The Meigs homesites trip was suggested to us by Cheryl and Curtis Travis, who had done the hike recently. The pair was doing a lot of off trail hiking at the time, with an emphasis on old homesites. Even with all their experience, they were impressed by the number of home sites, and their abundance of artifacts and easy access. They gave us their fresh intel, and such an interesting route was too good for us to pass up.
Practicalities
ensued. Driving in, we found the Little River Road was closed, but the ranger
told us it would open later that morning. To kill a bit of time we hiked up
Chestnut Top Trail to the bend and back to enjoy the early season flowers. A
quick call to park HQ confirmed the road was back open.
We
hiked in from Metcalf Bottoms PC area via the Curry Mountain Trail, which is an
old road and is great walking. The manway begins by heading NE from the
junction of the Curry Mtn. and Megis Mtn. trails. Another less used manway
heads west from the same junction. I was recording a GPS track and Jean took
photos. We had a map of the homesites from C&C, but I don’t remember if I
had waypoints for the homesites in advance. Total distance for the two hikes
was 14.3 miles. 
The west end of the manway.
We
followed an old road down into the valley, then lost the road at the crossing
of a small creek, where we found a damaged hiking pole. We found the first
homesite in a large open area. The first was distinguished by a large porcelain
flush toilet, something I’d never expected to see in the Smokies backcountry.
Namesake for the first homesite in June 2015.
We
were able to follow the manway east past some stove parts. The second homesite
is a tall, but leaning chimney, which may have been the home of Eli Ownby. We
had lunch at the leaning chimney. 
The leaning chimney.
In
just 100’ or so on the left or north side is another chimney marking homesite
#3. It had stove parts made in Chattanooga. These first three homesites are
shown on the 1931 park map, along with manways heading north along Mannis
Branch. Next on the left was #4, just a rock pile with a double birch nearby.
Made in Chattanooga!
We
then crossed the creek again, and went over the ridge dividing Mannis Branch
and Sugar Maple Branch. At the next small creek was another chimney pile with more
stove parts (#5). We were astonished to find so many homesites, and so many
artifacts so close to a main trail without having had any idea of what we had
walked by so many times. Beyond the last homesite the manway turns up the draw
to meet the Meigs Mountain Trail.
Unnamed home site.
We
kept east on the Meigs Mountain Trail to cross Blanket Creek and saw another rock
pile homesite at Kiver Branch. This site was potentially that of Isaac Ownby,
according to our map. Our next goal was to find the Andy Brackett chimney south
of us in the narrow strip between Blanket Creek and Kiver Branch. We spread out
to keep the entire width of the strip in view while we walked. We had gone far
enough up stream to start to assume we had missed the chimney when Jean got
inspired. Instead of looking for the chimney, she looked for where the chimney
should be. In this case a high spot close to the water. Almost a half mile in
she finally spotted it, on the bank above Blanket Creek. The chimney was more
massive than is typical for Smokies homesites, We wondered if it was built
later, or if the family had been wealthier.
The Andy Brackett Chimney.
Looking
at satellite photos of the area I was able to find the homesite, not by seeing
its massive chimney, but by recognizing the even larger shadow it cast in the
image. Generally, the Smokies are a monotonous green in summer satellite
images, this was a rare case of the images being useful for exploring off
trail.
Our route through the homesites.
The
Meigs route shows on the 1931 map, when these home sites were likely still
occupied. But it does not show on the park 1949 map. It is curious that the CCC
elected to build the Meigs Mountain Trail just south of the home sites without
any particular feature to justify the change. Perhaps families still lived
there in the CCC era, and didn’t want to be disturbed by the trail?
Be careful exploring the rock piles.
We
would be back to this area in three months with Ed as we attempted to determine
if the Meigs homesite route would be a viable alternative to the SMHC’s
scheduled trip to Long Arm Branch. After our scouting trip (June 2015), Longarm Ridge was off
the schedule and the Meigs Homesite route ended up being the club trip. Our
12-5-15 hike included Ed, Claudia, and Dan.
It is greener in midsummer.
We
would also make a follow up trip to the homesites on 11-24-19 with Clyde,
Connie, and John. Clyde had not done the route before, so we were proud to be
able to show him a new route. This was a chance to pay him back just a little
bit for all the great places he had shown us.
Our 2019 crew.
The
big surprise for this trip was at the leaning chimney. Unfortunately, we found
that the top section had sloughed off. I found out later that the slump had
happened between Sept 2018, and Jan 2019, presumably via someone who had been
there on those dates.
The leaning chimney in 2015 (L) and 2019 (R).
