Walland, Tennessee

Last updated

Walland
CDP
Walland-miller-cove.jpg
Miller's Cove, with Chilhowee Mountain on right
USA Tennessee location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Walland
Location within the state of Tennessee
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Walland
Walland (the United States)
Coordinates: 35°43′55″N83°48′25″W / 35.73194°N 83.80694°W / 35.73194; -83.80694
Country United States
State Tennessee
County Blount
Settled1780s
Named for Walton and England Leather Company
Area
[1]
 • Total1.52 sq mi (3.95 km2)
 • Land1.52 sq mi (3.95 km2)
 • Water0.00 sq mi (0.00 km2)
Elevation
[2]
1,034 ft (315 m)
Population
 (2020) [3]
 • Total281
 • Density184.26/sq mi (71.16/km2)
Time zone UTC-5 (Eastern (EST))
 • Summer (DST) UTC-4 (EDT)
ZIP code
37886
Area code 865
GNIS feature ID2586084 [2]

Walland is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Blount County, Tennessee. Its population was 281 as of the 2020 census. [4] Walland is the site of a post office and is the place name associated with zip code 37886, which covers an area beyond the Walland community. [5]

Contents

Geography

Little River in Walland Little-river-walland-tennessee.jpg
Little River in Walland

Walland is situated in Miller's Cove, an enclosed valley in the northwestern foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains. Miller's Cove (spelled "Miller Cove" on USGS maps) [6] is walled off to the north by Chilhowee Mountain, a low ridge stretching for 35 miles between the Little Tennessee River to the west and the Little Pigeon River watershed to the east. Hurricane Mountain to the southwest and Bates Mountain to the southeast divide Miller's Cove from the much larger Tuckaleechee Cove at the base of the Smokies.

Little River, which flows down from its source on the northern slopes of Clingmans Dome, splits Miller's Cove into eastern and western sections en route to flatlands of northern Blount County. The river's valley, which divides Hurricane and Bates Mountain and slices a large gap through Chilhowee Mountain, has long provided a convenient bottomland for trails and roads linking the coves of the northern Smokies. Today, it is traversed by U.S. Route 321, which connects Interstate 40 to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The park boundary is about 15 miles south of Walland.

Demographics

Historical population
CensusPop.Note%±
2010 259—
2020 2818.5%
U.S. Decennial Census [7]

As of the census of 2000, there were 3,746 people, 1,504 households, and 1,143 families residing in the Zip Code Tabulation Area for the zip code (37886) that serves Walland. [8] The racial makeup of this area was 97% White, 0.1% African American, 0.6% Asian American, and 0.7% Native American. Hispanics and Latinos comprise 1% of the population.

Of the 1,504 households, 30.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 65% were married couples living together, 7.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 24% were non-families. The average household size was 2.49 and the average family size was 2.86. 77.5% of the population was 18 years of age or older with 12.4% being 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39.3 years. The population was 50% male and 50% female.

The median income for a household in the area was $40,000, and the median income for a family was $43,042. The per capita income for the city was $18,337. About 9.2% of families and 12.4% of the population were below the poverty line.

History

Early history

In October 1567, the Juan Pardo expedition is believed to have crossed Little River at what is now Walland. The expedition arrived from the east via Reed Creek and headed west along Hesse Creek, traversing part of Chilhowee Mountain and Happy Valley en route to the village of "Chalahume" on the Little Tennessee River. [9]

By the time permanent Euro-American settlers arrived in the area in the 1780s, Miller's Cove was part of a vast Cherokee hunting ground. Along with fertile land typical of any limestone cove, the various Cherokee trails in the vicinity drew the first settlers to Miller's Cove in the late 18th century. The Great Indian Warpath passed through Maryville to the north, and the Tuckaleechee and Southeastern Trail forked in Tuckaleechee Cove to the south. [10] The Overhill Cherokee villages of Chilhowee and Tallassee lay the other end of Chilhowee Mountain.

