GSMNP Mountain Farm Museum

The Mountain Farm Museum is a collection of 10 historic log buildings located at the Oconaluftee Visitor Center at the entrance to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP) on U.S. Hwy 441 near Cherokee, NC. The park assembled buildings from throughout the Great Smoky Mountains to create the farmstead which has a house, barn, apple house, spring house, chicken house, corn crib, blacksmith shop, and meat house. Other buildings include a hog pen, sorghum press, ash hopper, woodshed, and out house.The museum is based on a typical 1880s mountain farm in pioneer Appalachia. It’s open year-round and admission is free. In season, park staff and volunteers demonstrate how families may have lived 100 years ago. Gardens are planted during the spring and summer, and barn fowl roam the premises.

Most of the structures were built in the late 19th century and moved to the park in the 1950s. Because most of them were not moved from their original locations intact, they are ineligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places.

The John Davis Cabin was built in 1900 and originally located on Indian Creek several miles to the west above Bryson City. John Davis moved to the area in 1885 to free-range his livestock. The cabin was constructed with matched chestnut logs joined with dove-tail notches. The house is a rare chance to view a log house built from chestnut wood before the chestnut blight decimated the American Chestnut during the 1930s and early 1940s.

The Enloe Barn was built around 1880 by Joseph Enloe, grandson of Abraham Enloe who owned the land where the museum is now found. This large barn housed livestock in its lower stalls and grain and fodder in its lofts. The roof consists of over 16,000 hand-split shingles.This is the only structure that was originally located in Oconaluftee and moved only 200 yards from its native spot.

The Messer Apple House,was built by Will Messer of Cataloochee, a valley located in the park on the other side of Cataloochee Mountain to the east. At its original location, the apple house was partially underground to help insulate it from summer heat and winter cold.

The meat house (not shown) was moved from Cataloochee. To cure meat (usually pork) and give it flavor, a small fire was built just inside the meat house, exposing the meat to several hours of smoke.

The Baxter/Jenkins Chicken house was built by Willis Baxter in the late 19th century and originally located in Tennessee. Chicken houses were used to protect chickens from carnivorous animals.

The blacksmith shop was built around 1900.

The springhouse was used by farmers for refrigeration.

This is one of two corn cribs, built around 1900, that were moved from north of Bryson City. Corn crib roofs were raised to place the recently-cut corn crop inside protecting it until it was ready to be taken to the mill.