I Found Something In The Woods Somewhere: Narrative, Heterotemporality, And The Timber Industry In The Great Smoky Mountains

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park has been prized as an area of unmatched biodiversity in the Eastern United States. However, the presentation of the Park as an unpeopled, pristine wilderness does not acknowledge that the Park is a heterogeneous space where nature and culture are entangled. Recognizing and remembering the region’s cultural history is vital to understanding the Smoky Mountains in the past and present. The archaeology of the 20th-century timber industry is largely forgotten within the context of the National Park today, though the industry and its associated artifacts contradict popular myths about Appalachia. In 2019, I recorded the physical remains of Little River Lumber Company activity through survey and connected them to local histories and archival documents. By considering the timber industry’s impacts on the National Park as we know it today through historical archaeology, we can examine the industry’s role in broader interpretations of Appalachia