About Levi Trentham Cabin
Elkmont is known for its summer cottages, but the valley had farmers first. The National Park Service says Euro-American settlement began in the nineteenth century, when the Ownby and Trentham families farmed land along Jakes Creek. The Levi Trentham Cabin is a trace of that earlier world.
A different layer
Visitors who come to Elkmont for the historic district see the clubhouse, the cabins and the ruins of the resort years. The Trentham cabin is older than the resort and built in a different tradition: a log farmhouse built by a family who made their living from the land, not from tourists. Seen next to the frame cottages with porches, it is a reminder of what the valley looked like before the railroad.
Visiting
- Where: in the Elkmont area, off Little River Road about 5 miles from Sugarlands Visitor Center. The Jakes Creek Trail begins near the campground.
- Access: viewed from outside; the park does not open the cabin to visitors.
- Time to allow: 30 to 45 minutes, folded into a visit to the district.
- Parking: the Elkmont lots fill by mid-morning; a parking tag is required for stops over 15 minutes.
- Trails: check the park conditions page for trail status.
Context
Elkmont has three layers: the farms of families such as the Trenthams and Ownbys, the logging camp of the early 1900s, and the resort communities of the Appalachian Club and the Wonderland Hotel. The Park Service is preserving 18 cabins associated with the Appalachian Club, and the Appalachian Clubhouse and Spence Cabin were rehabilitated in 2010 for day use by reservation. See the NPS Elkmont page.
Elkmont is also the site of the synchronous firefly event, with about eight nights of viewing from late May to mid-June (2026: May 20 to 27), by lottery only.
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.
