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The Cades Cove Story
"No story of Cades Cove can ever be complete..." These humble words written by A. Randolph Shields in 1977 comprise the first line of The Cades Cove Story, yet the enduring legacy of this work continues to connect readers to the lives of the people who once lived in one of the most beloved places in all the national parks.
Shields was born in Cades Cove in 1913 and spent his childhood there in the days before lands were purchased for the creation of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. He went on to become an educator, an aquatic and fisheries biologist, an instructor of botany, a professor and chairman of the Department of Biology at Maryville College and a summer ranger-naturalist in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. As a native son of the cove and a student of nature, perhaps no one better understood both the sacrifices made by mountain families who gave up their land for the sake of the national park and the resulting biological wonderland gained by all.
This is the story of those families living - even thriving - in their mountain community. They scratched successful farms out of the wilderness, practiced their faith in churches built by their own hands, saw to it that their children were educated, and managed to stay connected to news and events from beyond their sheltering mountains. For those who visit today, they left a lasting memory of their presence in the homes, churches, outbuildings - and even a large water-powered grist mill - that remain to create a patchwork image of the cove through the years. A. Randolph Shields dedicated a portion of his accomplished career to filling in that patchwork image with the histories and lifeways of the people who once lived The Cades Cove Story.
Shields was born in Cades Cove in 1913 and spent his childhood there in the days before lands were purchased for the creation of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. He went on to become an educator, an aquatic and fisheries biologist, an instructor of botany, a professor and chairman of the Department of Biology at Maryville College and a summer ranger-naturalist in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. As a native son of the cove and a student of nature, perhaps no one better understood both the sacrifices made by mountain families who gave up their land for the sake of the national park and the resulting biological wonderland gained by all.
This is the story of those families living - even thriving - in their mountain community. They scratched successful farms out of the wilderness, practiced their faith in churches built by their own hands, saw to it that their children were educated, and managed to stay connected to news and events from beyond their sheltering mountains. For those who visit today, they left a lasting memory of their presence in the homes, churches, outbuildings - and even a large water-powered grist mill - that remain to create a patchwork image of the cove through the years. A. Randolph Shields dedicated a portion of his accomplished career to filling in that patchwork image with the histories and lifeways of the people who once lived The Cades Cove Story.
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