News & Blogs Abandoned town in the middle of Great Smoky Mountains National Park

[Tude]

This looks kinda fun!! In Elkmont

Hiker Discovers an Abandoned Town Inside Tennessee's Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Posted: 10/03/2014 10:54 am EDT Updated: 40 minutes ago
By Greg Newkirk

Sometimes it's easy to take for granted how much land there is in America. Sure, it's harder and harder to find places that haven't been explored, but it's also become easier to forget places that we've already been. Kind of like the entire friggin' town in the middle of Tennessee's Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

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Jordan Liles

That's exactly what Jordan Liles discovered when he explored the park last year, and lucky for us, he brought along his camera to document the entire adventure. It makes for a great watch.

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Jordan Liles

From his website:

About a mile up an unnamed gravel road inside Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the back way into an abandoned neighborhood and hotel, some of which was originally constructed more than 100 years ago. In the fully edited film below, Tennessee Wonderland, I explore the houses and the remains of what was once referred to as the Wonderland Club. I've applied color correction, balanced audio levels, cut everything down to the essentials without sacrificing interesting moments and most importantly, I made sure to place importance on including a proper ending.

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Jordan Liles

Check out his video below and start planning your own trip to the abandoned town ofElkmont. It might just inspire you to go exploring and see what might have been forgotten in your own neck of the woods, like the incredible Cisco, Utah Ghost Town, the abandoned town of Chloride in Arizona, or California's long-dead Bodie.

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Interestingly enough, earlier this year on 2014 America Adventure Rally, the Roadtrippers team stumbled onto a whole other set of abandoned buildings just a few miles from Tennessee Wonderland. What we'd actually discovered was the Elkmont Historic District, an abandoned town that's just outside of the still-active Elkmont Campground. It's the perfect place to pitch a tent and go for a midnight flashlight adventure. Click the image below for the full story.

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Tour the creepy abandoned buildings of the Elkmont Historic District

In case checking out the remains of an abandoned town wasn't cool enough, get this - just last year, a guy with a personal drone went out and documented his own bizarre find: an abandoned renaissance fair deep in the Virginia forest. Click on the image below to jump over and check out his own video adventure to another of America's coolest forgotten places.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/roadtrippers/hiker-discovers-an-abando_b_5927164.html

And more:

Tour the creepy abandoned buildings of the Elkmont Historic District

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Austin Coop
02 October, 2014
Right outside the still-active Elkmont Campground in Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the Elkmont Historic District. The creepiest parts of Elkmont, like the large former Wonderland Hotel, are a short hike away up a gravel road, but the area generally referred to as the Elkmont Historic District offers plenty of super creepy abandoned cabins to explore, all easily accessible from a paved road and the Appalachian Clubhouseparking lot.

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Roadtrippers made a stop at the Elkmont Historic District this time last yearon the 2014 America Adventure, and we’ll tell you firsthand, these little abandoned cabins are beyond spooky…

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Here are some of our favorite Roadtrippers friends... the Traxxas Girls, with Taylor Nicole leading the way/running away from the abandoned cabin and good ol' Dave Dusick from RaceTrack Engineering telling USAC's Jason Smith to step away from the creepy building: View attachment 46943

https://roadtrippers.com/blog/elkmont-historic-district

 

[Cirno9]

That is so awesome, I feel like going to knoxville right now since im right next to tennesse and exploring that, I have a thing for abandoned towns/ghost towns

 

[scummy1990]

we should all move there and start a community

 

[Tude]

That is so awesome, I feel like going to knoxville right now since im right next to tennesse and exploring that, I have a thing for abandoned towns/ghost towns

If you go to the vid on youtube --- there are a bunch of vids uploaded - many done by the same guy - all on abandoned stuff like mansions, tunnels, amusement parks, abandoned pennsylvania turnpike, etc -- rather interesting ...

 

[SlimPickins]

My ex-girlfriend used to go there all the time!
When she saw this she was sooooo pisssssed!

 

[Tude]

My ex-girlfriend used to go there all the time!
When she saw this she was sooooo pisssssed!

yeah - google it and it's all over the internet. I'm on 5 conspiracy theory sites - all of them have it ... was mildly surprised it wasn't mentioned on a backpacking site I'm on. or others. dam I'm on a lot of sites ...::angelic::

 

[Landon]

I grew up in Knoxville, so the Smokies have always been home to me. I've visited Elkmont and these homes many times. If I remember correctly, I believe most of them were abandoned in 1992 when their leases expired, and then they were released to the park.