When the Park Service gained control of the land in the 1930s, the frame house was torn down. As Bales got older, the farm passed on to other families, one of which erected a modern frame house on the land (known as the 'fancy house') where they entertained visitors. He married Emma Ogle, a granddaughter of Gilbert Ogle, whose farm was located just above the Bales Place. Jim, born James Wesley Bales in 1869, lived here for much of his life. The first historic stop along the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail is the Jim Bales Place, a farm which Jim Bales inherited from his father, Caleb. In 1976, the Roaring Fork Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. By 1900, the community had matured into a mountain hamlet with its own school, church, general store, and tub mills. Īround 1850, the residents of Roaring Fork constructed a crude road connecting the area to White Oak Flats (this old road is now a stop along the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail).

Former homesteads can usually be identified by the preponderance of young tuliptrees (rather than the more common hemlock or oak), as tuliptrees are the quickest to reclaim previously cultivated land. Uppermost on Roaring Fork, near where the stream absorbs Surry Creek, were farms owned by the Clabo family, Gilbert Ogle, and Jasper Mellinger. Caleb's daughter, Martha, married Alfred Reagan in 1879. Ephraim Bales married a great-granddaughter of Richard Reagan, Minerva, in 1889. Caleb Bales married one of Richard Reagan's granddaughters, Elizabeth, in 1861. Īs the Bales and Reagan families lived on adjoining lands, it's no surprise that they intermarried. Caleb's sons Jim Bales (1869–1939) and Ephraim Bales (1867–1936) would spend most of their lives on Roaring Fork farming land inherited from their father.

Caleb Bales (1839–1913), apparently a son or nephew of the first Bales to settle on Roaring Fork, owned a farm just south of the Reagan lands. The Bales family settled in the upper section of Roaring Fork sometime in the 1830s or earlier. Jim Bales Place, with barn (right), corn crib (left), and the Alex Cole Cabin (center) Farmers who lived at Roaring Fork, the Sugarlands, and Greenbrier were continually moving and stacking these rocks, creating the characteristic rock walls that still criss-cross these areas today. This process has left the streambed of Roaring Fork and the flats in the Roaring Fork valley virtually covered with sandstone rocks of all sizes. Over thousands of years, erosional forces have carried boulders composed of this sandstone down from boulder fields located higher up along the mountain ridges. Roaring Fork Sandstone is found throughout the mid-level elevations of the northern Smokies, and is especially common in Greenbrier to the east and the Sugarlands to the west. The Roaring Fork valley is underlain by Precambrian sandstone of the Ocoee Supergroup, a rock formation formed from ancient ocean sediments nearly a billion years ago. The mouth of Roaring Fork is located at the northern end of Gatlinburg, where it empties into the West Fork of the Little Pigeon River. From its source, Roaring Fork drops 2,500 feet (760 m) over just two miles (3.2 km), spilling over Grotto Falls and absorbing Surry Creek before steadying in a narrow valley between Mount Winnesoka and Piney Mountain. The highest of these springs, known as Basin Spring, provides the water source for LeConte Lodge. The source of Roaring Fork is located nearly 5,000 feet (1,500 m) up along the northern slopes of Mount Le Conte, where several small springs converge.

The sound of a stream grabs your attention, and before long, cascades and moving waters become untainted stops for noteworthy photo opportunities.Sandstone rocks litter the ground at the Jim Bales Place Log lodges and plants remain from almost 200 years of history! This was the American Frontier during the 1830s and 1840s. Noteworthy designs speck the mountain’s edges. A tight, cleared way through chestnut oak, white oak, magnolia, maple and tulip trees take you to the zenith, where stops are made along the way to give you striking perspectives. The ascent rewards you with perspectives from high above.Įn route, you’ll learn of the hardwood woodland in the Smoky Mountains. The vigorously forested Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail is a solitary path. With your hands on your camera (and your guide’s hands on the wheel!), you’ll head toward a street where normal vehicles can’t go. Starting off on your Roaring Fork Smoky Mountains tour, you’ll leave from our convenient, centralized Pigeon Forge location. Your experience starts when your local and knowledgeable guide describes the enchanting story of Gatlinburg. The Experience You Crave, the Memories You Make!

Roaring fork