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- [S106] The Mountain Press, 6 Dec 2015.
Upland Chronicles: Sevierville has history of hospitality
CARROLL MCMAHAN
When Great Smoky Mountains National Park was established in 1934, tourism began to steadily grow in Sevier County. Visitation numbers dwindled during World War II, but since the war ended, growth in tourism has reached unimaginable heights. But as far back as the earliest days of the 1800s, there was a need for hostelry at the county seat.
In the early 1800s, Benjamin Catlett built Catlett Tavern, the first lodging establishment in Sevierville. Catlett and his wife, Nancy Lovelady Catlett, moved to Sevier County from Virginia. The 10-room building at the east end of Main Street was a one-story, high-roofed structure painted white.
The wide entrance began at the front porch to a great hall that ran 31 feet. Guests passed a living room and three bedrooms before entering the dining hall, so large a post in the center of the room supported the roof. When there were dances in the dining hall, young women stood by the large post waiting to be asked to dance.
On each side of the tavern were small buildings for lawyers. The buildings had two rooms each to accommodate attorneys in town for court. In the early days of Sevier County, the law was practiced in two courts. Circuit Court had three terms each year, and Chancery Court had two terms. When Circuit Court met, the judge and the district attorney general came to Sevierville on horseback. Usually a number of lawyers traveled with them, filling Catlett Tavern, the only lodging in town, to capacity.
Tavern rates were as follows: Rum (one half pint), wine, French brandy, and gin were 25 cents. Peach brandy was 121/2 cents, and whiskey was 81/3 cents per half pint. Beer was 81/3 cents, and cider was 122/3 cents per quart.
Lodging and bed was 5 cents per night. Accommodations for a horse was 121/2 cents per night with fodder or hay. Pasture for 24 hours was 81/3 cents.
The first Circuit Court was held in a stable. The makeshift courtroom was infested with fleas, and the itching attorneys conceived a clever device to get rid of them. They offered an Irishman a bottle of fine whiskey to somehow alleviate the fleas, but in the action, both the fleas and stable went up in flames.
When Benjamin Catlett died, he left the tavern to his son, William Catlett. He also willed all of his slaves to his son, who was only 15 at the time of his father’s death. Nancy Catlett helped her young son operate the business until her death during the Civil War. After his mother’s death, William changed the name of the Catlett Inn.
When William died on March 13, 1895, the inn was inherited by his niece Ada Wells Beal, who closed it and used it as her private residence. Ada’s daughter Stella Hodges and her children Malcolm and Addie were the last to reside in the old building. Because of the expansion of Newport Highway in the late 1950s, the building was removed.
Perhaps the second oldest lodging establishment in Sevierville was built by Dr. Jonathan Melville Hammer in the mid-1800s. Dr. Hammer and Dr. Ira Hill practiced medicine on the second floor of the boarding house, which was next to the Catlett Inn.
The two-story gray clap board house had two porches on the front, one on each level, running the length of the house. There were four rooms and a kitchen on each floor with an inside and outside stairway. There was a large round cistern behind the house as well as a brick well house to the side. A large garden was located in the backyard.
A shingle hung midway up the stairway bearing the name J.M. Hammer, Physician. Both doctors lived in the house until Dr. Hill declared bankruptcy in 1843, leaving Dr. Hammer the house and practice. Dr. Hammer lived there and operated the boarding house, known as Hammer House, until his death in 1883. Dr. A.J. Isham later set up his practice in the same house. The Hammer house was sold to William and Letitia Wear Hatcher around 1900. Until her death at 93, Mrs. Hatcher lived in the home with her son John and granddaughter Emma Jane Emert. The house was demolished after John Hatcher’s death in 1962.
By the time Catlett Inn and Hammer House closed, there were other lodging options. In addition to a number of resorts built around mineral springs throughout the county, Mary Ann Mitchell opened the Mitchell Inn in 1874. It was a two-story brick building with a popular restaurant downstairs and rooms for rent on the second floor.
Pink T. Snapp owned and operated a boarding house on the south side of West Main Street around 1895, and the original Central Hotel opened about the same time on the public square. While these new hotels continued to offer three meals per day, the clientele changed from mostly lawyers to salesmen, commonly known as “drummers.” In fact, these hostelries relied so heavily on their business that they offered a room called the “sample room” or “drummer room,” where traveling salesmen could display their wares to local buyers. The rooms were equipped with a stove, chairs and long tables.
By the time the national park sparked the tourism boom, there were already several hotels in Gatlinburg, and soon afterward, motor courts began popping up along the main highways leading to the Smokies.
Throughout its history, Sevier County has maintained a reputation for outstanding hospitality.
Carroll McMahan is special projects facilitator for the Sevierville Chamber of Commerce and serves as Sevier County historian.
- [S34] In the Shadow of the Smokies, Smoky Mountain Historical Society, (1993), 116.
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