The first Euro-American settlers arrived in Blount County around 1785, during a period of heightened tensions with the Cherokee. The county's early pioneers erected a series of small forts to protect themselves against sporadic Cherokee attacks, most of which were located in the vicinity of the Warpath. Miller's Cove is probably named after Alexander Miller and his brother, Andrew Miller, who built cabins in the cove sometime around 1800. [11] A few years before the Millers arrived, Swiss immigrant John Hess built a grist mill in the west end of the cove. He was followed by the Martin family, whose mill was situated in the cove's eastern section. Other early settlers in Miller's Cove included Alexander Reed and John Waters, both of whom arrived before 1810. [12]

In 1810, Miller's Cove Baptist Church was formed from the division of Tuckaleechee Baptist Church between Miller's Cove and Wear Cove. The church remains one of the oldest congregations in Blount County. [13]

The Civil War

Chilhowee Inn in Walland Walland-tennessee-chilhowee-inn.jpg
Chilhowee Inn in Walland

In 1845, George Amerine (c. 1784–1866) constructed an iron forge on Hess Creek in the western section of Miller's Cove. Using two bloomery fires and a water-driven hammer, Amerine's forge was producing 15 tons of bar iron per year by 1856. At the outset of the Civil War, the forge's operations ceased. [14]

From the early 19th century onward, Blount County was a hotbed of abolitionist activity, due in large part to the influence of Rev. Isaac Anderson of Maryville College and the Quaker community at Friendsville. When Tennessee voted on whether or not to secede from the Union in 1861, only 24% of Blount Countians voted in favor of secession. [15]

Miller's Cove was no exception to Blount's pro-Union sentiment. In 1861, after the outbreak of the war, Union supporters held a rally in Miller's Cove, on the grounds of what is now Chilhowee Inn. Residents from the surrounding hills and mountains raised an American flag and saluted it, pledging their loyalty to the United States. Later in the war, when a Confederate Army unit passed through the cove, Maryville Judge Jesse Wallace warned them to leave the flag alone, for "the mountains swarmed with men who were deadly with their rifles." [16] Heeding the warning, the Confederate soldiers saluted the flag and continued onward.

The Progressive Era, 1890–1931

The home of James Martin in Walland, built early 1900s Walland-tennessee-james-martin-house.jpg
The home of James Martin in Walland, built early 1900s

In 1893, the Walton and England Leather Co. of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania sent John W. Fisher to East Tennessee to look for suitable sites to build a tannery. Fisher selected Newport and Miller's Cove, both being accessible via railroad or river, and having access to seemingly endless rows of trees, the bark of which was used in the tanning process. Fisher's son, A.J., managed Walton and England's Miller's Cove tannery, and a small company town developed in the tannery's vicinity. The town was named Walland, which was a fusion of "Walton" and "England." [17] Fisher's house still stands on Old Walland Highway, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

In 1901, using the railroad Walton and England had constructed between Walland and Maryville, the Schlosser Leather Company initiated an even more ambitious tanning project in Miller's Cove. Using the thick bark from trees harvested in the heavily forested Little River valley, the Schlosser tannery was processing 300 hides per day by 1909. [18] The tannery allowed Walland to modernize to some extent, bringing electricity, framed houses, and greater railroad access. The company built Chilhowee Inn in 1902 to house executives visiting the tannery, [19] and helped complete Walland High School in 1922. [20]

While Schlosser Leather ceased operations in the area after the tannery burned in 1931, Walland was already benefiting from the growth of tourism in the Great Smokies several miles to the south. The Little River Railroad was completed from Walland to Elkmont in the early 20th century by W. B. Townsend's Little River Lumber Company. While initially a logging railroad, the line was offering passenger service to the mountains by 1909. Several resorts sprang up in the vicinity of Miller's Cove, using the health-restoring qualities of mountain springs to lure tourists. These included Montvale Springs, on the other side of Chilhowee Mountain to the north, and Kinzel Springs at the northern tip of Tuckaleechee Cove to the south. With the formation of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in 1934 and the construction of US-321, Walland was able to replace the loss of tannery jobs with income from through-traffic and tourism.

In 1966, one of the first sections of Foothills Parkway was completed across the western crest of Chilhowee Mountain, connecting Walland with Chilhowee Lake. Another section, connecting Walland with Wears Valley, was opened to the public in November 2018 [21]

Education

There is currently one public school located in Walland: Walland Elementary School, part of the Blount County Schools system. The school, located at 247 E. Miller's Cove Rd., was previously a middle school and high school. The present building was constructed in the 1960s. [22] Among the school's outreach efforts is a bookmobile project in the community [23]

Prior to its closing in the mid-1970s, Walland High School won a state championship in football in 1975–22-6 over White House. [24]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blount County, Tennessee</span> County in Tennessee, United States

Blount County is a county located in the East Tennessee Grand Division of the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, its population was 135,280. The county seat is Maryville, which is also the county's largest city. Blount County is included in the Knoxville metropolitan area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maryville, Tennessee</span> City in Tennessee, United States

