| Sources |
- [S9] Smoky Mountain Historical Society Newsletter, Smoky Mountain Historical Society, Vol. XXVI, Issue 1, page 46-49, 2000.
- [S69] Unsolved Disappearances in the Great Smoky Mountains, Juanitta Baldwin and Ester Grubb, (Suntop Press, Copyright 2001), ISBN 1-880308-13-4., 96.
- [S106] The Mountain Press, 6 Mar 2011.
Extra effort taken to protect Ogle cabin
by GAIL CRUTCHFIELD
Lucinda Ogle sits in front of her cabin in a file photo from June 1993, six months before her passing.
The Lucinda Ogle Cabin, above, is being disassembled at the site of the new Gatlinburg Idyll Club Downtown Resort and will later be reassembled in honor of one of the charter members of the Gatlinburg Garden Club.
Drew Barbee shows how individual pieces of the Ogle cabin are being numbered and catalogued so they can be rebuilt at a later date.
The upper floor of the Ogle cabin shows how limbs were used as support for the roof and the virgin cut timber used for the log walls.
GATLINBURG — Many times, a new development can be the death knell for any historic building unlucky enough to be located on the property. Luck, however, was with the Lucinda Ogle cabin when the developers for the new Gatlinburg Idyll Club Downtown Resort bought the property off of Ski Mountain Road.
Though the cabin won’t be retained as part of the resort development, it is being painstakingly disassembled, to be rebuilt to as close to historic detail as possible.
Fred Hayworth, director of sales and marketing for Gatlinburg Idyll Club, said developer Bill Bashor is a big history buff and didn’t want to see the cabin destroyed. They worked out a plan with the city and then the Gatlinburg Garden Club to make sure it wasn’t.
The cabin is now being dismantled a piece at a time and will soon be moved to a location off of Wiley Oakley Drive near the Visitors Center where it will be reassembled.
Hayworth said Bashor’s desire to preserve the history of the cabin slowed down progress on the development, but that it was something that was of great importance to the Greenville, S.C., man.
“He wanted to make sure he preserved the cabin,” Hayworth said. “He wanted to make sure it wasn’t torn down and thrown away.”
Making sure that happens are Drew Barbee and his crew from Appalachian Stain and Restoration.
Barbee said the logs are 13-140 years old and a mix of different species of trees, including poplar and oak. While the exterior logs were cut for straight edges, some, like those used for the beams supporting the roof, were left mostly in their natural state. The round limbs only have notches cut into them where the cross beams were installed.
“What we’re trying to do is save all the actual logs,” Barbee said.
They’re also trying to make sure the cabin is put back without any parts left over. As each piece of wood is taken down, it is numbered and catalogued.
Since Ogle lived in the cabin until her death in 2003 and modernized over the years, a few of those elements likely won’t be put back up once the cabin is moved. For example, Barbee pointed to some tongue-and-groove siding that was installed over the bare log walls. That won’t be re-installed.
“We’re going to take it back to the logs,” Barbee said.
This will actually be the third time the home has been moved, Barbee said. It was built inside what would become the national park and moved first to Pigeon Forge by Ogle’s father, Wiley Oakley. The cabin was later moved to its current location off Ski Mountain Road.
Barbee said taking the cabin apart has been interesting.
“It is insulated with newspapers out of the 1940s, ’50s and some from the late 1930s,” Barbee said.
Barbee said he’s pleased to be trusted with preserving the cabin.
“It has to be done correctly because once you lose these old buildings like this, you can’t get them back,” he said.
The future of the cabin will be entrusted to the Gatlinburg Garden Club, which, along with the city, worked out a plan for the home.
Once the cabin was accepted by the city, it contracted with the garden club to take over the building, said club president Annette Caldwell. The club, city and even the developer all pitch in financially, and Barbee’s company was hired.
The pieces of the cabin will be treated to prevent decay and stored inside the fence of the wastewater treatment plant, next to the location where it will be rebuilt.
Part of the fundraising efforts for rebuilding, Caldwell said, will include a reprinting of Ogle’s book, “Remembrances of My Past 93 Years Growing Up in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.” Caldwell said the club is getting permission from Ogle’s family to publish the book; Ogle was a charter member in 1937. Caldwell said Bashor has indicated he’ll purchase more than 300 of the books to give to owners of the homes he is building.
Ogle’s cabin won’t be the only things associated with her to get another day in the sun. The wildflowers for which she was so well known for growing near her cabin were carefully uprooted and will be replanted on the Idyll Club property in a garden dedicated to Ogle’s memory.
