The Cove Conundrum: Managing Culture, Nature, and Tourism in Cades Cove, Tennessee

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Cades Cove, located within the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee, is the stage of competing interests related to contested historical narratives, natural landscapes, and increased tourism demands. Originally within the Cherokee ancestral homeland, the Cove witnessed Euro-American early 19th-century settlement, which reshaped the area. The Cove was transformed again in the early 20th-century through federal intervention that converted the Appalachian lived landscape into a romantic representation of 19th-century rustic mountain culture that endures today. In this talk, I discuss the ongoing cultural resource management initiatives of Cades Cove as its constructed landscape is reshaped by archeological excavations, ecological restoration, tourism, and the voices of Indigenous and Euro-American descendant communities. On one hand, we contend with infrastructural changes to support the 5 million annual visitors and possibly restore a portion of the Cove to its pre-European state. On the other hand, current archaeological efforts have the potential to elevate Native American cultural representation in the area, while current collaborations with descendant groups work to enhance and correct cultural representation and safeguard historic structures and cemeteries. Overall, this talk provides insight into the realities of cultural resource management within the federal service while highlighting initiatives to help resolve these contentions.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 39751.0