Porters Creek Trail, about 2 miles each way to our destination, Fern Branch Falls. It was an easy hike and what a beautiful day!
Be advised, you are in the woods, snakes happen...
At roughly two-thirds of a mile several old stone walls will appear on your right, remnants from the Elbert Cantrell farmstead, who settled in the Porters Creek community in the early 1900s.
The Ownby Cemetery dating back to the early 1900's.
So sad... mostly children.
Crazy tree, it must have grown around something like another tree or stump that has long since gone.
Ok, this rickety little "bridge" looks interesting, if not scary.
The wildflowers were just amazing!
Check out this rock...we can't get flowers to grow in our "dirt" and these flowers are growing on rock...
Amazing!
I can't remember the names of all the flowers we saw today, but these are called Dutchman's Britches.
Fern Branch Falls, 60 feet high.
On our way back down...
A short hike of roughly 250 yards off the main trail will take you to the John Messer farm site, which includes a cantilevered barn built around 1875 by John Whaley.
The lofts were originally used for storing hay, loaded conveniently from wagons pulled into the driveway between the cribs. Cribs were livestock pens, while the sheltered area under the overhanging loft provided space for storing equipment and grooming animals.
The cabin on this site built by the Smoky Mountain Hiking Club in the mid-1930's. Members of the club were permitted to use it as an overnight facility until 1981.
The club used the logs from three dismantled Whaley cabins, and constructed the cabin around an existing chimney fall. It's heart breaking to think of the thousands of families that had to leave their homes when the land was purchased for the Great Smoky Mountain National Park...for the greater good, I guess.
Deeeeeeelux accommodations!
And move-in ready!
This was the "Spring House" the creek or spring runs through the middle of it, that is where water would have been collected for daily use.