“Isn’t it wonderful to work with someone like that?” Caldwell said of the efforts to protect Ogle’s legacy. That’s something Ogle herself would have appreciated, judging by a story Caldwell shared about her first meeting with the matriarch of Gatlinburg. She could be quite possessive of her garden.
“Jan Lapides took me and my husband to meet Lucinda,” Caldwell said. “She had one spot of flowers that she didn’t want anyone to trample on and she put a sign out that said poison ivy.”
Anyone wishing to help the club with rebuilding efforts for the cabin can send donations to the Lucinda Ogle Cabin project, care of the Gatlinburg Garden Club, P.O. Box 891, Gatlinburg, TN 37738.
gcrutchfield@themountainpress.com
- [S106] The Mountain Press, 25 Aug 2011.
Vintage Views to help in Ogle cabin restoration
by STAN VOIT
The Lucinda Ogle cabin, estimated to 150 to 200 years old, has been dissembled and is awaiting restoration. It will be rebuilt at the corner of the Spur and Wiley Oakley Drive if money can be raised to pay for the work. Saturday’s Vintage Views is a fundraiser for the cabin project.
GATLINBURG — It’s going to take a lot of money to restore the historic Lucinda Ogle cabin, but Saturday’s Vintage Views event may go a long way to getting that done.
The two-story cabin, between 150 and 200 years old, has been carefully taken down and is stored at the Gatlinburg Welcome Center on the Spur. To rebuild it will take more than $100,000, according to Anne Dearing, a member of the Gatlinburg Garden Club who is chairing the Vintage Views event this year. The garden club is behind the cabin restoration.
“Lucinda Ogle left the cabin to the garden club,” Dearing said. “We have the perfect place to put it, right at the corner of Wiley Oakley Drive.”
Oakley, whose connections to the history of Gatlinburg are well documented, was Ogle’s father. She was living in the cabin when she died in 2009 at the age of 94. It was known as the Noah Bud Ogle cabin and was on LeConte Creek off Historic Nature Trail.
“This cabin has historical value,” Dearing said. “The Oakleys were and still are a very prominent family in the area. They more or less have been here forever.”
The plan is to turn the cabin into a museum, featuring Lucinda Ogle’s belongings and other artifacts.
Vintage Views will be held at Mills Auditorium and include a wine-and-cheese reception with local artists and authors and the showing of the latest version of “Vintage Views” at 7 p.m. The movie includes film clips and interviews about the history of the city, the park and the heritage of the area.
Tickets are $10 and available by calling the city’s special events office at 436-0500. Reservations are required.
- [S106] The Mountain Press, 29 Oct 2011.
‘Burg Garden Club continues fundraising for Ogle cabin
by RACHEL OSBORN
The Lucinda Oakley Ogle Cabin was dismantled in March of 2011 and moved to await rebuilding near the Gatlinburg welcome center on the Spur. The Gatlinburg Garden Club is in the midst of fundraising to pay for the reconstruction.
GATLINBURG — With a portion of the money raised to rebuild the Lucinda Oakley Ogle cabin, members of the Gatlinburg Garden Club still have quite a ways to go to meet their almost $100,000 goal.
“We still have a long way to go, to get enough funds to rebuild the cabin,” said Gatlinburg Garden Club President Annette Caldwell. “We’re about one-eighth of the way there.”
Throughout the last year club members have hosted yard sales and bake sales, bringing in several hundred dollars. They’ve received some donations and pledges from members of the community too.
“We’re always open to gifts from the community, from individuals or businesses,” Caldwell said.
The garden club will continue selling $10 commemorative copies of Ogle’s book — “Remembrances of 94 Years in the Smoky Mountains” — with 100 percent of the proceeds going into the cabin rebuilding fund.
Books can be purchased from any garden club member, as well as Lorelei Candles, Good Natured Gifts and the Made in Gatlinburg store at the welcome center on the Spur.
Several months ago the garden club co-hosted Vintage Views, allowing local residents to view film clips and interviews about the history of the area with the purchase of their $10 ticket.
“All of the proceeds from that went directly to the cabin fund,” Caldwell said. “That was a good fundraiser (and) a good jump start.”
The club’s next major fundraiser will be a comedic production, set to hit the stage in mid-February.
Store Britchesis a three-act comedic love story about mountain folklore written by Gatlinburg resident Lula Mae Ogle in the mid-1930s. The play was first sponsored by the Gatlinburg Weavers’ Guild, the group that would later become the garden club.
Following the numerous summer performances in the late 1930s, no one knew what happened to the original script. After much searching, garden club members located Lula Mae Ogle’s two sons and obtained the script and its rights, as well as their permission to perform it.
