Sight · Great Smoky Mountains National Park
A quiet church stop with a story dating to 1839.
Overview
Map
Plan your stop
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Great Smoky Mountains Tour Guide
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Great Smoky Mountains National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
See the Great Smoky Mountains audio tourRecorded for this place
Cades Cove Missionary Baptist Church“Ahead is Cades Cove Missionary Baptist Church, a brief stop with a story older than its wooden building.”
Plays as you drive up to Cades Cove Missionary Baptist Church in the Parkwolf Great Smoky Mountains Tour Guide.
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Guide
Cades Cove Missionary Baptist Church is a small historic wooden church and cemetery on Cades Cove Loop Road, near the Rich Mountain Road junction. It is a compact stop for a look inside the church and around the burial ground, rather than a long walk. A pull-off beside the site connects to a gravel-and-asphalt path.
Thirteen people split from the Primitive Baptist congregation in 1839 over missions, Sunday school and temperance societies. The group first met in homes and sometimes in the Methodist church. A revival led by Thomas Sexton in 1893 nearly doubled the congregation, and the current church structure dates to 1915. Across the road, Rich Mountain Road was a direct route from central Cades Cove toward Tuckaleechee, now Townsend.
Inside, unfinished wooden pews face a center aisle, with a bay window behind the pulpit that was added to make more room. The church bell once called neighbors to worship and tolled when someone in the community died. Follow the path around the cemetery rather than cutting between graves; it was improved to reduce erosion and keep visitors off the burial plots.
Wildlife
1,569 sightingsBlack BearMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
900 sightingsElkMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
13 sightingsBald EagleMost seen around 9 AMSighting map
142 sightingsTimber RattlesnakeMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
26 sightingsBobcatMost seen around 8 PMSighting map
42 sightingsRiver OtterMost seen around 7 AMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Great Smoky Mountains. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
Keep exploring
EasyElijah Oliver Place Trail1 mi · 45 min · 1.2 mi awayA short walk to the Oliver farmstead’s cabin and outbuildings.
EasyJohn Oliver Cabin Trail0.4 mi · 30 min · 1.8 mi awayA short paved walk to a preserved cabin and its homesite.
ModerateAbrams Falls Trail5 mi · 3 hr · 1.9 mi awayFive forest miles to a 25-foot waterfall over sandstone.ChallengingAbrams Falls, Hannah Mountain and Rabbit Creek Loop11.1 mi · 8 hr · 1.9 mi awayA demanding 11-mile loop pairs Abrams Falls with three creek fords.
ChallengingCrooked Arm Ridge Trail4.3 mi · 3.5 hr · 2.5 mi awaySteep forest gives way to a late view into Cades Cove
ModerateRich Mountain Loop Trail8.5 mi · 5 hr · 2.7 mi awayAn 8.5-mile loop with a cove view and a waterfall finish
EasyCades Cove Horse Trail2.3 mi · 1.5 hr · 2.7 mi awayA wooded point-to-point trail shared with horses.
ChallengingRich Mountain Trail4.6 mi · 4 hr · 2.8 mi awayA steep climb to a shaded cove and a small cascade.
Scenic pullout · 0.4 mi awayCades Cove OverlookOpen fields and a mountain rim make this a rewarding loop stop.
Scenic pullout · 0.5 mi awayRich Mountain Road OverlookA church-and-valley panorama at the end of a slow detour.
Sight · 0.5 mi awayCades Cove Methodist ChurchA modest church with two doors and one surprising congregation story.
Sight · 0.8 mi awayCades Cove Primitive Baptist ChurchA hand-built 1887 church beside the cove’s oldest cemetery.
Sight · 1.4 mi awayDan Lawson PlaceAn 1856 log home that grew into a post office and store.
Sight · 1.6 mi awayElijah Oliver PlaceA short walk to a farmstead with Cades Cove’s only surviving springhouse.
Sight · 1.6 mi awayTipton PlaceA cabin, a clever barn and a farmstead’s working details.
Sight · 1.8 mi awayJohn Oliver CabinA short walk to Cades Cove’s oldest preserved cabin.Parkwolf’s Great Smoky Mountains ranking
The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.
