Greenbrier is a valley in the northern Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee, located in the southeastern United States. Now a recreational area located within the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Greenbrier was once home to several Appalachian communities.
Greenbrier is situated along the Middle Fork of the Little Pigeon River, stretching from Porters Flat in the south to Emert's Cove in the north, at the present park boundary. The area also includes the Middle Fork's immediate watershed from the crest of Grapeyard Ridge to the west (opposite the Roaring Fork area) to Snag Mountain in the east. The area is sometimes called Big Greenbrier to distinguish it from Little Greenbrier, which is located between Wears Valley and Elkmont several miles to the west.
Geology
The ridges surrounding Greenbrier are among the highest in the Appalachian range. To the east is the Guyot massif, which rises to over 6,000 feet (1,829 m) for long stretches. To the west is the Le Conte massif, which culminates in a 6,593-foot (2,009 m) summit. The ridge immediately to the south connecting the two massifs, known as "the Sawteeth," consists of a series of jagged, steep cliffs, the most well-known of which spans the northern face of Charlies Bunion. Greenbrier Pinnacle, a ridge descending from the western flank of Old Black westward to the Middle Fork valley, nearly closes off Greenbrier Cove entirely. Over a dozen streams flow north from the crest of the Pinnacle, each of them cutting narrow hollows with traces of fertile bottomland.
Greenbrier is underlain by a Precambrian metamorphic rock formation of the Ocoee Supergroup known as Roaring Fork Sandstone.Harry Moore, A Roadside Guide to the Geology of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1988), 68. This rock type, created from ancient ocean sediments 750 million years ago, dominates the mid-level elevations in the north-central Smokies. As the elevation increases to the south, a thrust fault known as the Greenbrier Fault separates the Roaring Fork sandstone from Thunderhead sandstone and Anakeesta Formation, both of which are common along the Smokies crests. To the north, as the land flattens out (near the park boundary), another thrust fault, the Gatlinburg Fault, separates the Roaring Fork formation from a layer of siltstone, which underlies the foothills around Emert's Cove.Moore, 68.
Like the Sugarlands and Roaring Fork to the west, Greenbrier's bottomlands and streambeds are coated with sandstone, phyllite, and slate rocks of all sizes. During the Ice Ages, the cold weather caused fracturing of the high mountain slopes, creating boulder fields. Over the centuries, erosional forces carried these boulders to lower elevations.Moore, 40-41, 81. Greenbrier's residents used these rocks for fencing in lieu of barbed wire, creating the long rock walls that criss-cross the area today.
History
Early history
The name "greenbrier" refers to the thorny vines of the genus Smilax that are common throughout the southern Appalachians.Rudy Abramson (editor), Encyclopedia of Appalachia (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2006), 94. Although it is unknown when the upper Middle Fork valley obtained this name, it was being called "Greenbrier" as early as the 1830s.Jerry Wear (editor), Greenbrier: Lost Communities of Sevier County, Tennessee (Sevierville, Tenn.: Sevierville Heritage Committee, 1985), 46. The name is not uncommon elsewhere in the region.
The Cherokee were the first inhabitants of the Greenbrier area and may have had a seasonal settlement at Porters Flat, near Greenbrier's southern tip. As late as the early 20th century, residents of Greenbrier often referred to Porters Flat as "Indian Nation," which may hearken back to its days as a Cherokee settlement.Michal Strutin, History Hikes of the Smokies (Gatlinburg: Great Smoky Mountain Association, 1994), 262.
Around 1800, William Whaley (1788–1880) and his brother Middleton Whaley (1794–1855) became the first permanent Euro-American settlers in Greenbrier.Strutin, 310. The Whaleys hailed from Edgefield District, South Carolina, and crossed the Smokies at Dry Sluice Gap (near Charlies Bunion), which is just above Porters Flat. William Whaley settled at the confluence of Porters Creek and the Middle Fork of the Little Pigeon River. Middleton settled further down the valley, near Emert's Cove.Carson Brewer, Great Smoky Mountains National Park (Portland, Ore.: Graphic Arts Center Publishing, 1993), 18.
In 1818, the family of John Ownby (1781–1859), a veteran of the War of 1812, settled downstream from the Whaleys. The Whaley and Ownby families spread quickly throughout the valley. In the early 20th century, a map of Greenbrier showed the location of 26 homes—11 were Whaleys and 10 were Ownbys.Brewer, 18.
Later settlers
The upper watershed of the Middle Fork of the Little Pigeon River consists of a series of streams, some flowing down from Grapeyard Ridge to the west and a dozen or so flowing down from Greenbrier Pinnacle to the east. Each of these streams has cut a deep hollow, isolating the bottomlands of each amidst low ridges. Thus, rather than being one large community, Greenbrier consisted of several individual communities located along these streams. Most communities took the name of the stream upon which they were situated.Strutin, 265-285. Along with Greenbrier Cove, the most prominent of these small communities included Copeland, Soak Ash, Webb Creek, Ramsey Creek, Noisy Creek, Redwine Creek, and Little Bird Branch, all at the base of Greenbrier Pinnacle, and Laurel Creek (now Rhododendron Creek), located on Grapeyard Ridge.
Charles Rayfield (1825–1891) settled near the junction of Laurel Creek and the Middle Fork sometime before the Civil War. The Grapeyard Ridge Trail now winds through the former homesteads of many of Rayfield's children and grandchildren. David Proffitt (1847–1909), also a veteran of the war, settled further upstream, just below the Whaley lands, sometime around 1870. Around the same time, James Redwine, a circuit rider, settled along the creek that now bears his name.Strutin, 284-285.