“They sent the play with the rights to perform it, free of charge,” said past garden club president Teri Pizza. “We’re going to reproduce the play to benefit the Lucinda Oakley Ogle cabin restoration. This will be a major fund-raiser for us. We should — if we sell out — make over $10,000.
Open auditions for the male and female cast are currently under way, with rehearsals beginning in the next month. Cast members will be announced at the Gatlinburg Chili Cook-off on Nov. 9. Scripts will be handed out and rehearsal dates will also be assigned that evening.
“We’re having a lot of fun putting it together,” Pizza said. “It’s been a wonderful adventure.”
After the cabin was dismantled, logs and all crucial building materials were numbered and stored off of Wiley Oakley Drive — near the welcome center where it will be reassembled.
“We have the plan,” Caldwell said. “We’re putting it back together (using that).”
The cabin consisted of an over 100-year-old two-story structure, with a smaller one-story structure attached to it.
“The two-story structure, that was the older part,” Caldwell said. “(The logs are) virgin timbers from many years ago. In the one-story section, those logs aren’t as old. Those (logs) are old too, but not as old as the two-story logs. We’re not planning to rebuild (that section). We’re just planning to rebuild the two-story section.”
Ogle’s home will be placed upon a foundation, using as many of the oldest logs as possible. If these timbers cannot be salvaged, some of the newer wood will be used.
Though a lot of fundraising still needs to be done, Caldwell hopes to have the project completed by 2013.
“That would be a nice goal,” she said. “We’d like to have it (completed) within the next year or two, but it depends if we get some big donations. That would be wonderful. We’ve raised over $10,000 so far. We’re really excited about that.
“Lucinda was such a key figure in the community. She was a wonderful spokesman for the life and times of the people who were displaced from the park.”
Pizza adds, “She sort of embodied every mountain person who chose to give up their home to the park. They loved the mountain. They loved their way of life. They loved the simplicity of it and the people. Her cabin embodies the spirit of that lovely woman and people.
“They had a hard life, but were so happy. It’s important to know — it’s not what you have; it’s what you do with what you have and how you are to people. It’s the spirit that’s within you. That loving spirit enables you to go through things that today, people wouldn’t go through.
“It’s soon going to become very apparent, as the next generation dies out, that nobody is going to remember what that was like. It’s the history (that’s important.) That’s what the cabin is going to speak to.
rosborn@themountainpress.com
- [S106] The Mountain Press, 3 Oct 2012.
Club continues fundraising effort to restore cabin
by RACHEL OSBORN
GATLINBURG — With less than half of the necessary funds gathered to rebuild the Lucinda Oakley Ogle cabin, members of the Gatlinburg Garden Club "still have a long way to go" to meet their almost $100,000 goal, past club president Annette Caldwell said.
"I can't say that we're at any special point in the fundraising," she explained. "We're always open for contributions. We're hoping there are some other groups that will come in and help with fundraising."
Initially, the group hoped to have fundraising completed by the end of 2013 — with construction of the project beginning in early 2014. That goal is still in place, though Caldwell deemed it as "wishful thinking."
"That would be nice if it was completed by the end of 2013," she said.
Throughout the last several years, garden club members have hosted yard sales and bake sales, to bring in funds. They've also received donations and pledges from members of the community.
To date, a little over $40,000 has been raised.
Throughout the next year, the garden club will continue selling commemorative copies of Ogle's book “Remembrances of 94 Years in the Smoky Mountains” — with 100 percent of the proceeds going into the cabin rebuilding fund.
"Book sales are going great," Caldwell said.
Ogle's book can be purchased from garden club members and at the welcome center on the Spur, among other locations. This area is where the cabin will be erected, when fundraising is completed.
One of the club's most profitable fundraisers was a comedic production that hit the stage in February 2012. "Store Britches" was a three-act love story about mountain folklore written by Gatlinburg resident Lula Mae Ogle in the mid-1930s. The play was first sponsored by the Gatlinburg Weavers’ Guild, the group that would later become the garden club.
Following the numerous summer performances in the late 1930s, no one knew what happened to the original script. After much searching, garden club members located Lula Mae Ogle’s two sons and obtained the script and its rights, as well as their permission to perform it last winter.
"That was very successful," Caldwell said.
In addition to ticket sales, the group sold videos of the performance. Because of the play's popularity, the club has heard numerous requests to stage "Store Britches" again. While that's a possibility for future fundraising efforts, nothing is currently in the works, Caldwell said.
In early November, the garden club will once again sponsor Vintage Views — a city of Gatlinburg event that allows local residents to view film clips and interviews about the surrounding area with the purchase of their $10 ticket. This year's event will highlight the history of the Pi Beta Phi fraternity and celebrate the 100-year anniversary of Pi Beta Phi Elementary School.
