A Hidden Fairy House in the Great Smoky Mountains
Weekday outings are rare for us during the school year but things are different this year! K and J ended up going “virtual” for the last week of the semester and being stuck indoors all day just isn’t our thing! This, along with beautiful weather, allowed us to plan a day to search for one of the top hidden gems in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park while getting in a few miles of hiking too! House of the Fairies here we come!
The House of the Fairies
The Great Smoky Mountains National Park hold many secrets, treasures and wonders but were you aware that one of those is a real, life fairy house? Many people aren’t aware that this even exists and many others have hiked right by it and never knew they were so close! Other people hear about the famed House of the Fairies and immediately seek out directions to find it. Many people have probably been right by the famed Fairy House and didn’t even know it!
Just off Twin Creeks Trail, or Cherokee Orchard Road, is the Resource Center for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Behind the building is some fenced area but a path leads down each side toward the hillside in the back. As you walk back you will see the Fairy House built into the hillside. The approximate GPS coordinates are 35.6859353 N, -83.5010226 W. Remember I said parking is limited so I highly recommend hiking in on the Twin Creeks Trail. Take a lunch and enjoy the day but remember to leave no trace. Take out what you take in and leave the area pristine for the next visitors!
The House of the Fairies was constructed as a spring house by land owner Louis E. Voohreis at some point after purchasing the (Twin Creek / Voohreis) estate in 1928. Mr. Voohreis was from Cincinnati, Ohio and had a desire to develop the area into a mountain retreat. He was known to be thoroughly interested in water and using it for both practical and aesthetic purposes. He constructed many buildings and water features on the 38 acre estate and many still stand today. He donated his estate for the purpose of the national park in 1933 subject to a lifetime lease and it is rumored that his ashes were buried on the property upon his death in 1944. The estate is now centered around the Twin Creeks Science and Education Center on Cherokee Orchard Road about a mile outside Gatlinburg, Tennessee. You can reach the area best by parking at the Mynatt Park in Gatlinburg or at the Noah “Bud” Ogle parking area and hike in on the Twin Creeks Trail.
Noah “Bud” Ogle Home Place
Noah Ogle was a descendent of the original Ogle family that settled, and founded, what is now known as Gatlinburg, Tennessee. There is a parking area at the home and an approximately 0.8 mile nature trail that leads around the area allowing you to take in the beauty of the area and the buildings on the property including the original home, barn and mill.
The original home is a must see as it is one of the rarest forms of cabin structure in the area. The cabin is known as a “saddle-bag” structure meaning it is actually two houses sharing a single chimney. From the cabin you can follow the trail in a loop where you will find the mill that still stands on LeConte creek and was used to grind corn into meal. The mill was powered by water and the log flume stands in place along the creek.
Twin Creeks Trail connects to the Nature Trail and will lead to the Science Center then on to the trail head in Gatlinburg should you choose to take in more nature and sites. We started in Gatlinburg with an out and back hike and logged 6.25 miles which included our time roaming the nature trail and the Voohreis estate. The nature center also has picnic areas where we took a break for lunch. We love the quick On the Run lunches for hikes like this since they’re easy to pack.
Be sure to subscribe to the blog to see future adventures and posts as well as following us on social media. Leave a comment and let us know if you’ve found the House of the Fairies before! Also be sure to check out the other not so often located gems in the park.