountains. Steve has chosen to paint this scene at its most stunning when the little dogwood tree is in full bloom.
The typical viewer of this exquisite painting can evoke the feeling of the crisp and often breezy Smoky Mountain springtime air, and hark back to times of simpler pleasures and pastimes. You might hear cowbells in the pasture or a crow making a ruckus in the trees. Perhaps you can envision a Sunday afternoon where children would play “hingo-seek” and the older folk would eat midday dinner outside on the porch or upon a new tree stump. As in all of Steve’s earlier paintings, there are native forest critters to find. Maybe you can see the gray fox scouting for a turkey dinner. The goldfinch in the dogwood is easy.
This painting was completed in early 2004, just in time for the Smoky Mountain springtime rush at the three local galleries where Steve sells his artwork, or from orders online. A high quality canvas or paper print is now available in limited signed and numbered editions. Please check the Pricing Information page for available sizes and costs.
As to this quaint little cabin’s history, it was built after Washington “Carter” Shields bought the land in 1910. Decades before that, Mr. Shields was wounded and crippled for life in the Civil War at Shiloh. He married after the war and moved to Kansas. He came to the Cove in 1906 before purchasing this piece of land. One would think that an old soldier would find lifelong contentment here, but he moved away after only eleven years.
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