This film premiere will take place on Nov. 3, starting at 5 p.m. in the Pi Beta Phi gymnasium. A reception and local authors' book review will take place before the 7 p.m. premiere.
Proceeds from Vintage Views will once again go into the Ogle cabin restoration fund.
To reduce restoration costs, garden club members hope to partner with local engineers and builders. Many have offered to donate their time and services, and the club is waiting to hear back from their legal counsel if that's permitted.
Donations to the Lucinda Oakley Ogle cabin restoration fund can be mailed to the Gatlinburg Garden Club at P. O. Box 891, Gatlinburg, TN 37738.
- [S23] Atchley Funeral Home, (http://www.atchleyfuneralhome.com/), 30 Dec 2003.
Lucinda Oakley Ogle
June 09, 1909 - December 30, 2003
Birthplace: Gatlinburg, Tennessee
Resided In: Gatinburg Tennessee USA
Visitation: January 02, 2004
Service: January 03, 2004
Cemetery: Pigeon Forge Methodist Cemetery
Lucinda Oakley Ogle, age 94 of Gatlinburg, died Tuesday, December 30, 2003.
She was preceded in death by her parents Wiley and Rebecca (Ogle) Oakley; husband Earnest Ogle; infant daughter Jeanette Louise; several brothers and sisters.
Survivors:
Daughters: Billie Noland and Mary Frances Waters
Grandchildren: Craig Noland, Tammy Noland, Ricky Noland, Jeff Noland, Mary Lynn Solcum
Great-grandchildren: Missy Williams, Debbie Noland, Nicki Noland, Laci Noland,Josh Noland, Christy Noland, Laura_________, Lisa ____________
Brothers: Harvey, Woodrow, Casey and Dave Oakley
Sister: Martha Rawlings
Funeral service 1 PM Saturday in the West Chapel of Atchley Funeral Home with Rev. Larry Burcham and eulogy by Bill Landry. Interment to follow in Pigeon Forge Methodist Cemetery. The family will receive friends 6-8 PM Friday at Atchley Funeral Home, Sevierville.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Gatlinburg Garden Club, P.O. Box 1427, Gatlinburg, TN, 37738 or First Baptist Church, 111 Oglewood Lane, Gatlinburg, TN, 37738. (www.atchleyfuneralhome.com)
- [S106] The Mountain Press, 1 Jan 2004.
Lucinda Oakley Ogle, who has been referred to as "the queen of the Smoky Mountains" and an "icon" in Sevier County, died Tuesday at Fort Sanders Sevier Medical Center in Sevierville.
One of Sevier County's most colorful and beloved residents, Ogle, 94, was well-known as a teller of stories about life in the Smokies prior to the formation of Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Longtime friend Glenn Cardwell of Pittman Center, former supervisory park ranger for the Sugarlands District, said of Ogle, "the bottom line was that she loved life and loved people and wanted to pass on her rich heritage to those who had time to listen to her - nature, history and heritage were her loves."
It was her skill as a storyteller and her memories of the old days that made her an important part of the making of an orientation film about life in the Smokies which is shown at the Sugarlands Visitor Center in the Park.
Sonny Hutchison of Great Divide Pictures in Denver, who directed the film, said he interviewed Ogle in the summer of 1998, about halfway through the yearlong making of the film.
"We spent a morning at the Ogle place in the Park. She sat down and we did the interview and then we started walking and I thought she might be tired and ready to go, but the longer we stayed, the longer she kept telling stories," said Hutchison.
"Everywhere we went, every step she took held a memory - drying apples from their orchard on a large boulder by the road; how remote a site it was; her grandmother who would take a horseback trip across the 'hill' and head to North Carolina to visit relatives 15 or 20 miles away like it was nothing.
"She would have a memory and you could see it in her face - just sense it was as vivid, the memories so clear - and she expressed that so beautifully. It was a real gift to share that with us," said Hutchison.
Nancy Gray, spokeswoman for the national park, recalled during the premier of the movie that Ogle commented how in the early days she and her family had reservations about the creation of the park and the displacement of her and her family.
"That created a lot of emotional issues but as she grew and saw the changes which were occurring around the Park, she realized how important the Park had become in preserving the past and in helping to remember things as they were and she said she now recognized the importance of the Park in keeping those memories alive," said Gray.
Bill Landry of television's "The Heartland Series" recalled having first met Ogle 20 years ago through a professor emeritus at the University of Tennessee when the idea for the series was being worked out.
