Cook Cabin (photo by Wes Bolton)

For a location map, visit the Cataloochee Historical Area web page.

Cook Cabin was the home of Daniel and Harriet Cook. Their daughter would go on to marry Will Messer, whose farm and orchard are located near the cabin. Messer became one of the wealthiest men in the community, making money off of his prime 340 acres with a massive apple crop, a grist mill, saw mill, blacksmith shop, woodworking shop, and a stockyard.

When Great Smoky Mountains National Park was authorized by Congress in 1926, the plan for the Cataloochee area was to return it to nature. However, a few years before the park opened in 1940, the National Park Service had a change of heart and decided to save some buildings for historical exhibits. Over the years the Messer farm become overgrown, and in 1977 the Messer Barn was moved to the Big Cataloochee area. One of his apple houses ended up at the Mountain Farm Outdoor Museum in the Smokemont Region. All that remains of the farm today is the cabin and the ruins of another apple house.

Cook Cabin is located along the Little Cataloochee Trail, making hiking and horseback riding the only way to see it and two other remaining structures in the Little Cataloochee community. This is a mountain trail that follows a stream and is moderate in difficulty, though there are some strenuous sections. It can also become quite muddy after a rain storm. The one-way distance is about six miles. The trail can be accessed from its southern end at the Beech Grove School in Big Cataloochee by first walking .8-mile down the Pretty Hollow Gap Trail to the intersection with the Little Cataloochee Trail (the 6-mile distance stated earlier includes the .8 mile). The northern access point is along the dirt road that runs between the Cataloochee and Big Creek regions.

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