Little Greenbrier School House
The Little Greenbrier School House is located at the end of a one-lane dirt road, and though it is rough at the start, any vehicle can travel on it as long as you take it slowly. See the Elkmont Region web page for an interactive location map.
The Little Greenbrier School was built in 1882 and housed all grades of children from the local area. Although it has the name “Greenbrier” in it, the school is not in the Greenbrier Region of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which lies far to the east. In fact, “Little” was added to the community’s name to distinguish it from the larger Greenbrier community.
Classes remained in session until 1935 when the property was bought by the government for inclusion in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Today, school groups visit and learn about the Smoky Mountains while sitting in the old desks. The general public is also welcome inside.
Interior of the Little Greenbrier School House
Outside the school house is the Little Greenbrier Cemetery. If you are wondering why a school has a cemetery where is should have a playground, it is because the school was also used as the church. Constructing log buildings was very time consuming before power tools and mechanical means to haul logs from the forest to the construction site, so buildings often served multiple purposes.
You can pick up the Metcalf Bottoms Trail and the Little Brier Gap Trail from here.
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Last updated on December 22, 2020
