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The following is a listing of the older schools in Sevier County, Tennessee. This listing was compiled by Olene Large Cagle many years ago. It was updated in 2008 by Glenn Cardwell and D. Tim Fisher. We need information (memories, pictures, location, grade cards, etc.) on these schools. If you know of a school that is not listed here please call us at 908-7988. Thank you, Theresa Williams.
Ballard’s School
Banner School
Baskin’s School
Belmont School
Benson School
Bethel School
Beech Grove School
Beech Springs School
Benson School
Big Ridge or Old Ridge School
Birds School
Black Ankle School
Black Gum Gap School
Blowing Cave School
Bluff Mountain School
Bracken’s School
Bridge School
Boyd’s Creek Academy
Caney
Cartertown
Cates Cross Road
Catlett’s School
Catlettsburg School
Caton’s Chapel
Cedar Bluff
Chinquapin School
Clarks School
Copeland School
Cowan School
Covenant School
Crockettsville School
Crowson School
Cummings School
Cusack School
Cynthiana School
Douglas School
Dripping Springs School
Dudley Creek School
DuPont School
Elkmont School
Emert’s Cove School
Evan’s Chapel School
Fairgarden School
Fairview School
Flea Hill School
Fighting Creek School
Forks of River School
Fox’s School
Frame School
French Broad Academy
Free School
Gist Creek School
Glades School
Gatlinburg School
Gatlinburg Pittman High School
Granny College
Graves School
Greenbrier (Little Greenbrier School)
Greenbrier (Big Greenbrier School)
Gum Stand School
Harrisburg School
Harrison – Chilhowee Baptist Academy
Henry School (Located in Boyd’s Creek area)
Henry’s Cross Roads School
Higgins Creek
Highland View
Indian Creek
Island View School
J. L. School
Jones Chapel School or Jones Academy
Jones Coves School
Jones Cove Elementary
Juniper School
Kellum School
Kings Academy
Knights School
Knob Creek School
Kodak School
Laurel School (Near Melvin Carr’s home)
Laurel School (in Gatlinburg)
Laurel School (Big Greenbrier)
Levering School
Little Cove
Locust Ridge School
Long Springs School
Lynn Camp
McCookville School
McMahan School (Pearls Valley Area – burnt)
McMahan School (Second school built after first one burnt)
Maples School House
Meigs Mountain School
Middle Creek School
Midway School
Mill Creek School
Millican School
Mortar Branch School
Mountain View School
Montgomery Christian Academy
Murphy College
Nancy Academy
New Albany School
New Center School
New Era
North View Primary and Middle Schools
Oak City School
Oak Grove School
Oldham Creek School
Owl College
Payne’s Temple School
Paw Paw Hollow
Pi Beta Phi School
Pigeon Forge Primary
Pigeon Forge High
Pine Grove School or Piney School House
Piney School
Pittman Center Elementary
Pittman Center High
Park Road School
Park Settlement
Pleasant View School
Republican School
Richardson Cove
Reeds School House
Ridge Road School
Roaring Fork Church School
Roberts School House
Roseville Mission School
Rocky Flats School
Rocky Mountain School
Ricky Springs Academy
Sevierville Elementary
Sevierville Primary
Sevierville High
Seymour School
Seymour High School
Shady Grove School
Shady School 12
Shady School 13
Shaw’s Bluff School
Sheep Pen Elementary
Shiloh School
Sims School
Smith’s School
Smokey Mountain Academy
Snyder School
Camp School
Sockless School
Stinnett School
Sugerlands Schools
Sunset Gap Mission School
Temple School
Trinity School
Underwood School
Union Academy
Union School
Union Valley School
Walnut Grove School
Wears Valley School
Wearwood Academy
Webb’s Creek School
Whites Community School
Whittles School House
Williamsburg School
Zion Hill School
It is always nice to go home. Home is the place where one feels safe and has refuge from a troubled world. We give our homes names. In naming our homes, they take on a personality. With this in mind, let’s visit some of our neighbors in their homes.
As you go four miles out Highway 321 from Gatlinburg, near the top of the big hill, on your right, you will see a little round mountain. This mountain is called Round Top. Near the base of this mountain is a place called the Monkey Den. When Monroe Ownby first came to this area to make his home, he looked at all the tangle of grapevines and thick undergrowth and said, “This place seems only fit for a den of monkeys!” The remains of a chimney is all that indicates the homestead of Mr. Ownby.
This Round top is not to be confused with the Round Top in Wears Cove, or the Round Top near the Tennessee, North Carolina border near Clingmans Dome. Round Top seems to be a name we give any round-shaped mountain in the neck of the woods in which we live. We do not stop to consider that our neighbor over the next ridge may have their very own Round Top.
Panther Creek (Panther Den, Panther Branch or Panther Gap) is also a popular name in this area. Many stories have been told about hearing the call of a panther, which is said to sound like a woman screaming in terror. Every family has a story to tell of how a panther stalked a member of their family through the woods. The individual was delivered from the clutches of death– either reaching a safe haven, or by dropping a fish along the path to escape. Every child was warned not go outside alone for fear of being dragged away by a panther. Somewhere in time, a child had been dragged off through the woods by a panther, never to be seen again. It is said the panther was hunted to extermination here in Sevier County. Yet, sightings of panthers still make their rounds in local communities.
In Gatlinburg, as you go up Ski Mountain Road, the creek that comes from this mountain is now called Holly Branch. Old timers know this area as Holly Butt Mountain and Holly Butt Branch. Aunt Lydia Whaley made her home on the slope of this mountain, and being a devout Christian, she disapproved of the name. She preferred the name Holy Branch. Aunt Lydia made baskets, was an herb doctor, and birthed several babies. She could also quote the Bible from cover to cover. She believed that every bit of our mountains was made by the hand of God, therefore the name HOLY Branch.
Located near Mount Le Conte is an area called Huggins Hell. It is said a man by the name of Huggins decided he would find his way through a seemingly impenetrable area overgrown with rhododendron and mountain laurel. He was discouraged from doing so by the men folk who swore he would come face to face with a bear, or be bitten by a poisonous snake and die. To which Mr. Huggins replied, “I’m determined to go through it–or hell itself.” Since the gentleman was never seen again, folks believe he is probable still trudging through the underworld.
Even though your piece of paradise is located on Monkeys Den, Panther Creek, Holly Butt, or Round Top you must agree; there is no place like home in Sevier County, Tennessee!
I have been dragged from my “set ways” into using a computer, and now I am blogging. Quite an adventure for an “old maid” don’t you think?
It is my desire to fill these pages with genealogy, and Sevier County’s history. That is where you come in. Sevier county, Tennessee is a big county with lots of places and interesting facts hidden around every bend. Don’t you think everyone should know those facts? Let’s get started. One, two, three–blog.