"She was the first person I interviewed for the series and she became the pilot - we did two programs that started 'The Heartland Series,' the first was on the first white man to see the Smokies and the second on Ogle, a mountain woman of today who remembers a different yesterday," said Landry, who has agreed to do Ogle's eulogy at her funeral.
Landry said he last saw Ogle telling stories of the Smokies at Wilderness Wildlife Week.
"It was her spirit - a lot of people have stories to tell and a love of the mountains - but from the things we learned from her we became aware of what she was really telling. Not just stories and the people, but the passion for the life here; it's not simple.
"You hear a story, it's just a story, but if you hear the depth of her life, what they meant, how they lived, all that - she was the queen of the Smoky Mountains. I don't know anybody else who did more to keep alive the story," said Landry.
Like her father, Wiley Oakley, who had a craft shop and was known as the "Roamin' Man of the Mounatins," Ogle had a love of people and it was a natural thing for her to operate an antique shop on Main Street.
"She was the only one I've ever known who would hang out a sign saying 'Gone fishing' and then really did," said Cardwell.
Both Cardwell and Jan Lapides, who is a member of Gatlinburg Garden Club, mentioned Ogle having helped to organize the club's Wildflower Pilgrimage 53 years ago as well as the club's Festival of Trees 32 years ago.
Another of Ogle's projects, according to Lapides, was when she and her grandson, Craig Noland, carried river rock and concrete up the hill to rebuild the tombstones of the early settlers buried in the old White Oak Cemetery in Gatlinburg.
Cardwell also spoke about how Ogle had been a living history person while he worked in the Park and while dressed in her costume, she would sit and reminisce with people visiting the park visitor center or the Noah "Bud" Ogle cabin.
Cardwell said Ogle also allowed the botany department at UT to use her home - Ogle's Acre - as a spring field trip for their classes to identify the native plants in her yard. She also endeared herself to tourists by decorating her home and yard in themes for every holiday and would "sit on her porch portraying a mountain woman persona for trolley riders."
One of the most memorable occasions George Hawkins spent with the woman he considered his "dear friend" was during this past year when he visited her in her home. "We were all in the living room, singing songs, just like the good old days," said Hawkins.
Although Pat Kelly, current president of Gatlinburg Garden Club said she had only known Ogle about 13 years, she said Ogle will be very, very missed.
"She was up in years when I met her but she had a personality that shone through all, integrity and character that you just don't find anymore," said Kelly.
"There is nothing I can say that will do the woman justice - she was such an honored person, everyone that knew her just loved her. The town, the city and indeed the county will miss her," said Kelly.
Funeral services will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday in the West Chapel of Atchley Funeral Home with the Rev. Larry Burcham. Interment will follow in Pigeon Forge Methodist Cemetery. The family will receive friends from 6 until 8 p.m. Friday at Atchley Funeral Home, Sevierville. See A6 for obituary.
cgrimm@themountainpress.com
- [S106] The Mountain Press, 16 Apr 2004.
As the 54th Wildflower Pilgrimage (April 19 to 25) gets underway, WBIR's "Heartland Series" host and narrator, Bill Landry, will honor area native Lucinda Oakley Ogle at its opening luncheon on Monday, April 19, at Mills Auditorium in Gatlinburg.
Ogle, known locally as the "Queen of the Smoky Mountains," passed away last December. She was a charter member of the Gatlinburg Garden Club, and her enthusiasm brought so much to the Pilgrimage as well as the National Park, where she was born and raised.
Special memorabilia and photos from Ogle's collection will be on display, including one of the "mountaineer sunbonnets" she was famous for wearing. A video of her life will also be shown.
Landry, well known in East Tennessee for his humor and coverage of the history of this area, will talk about Ogle and the early days of Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Gatlinburg Commissioner Mike Werner will present a proclamation to Lucinda's daughter, Billie Noland, declaring April 19 as "Lucinda Ogle Day" in Gatlinburg. Three generations of the family are expected to be present.
The Pilgrimage is an annual, week-long event of educational hikes, field trips and indoor day and evening programs led by knowledgeable individuals and Park service staff. Topics include both the cultural and natural history of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Exhibits and plant displays will be available throughout the week.
An "Evening of Acoustical Guitar" with Bill Mize, accompanied by Beth Bramhall on accordion, will officially end the Pilgrimage on Saturday evening, April 24, at 8 p.m. The concert is open to the public ($15 per person), and tickets may be purchased at the door.
Tickets for the Opening Luncheon and Bill Landry's presentation are $15 and must be purchased by Friday, April 16, by calling Pat Brown at 436-5340.
"Queen of Smokies" to get special day
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