Let’s see if we can go back to the Smoky Mountain nature at Cades Cove. The east end of the Cove was higher and drier and so it was settled first instead of the swampy lower end. The pioneers had to clear the huge trees by girdling them with an axe. The first crops were planted in the middle of the soon to be dead timber. Next the remaining standing trees were felled, rolled into piles and then burned. Orchards and permanent fields followed soon on the new ground. The farmers knew it was best to reserve the flat land for corn, wheat, oats and rye. Their homes circled the central basin, and pastures and wood lots hung on the slopes. Apples, peaches, beans, peas and potatoes were supplemented with wild greens and berries. There was a plentiful variety of meat. Cattle grazed in summer on the grassy meadows high above the Cove, white deer, bear, wild turkey and domestic hogs roamed freely in the woods.
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