Dan Lawson Place

Dan Lawson Place is a Cades Cove homestead with a main house, smokehouse, and granary. The 1856 log house was expanded with framed additions and later siding, so its walls tell a visible story of change. Stop if you like architecture and everyday history; this is a quick look around farm buildings, not a full museum visit.

The homestead is about seven miles into the 11-mile one-way Cades Cove Loop Road, just past Hyatt Lane, with paved parking beside it. It makes an easy short stop on a drive that takes two to four hours for the whole loop. The road is typically closed to vehicles on Wednesdays from May through September, so check the current schedule before setting out.

The side view makes the original logs, later frame additions, and siding easiest to compare. The brick chimney was made with bricks fired on site, unusual for the time and area. The smokehouse stands closest to the house; follow the dirt path about 30 feet farther to the granary. For a photo, include the side wall and chimney together so the building phases read in one frame.

Lawson was Cades Cove postmaster for more than 25 years, and the post office occupied the house’s center room. A small porch room with an interior window may have been where neighbors collected mail, or it may have served as Lawson’s Justice of the Peace office. In the 1890s, Lawson and other residents built a telephone line into the cove; people without a phone at home could use the one at his store.