Maryville is a city in and the county seat of Blount County, Tennessee. Its population was 31,907 at the 2020 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Townsend, Tennessee</span> City in Tennessee, United States

Townsend is a city in Blount County, Tennessee. The city was chartered in 1921 by persons who were involved with the Little River Railroad and Lumber Company. The population was 550 at the 2020 census. For thousands of years a site of Native American occupation by varying cultures, Townsend is one of three "gateways" to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It has several museums and attractions relating to the natural and human history of the Great Smokies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great Smoky Mountains</span> American mountain range along North Carolina/Tennessee border

The Great Smoky Mountains are a mountain range rising along the Tennessee–North Carolina border in the southeastern United States. They are a subrange of the Appalachian Mountains and form part of the Blue Ridge Physiographic Province. The range is sometimes called the Smoky Mountains, and the name is commonly shortened to the Smokies. The Smokies are best known as the home of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which protects most of the range. The park was established in 1934 and, with over 11 million visits per year, is the most visited national park in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Little River (Tennessee)</span> River in Tennessee, United States

Little River is a 60-mile (97 km) river in Tennessee which drains a 380-square-mile (980 km2) area containing some of the most spectacular scenery in the southeastern United States. The first 18 miles (29 km) of the river are all located within the borders of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The remaining 42 miles (68 km) flow out of the mountains through Blount County to join the Tennessee River at Fort Loudon Lake in Knox County.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cades Cove</span> Valley within the Great Smoky Mountains

Cades Cove is an isolated valley located in the Tennessee section of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The valley was home to numerous settlers before the formation of the national park. Cades Cove, the single most popular destination for visitors to the park, attracts more than two million visitors annually because of its well preserved homesteads, scenic mountain views, and abundant display of wildlife. The Cades Cove Historic District is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Foothills Parkway</span> National parkway in Tennessee

The Foothills Parkway is a national parkway which traverses the foothills of the northern Great Smoky Mountains in East Tennessee, located in the southeastern United States. The 72.1-mile (114 km) parkway will connect U.S. Route 129 along the Little Tennessee River in the west with Interstate 40 (I-40) along the Pigeon River in the east.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Little River Railroad (Tennessee)</span> Historic U.S. railroad

The Little River Railroad is a historic class III railroad that operated between Maryville and Elkmont, Tennessee, from 1901 to 1939.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Happy Valley, Blount County, Tennessee</span> Unincorporated community in Tennessee, United States

Happy Valley is an unincorporated community in Blount County, Tennessee, near the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Although it is not a census-designated place, the ZIP Code Tabulation Area for the ZIP Code (37878) that serves Happy Valley had a population of 529 as of the 2000 U.S. Census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wears Valley, Tennessee</span> Unincorporated community in Tennessee, United States

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Overhill Cherokee</span> 18th century Cherokee people who lived on the west side of the Appalachian Mountains

Overhill Cherokee was the term for the Cherokee people located in their historic settlements in what is now the U.S. state of Tennessee in the Southeastern United States, on the western side of the Appalachian Mountains. This name was used by 18th-century European traders and explorers from British colonies along the Atlantic coast, as they had to cross the mountains to reach these settlements.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tremont, Tennessee</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hazel Creek (Great Smoky Mountains)</span> River in North Carolina, United States

Hazel Creek is a tributary stream of the Little Tennessee River in the southwestern Great Smoky Mountains of North Carolina. The creek's bottomlands were home to several pioneer Appalachian communities and logging towns before its incorporation into the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Hazel Creek is now a back country campsite and historical area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chilhowee Mountain</span>

Chilhowee Mountain is the name of two non-contiguous ridges in the U.S. state of Tennessee. The ridges run in a northeastern to southwestern direction. The northern section is at the outer edge of the Great Smoky Mountains, stretching from the Little Pigeon River watershed at the northeast to the Little Tennessee River and Chilhowee Dam to the southwest. The southern section runs from Tellico Plains to the Ocoee River in Polk County. The northern section is traversed by the Foothills Parkway from Walland to its terminus near Chilhowee.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chilhowee (Cherokee town)</span> Cherokee village site in Blount and Monroe Counties, Tennessee

Chilhowee was a prehistoric and historic Native American site in present-day Blount and Monroe counties in Tennessee, in what were the Southeastern Woodlands. Although now submerged by the Chilhowee Lake impoundment of the Little Tennessee River, the Chilhowee site was home to a substantial 18th-century Overhill Cherokee town. It may have been the site of the older Creek village "Chalahume" visited by Spanish explorer Juan Pardo in 1567. The Cherokee later pushed the Muscogee Creek out of this area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tallassee (Cherokee town)</span> Native American settlement