Benjamin Christenberry Parton (1832–1916), the son of a migrant farm worker, and his wife Margaret arrived in Greenbrier sometime in the 1850s. Parton, who survived a gunshot wound to the head during the Civil War,Strutin, 294. settled in the narrow flats just above the confluence of Little Bird Branch and the Middle Fork, at the western base of Greenbrier Pinnacle. Parton and many of his descendants are buried in a cemetery on a hill where his cabin once stood, overlooking Little Bird Branch.
Life in Greenbrier
Robert Parke of the University of Buffalo visited Greenbrier in the 1920s, and later wrote about his visit in his university's newspaper:
We were slowly penetrating the great range within a few miles of the North Carolina border, passing cornfields so steep that we wondered how they could be cultivated, bouncing past old-time log cabins built of hand-hewn timber, and waving to unbelievably large numbers of silent children who watched amid the barking of their dogs as strangers went by. We stopped by a cabin and inquired of an aged woman who sat leaning back in a homemade hickory chair with her feet on the rail, how far it was to Greenbriar, which had been designated to us as the end of the trail that could be traversed by four wheels.Robert Parke, "Our Southern Highlanders," Smoky Mountain Historical Society Newsletter 3, no. 4 (September 1977): pg. 8. Originally published in a 1934 issue of the University of Buffalo newspaper, The Bison.
Like the Sugarlands to the west, Greenbrier was a largely isolated community until the early 20th century. The valley's economy was based on subsistence farming, with most farms ranging in size from 50 to , part of which was woodland.Evolena Ownby, "Memories of Big Greenbrier," Smoky Mountain Historical Society Journal 23, no. 2 (Summer of 1997): 23. Most families lived in one-room log cabins surrounded by grassless yards and a paling fence, although modern-looking frame houses began to replace log structures when saw mills arrived in the area around 1900. Most farms included a barn, corn crib, smokehouse, springhouse, and a small orchard. Some of the wealthier families owned their own grist mill.Evolena Ownby, 17-23. As game was plentiful, many farmers supplemented their income by hunting and trapping.Dora Proffit Williams, "Memories," Greenbrier: Lost Communities of Sevier County, Tennessee (Sevierville, Tenn.: Sevierville Heritage Committee, 1985), 24.
The residents of Greenbrier were largely pro-Union during the Civil War, although most tried to avoid the conflict altogether. A small force led by Confederate commander William Holland Thomas passed through Greenbrier while fleeing to North Carolina after being chased out of Gatlinburg. On the way, they inflicted minor damage to the farms of known Union supporters.Lillie Whaley Ownby, "Granny's College," Greenbrier: Lost Communities of Sevier County, Tennessee (Sevierville, Tenn.: Sevierville Heritage Committee, 1985), 4.
Shortly after the war, Greenbrier resident Perry Shults claimed to have discovered gold and silver at the headwaters of Porters Creek. In 1867, Shults received a charter from the Sevier County Silver, Copper, Lead, and Zinc Company for his find, and Shults began a low-key mining operation in the area. It was later discovered that Shults was producing counterfeit silver coins, and Shults fled west when the Secret Service opened an investigation. The location of Shults' mine (or if it existed at all) is unknown.Daniel Pierce, The Great Smokies: From Natural Habitat to National Park (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2000), 16.Strutin, 319.
Most small communities in the Greenbrier area had at least one general store. Greenbrier residents would typically trade chickens, eggs, and animal furs for clothing, salt, pepper, coal oil, and medicine. As roads improved in the late 19th century, Greenbrier farmers could haul excess crops to Knoxville. These crops were typically corn or potatoes. Others dug ginseng, which was plentiful in the Smokies at the time, while others used their excess corn to make moonshine.Dora Proffit Williams, "Memories," Greenbrier: Lost Communities of Sevier County, Tennessee (Sevierville, Tenn.: Sevierville Heritage Committee, 1985), 14, 24. Bill Cardwell, who lived in the northern part of Greenbrier in the early 20th century, was said to have regularly sold moonshine to the sheriff of Sevier County.Strutin, 170.
20th century
In the early 20th century, Greenbrier had a population of approximately 500. Scattered about the valley were three general stores, two churches, a school, a hotel, three blacksmith shops, and five grist mills.Evolena Ownby, "Memories of Big Greenbrier," Smoky Mountain Historical Society Journal 23, no. 2 (Summer of 1997): 15. Roads were collectively maintained by males 21 and over, working six days every year.Lillie Whaley Ownby, 8. The two main religious denominations were the Primitive Baptists and Missionary Baptists.Velma Ownby Lamons, "Memories," Greenbrier: Lost Communities of Sevier County, Tennessee (Sevierville, Tenn.: Sevierville Heritage Committee, 1985), 40.
In the late 19th century, innovations in the logging industry, specifically the band saw, led to a rapid deforestation of the woodland along the Ohio Valley and Mississippi Delta. As demand for timber increased, lumber companies turned to the dense, mature forests of Appalachia. Saw mills began to spring up around the Smokies, with major logging operations taking place above Elkmont and the Oconaluftee watershed. Greenbrier residents David Proffitt and Pinkney Whaley erected a saw mill near Porters Flat and by 1916 had helped log some of the Porters Creek watershed.Strutin, 312-318.