Beech Grove School in the Cataloochee region of Great Smoky Mountains National Park
The Beech Grove School is located where the pavement ends on the Cataloochee Entrance Road. For a location map, visit the Cataloochee Historical Area web page.
The Beech Grove School was built in 1901 to replace an older building. It served as the only school for the Big Cataloochee community up until a few years after Great Smoky Mountains National Park opened in 1940. Little Cataloochee and Caldwell Fork had their own schools, though neither exist today. The building is open to visitors, and the inside is furnished with desks and the old chalkboards, though the graffiti of low-life tourists has replaced the teacher’s writing and arithmetic lessons.
Old-style school desks inside the Beech Grove School in the Cataloochee region of Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Graffiti mars the old chalk board at the Beech Grove School in the Cataloochee region of Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Students at Beech Grove School in Big Cataloochee around 1940
Not too far from the school is a small parking area for a half dozen cars that serves as both parking for those visiting the school and for those wanting to hike the trails in the area. Here you can walk for .8 mile on the Pretty Hollow Gap Trail until you come to the intersection with the Little Cataloochee Trail, a one-way, 5.1-mile trail that runs through the former Little Cataloochee community. There are three historical buildings plus the original site of the Messer Barn along this trail.
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Last updated on January 31, 2025