Tallassee is a prehistoric and historic Native American site in present-day Blount and Monroe counties, Tennessee in the southeastern United States. Tallassee was the southernmost of a string of Overhill Cherokee towns that existed along the lower Little Tennessee River on the west side of the Appalachian Mountains in the 18th century. Although Tallassee receives scant attention in primary historical accounts, it is one of the few Overhill towns to be shown on every major 18th-century map of the Little Tennessee Valley.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">U.S. Route 129 in Tennessee</span> Segment of American highway

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chilhowee Inn</span>

Chilhowee Inn was an inn built by the Schlosser Leather Company in 1902 in Walland, Tennessee. It was constructed as a five room cottage to house executives visiting the nearby tannery. This was the last stop of the Knoxville and Augusta line of the Southern Railway System, and the starting point for the Little River Railroad. The Inn was named by Mrs. Rachel Fisher, wife of the builder, Mr. A. J. Fisher who was also superintendent of the tannery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Top of the World, Tennessee</span> Unincorporated community in Tennessee, United States

Top of the World is an unincorporated community in rural Blount County, Tennessee.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abrams Creek (Tennessee)</span> Stream in Tennessee, USA

Abrams Creek is a creek in Blount County, Tennessee. Its headwaters are in Cades Cove, and it is a tributary of the Little Tennessee River. It is named after the Chilhowee Cherokee chief Old Abraham ("Abram"). Visitors swim and fish in the creek. The creek was deliberately poisoned in 1957 to kill fish in potential competition with rainbow trout; many fish species were extirpated from the river and have never recovered.

References

  1. ↑ "ArcGIS REST Services Directory". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved October 15, 2022.
  2. 1 2 U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Walland, Tennessee
  3. ↑ "Census Population API". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved October 15, 2022.
  4. ↑ "U.S. Census website". United States Census Bureau . Retrieved May 14, 2011.
  5. ↑ Map of zip code 37886 [ permanent dead link ], U.S. Census Bureau website (accessed December 2, 2007)
  6. ↑ United States Geological Survey, "Miller Cove." Retrieved: June 25, 2008.
  7. ↑ "Census of Population and Housing". Census.gov. Retrieved June 4, 2016.
  8. ↑ U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, "Zip Code Tabulation Area 37886 Fact Sheet." Retrieved: December 2, 2007.
  9. ↑ Charles Hudson, The Juan Pardo Expeditions: Explorations of the Carolinas and Tennessee, 1566-1568 (Tuscaloosa, Ala.: University of Alabama Press, 2005), 36-40.
  10. ↑ Robbie Jones, The Historic Architecture of Sevier County, Tennessee (Sevierville, Tenn.: Smoky Mountain Historical Society, 1997), 3-7.
  11. ↑ Robert Wilson, "Walland Enriched With 200-Plus Years of History." Knoxville News-Sentinel, December 9, 2004.
  12. ↑ Inez Burns, History of Blount County, Tennessee: From War Trail to Landing Strip, 1795-1955 (Nashville: Benson Print Co., 1957), 221, 273-274.
  13. ↑ Burns, History of Blount County, 118-119.
  14. ↑ Burns, History of Blount County, 245.
  15. ↑ Jones, Historic Architecture of Sevier County, 33.
  16. ↑ Burns, History of Blount County, 170.
  17. ↑ Robert Wilson, "Walland Enriched with 200-plus Years of History," The Knoxville News-Sentinel, December 9, 2004.
  18. ↑ Burns, History of Blount County, 274.
  19. ↑ "History of Chilhowee Inn". Archived from the original on January 24, 2010. Retrieved January 21, 2010.
  20. ↑ Burns, History of Blount County, 94, 170.
  21. ↑ Taylor, Sarah Grace (October 20, 2018). "Foothills Parkway 'missing link' set to open Veterans Day weekend". The Daily Times.
  22. ↑ Davis, J. "Walland High School alumni plan to replace stage curtains," The Maryville-Alcoa Daily Times, May 16, 2002
  23. ↑ Tolman, B. "Walland Bookmobile seeks donations," The Maryville-Alcoa Daily Times, June 22, 2006.
  24. ↑ "Walland". High School Football Database. Archived from the original on April 6, 2012. Retrieved November 18, 2011.
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