Little River (Tennessee)

The Little River of Tennessee is a very scenic stream which drains an area containing some of the most spectacular scenery in the southeastern United States.

The Little River rises in Sevier County inside Great Smoky Mountains National Park on the north slope of Clingmans Dome, the highest point in Tennessee. Clingmans Dome is located directly on the Tennessee-North Carolina line, which at this point is largely followed by the Appalachian Trail. The stream is soon paralleled by a four-wheel drive road which leads into Elkmont, a series of cabins and "inholdings" within the park and the site of the former Wonderland Hotel, an old wooden-frame structure forced to close over a decade ago when the National Park Service refused to renew its lease, but which had held an indelibly-strong place in the eyes of its former guests due to the beauty of its surroundings and the quality of its food. (The operators of the establishment have opened a more modern facility nearby, just outside the park boundary.) The road improves at Elkmont to become one which is easily suitable for most vehicles.

From just below Elkmont, the stream is followed by Tennessee Scenic Highway 73, also known as Little River Road, which connects the two major Tennessee entrances to Great Smoky Mountains National Park, those in Gatlinburg and Townsend. The stream, like the road that follows it, is quite sinuous. The road is built on the bed of a former railroad that was used for logging purposes prior to the establishment of the park, and affords a view of many small cascades which run into the Little River, especially during wet weather. Additionally, there are parking turnouts for trails leading to other, larger waterfalls, among other attractions. An attraction visible along the road is a feature called "The Sinks", where the river flows over a waterfall approximately ten feet (three m) high into a large pool and then seems to disappear for a small distance. (Unlike streams in a limestone area, which may actually "sink" for a considerable distance, this is more a question of appearance than of the stream truly "sinking", which is not feasible in this area of ancient Precambrian metamorphic rock.) While being followed by Scenic Highway 73, the stream crosses into Blount County.

Beyond the park the stream flows out into Tuckaleechee Cove, a Paleozoic limestone area noted by the presence of Tuckaleechee Caverns, a large cave operated as a tourist attraction during the tourist season, roughly defined as April to October. The drainage from the cave enters the Little River just below Townsend. Townsend is laid out along the Little River valley. Three decades ago it was largely undeveloped, with a few small "mom and pop" style hotels and restaurants; now major chains have built larger lodging facilities, although not yet comparable to Gatlinburg or Pigeon Forge. The Townsend area was once the site of many scenic swinging bridges over the Little River; liability concerns have caused most of these to be dismantled in recent years. In Townsend, the river begins to be followed by U.S. Highway 321.

The river then flows through Miller Cove into the small community of Walland, which is at the current time the northern terminus of the Foothills Parkway, a parkway operated by the National Park Service which runs along the crest of Chilhowee Mountain. The parkway was long planned to run along the north border of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park to Interstate 40 above Cosby, as of 2000 this route seems to consist of a small portion of road built many years ago which can be seen running beyond Walland but which is fenced off, and the segment from I-40 into the town of Cosby itself, plus various preparatory work that could be viewed from U. S. Highway 321. Apparently this project is controversial in that many wish to see further automobile usage in the Smokies region discouraged rather than encouraged; the area is already considered to be the most-used, and most polluted National Park. (Parkways always seem to rank low in budgetary priorities. The Blue Ridge Parkway was several decades in the building; the Natchez Trace Parkway was begun in 1939 and is still uncompleted as of 2004.)

Beyond Walland, the Little River is essentially out of the mountains. It no longer displays the extreme clarity and attractive rocky bottom of its upper reaches and resembles a more typical stream in a moderately rolling, somewhat rural area. Flowing through the small community of Rockford, the Little River flows into a surprisingly large (given the size of the stream) embayment of the Fort Loudon Lake empoundment of the Tennessee River along U.S. Highway 129, where a small marina is located. The Little River forms the line between Blount County and Knox County for the last few miles of its course.