The Sister's House

The Walker sisters were the remaining five sisters of the Walker family that lived out their lives in this cabin until the last sister died in 1964. Their life was full of hard work and humble living on a patch of land hard to work and difficult to travel. But they loved their family home and they refused to leave it in the 1930's when the Smoky Mountain National Park was formed. We hiked the old gravel road up to the house and the girls ran through the small, dark rooms and ate their snack on the creaky front porch where the original sisters spun wool, churned butter and generally spent their days in the warmer months.

This is the spring house that sits over the cold stream near the main house. I originally thought it to be an outhouse... but I later read that the sisters wouldn't allow an outhouse on the property because it would cause too much "embarrassment." Huh.

Excerpt from My Mountain Home by Louisa Walker

There’s an old weather bettion house
That stands near a wood
With an orchard near by it
For almost one hundred years it has stood

It was my home in infency
It sheltered me in youth
When I tell you I love it
I tell you the truth