About Dan Lawson Place
Dan Lawson did more than farm. He made barrels, shod horses and worked iron, and his place on the south side of Cades Cove shows a family with several ways to make a living.
The place
The farmstead dates to 1856, when Lawson built the house, and it includes a smokehouse, a corn crib and a barn. Look at how the house was added to and covered over the years, which is a clue to how families changed their homes as their needs and ideas of style shifted. The Lawson family cemetery lies a short walk away.
Visiting
- Where: on the south side of the loop, after Cable Mill and before the Tipton Place.
- Time to allow: 15 to 25 minutes.
- Parking: a small lot near the lane. A parking tag is required for stops over 15 minutes.
- Facilities: none. Restrooms are at Cable Mill.
- Hours: the loop is open sunrise to sunset; it is closed to cars on Wednesdays from May 6 to September 30, 2026.
What to look for
Look at the barn's roofline and the way the outbuildings are spaced around the yard. A mountain farm was laid out to keep animals, food storage and living space in a work pattern, with the smokehouse near the house and the barn farther off. The fields behind the buildings are where deer feed in the late afternoon.
Context
Compare this place with the nearby Tipton Place, which has a cantilever barn and a blacksmith shop, and the Carter Shields Cabin at the end of the loop. The three together make a short run of the south side. Late afternoon light suits all of them. Allow two to four hours for the whole loop in fall.
Good to know
- Do I need a parking tag?
- A Park It Forward parking tag ($5 a day, $15 a week or $40 a year) is required for any vehicle parked more than 15 minutes inside Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Entry is free, and federal passes such as America the Beautiful do not replace the tag.
