Parking
Use the paved roadside pullout on Cades Cove Loop Road about five miles into the loop, just past Cooper Road Trailhead. The pullout is the trail start. A parking tag is required for vehicles parked longer than 15 minutes.
Overview
About Elijah Oliver Place Trail
Why go
- A short approach reaches a cluster of historic farm buildings
- The springhouse is a rare surviving part of Cades Cove’s farmstead landscape
Heads up
- Uneven rocks and roots, plus one stream crossing
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Great Smoky Mountains map
Full mapElevation1,742–1,778 ft
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
Safety
7 active Great Smoky Mountains alerts
- ClosureHurricane Helene backcountry trail closures and hazardsHurricane Helene damage has closed backcountry trails and left hazardous crossings; avoid closed routes and heed trail-specific restrictions.Official details
- CautionBear-related trail, road, shelter, and campsite restrictionsBear activity has closed trails, a shelter, and campsites and restricted pedestrian access on Cherokee Orchard Road; follow the vehicle restrictions and avoid closed areas.Official details
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Great Smoky Mountains Tour Guide
Your drive to Elijah Oliver Place Trail, narrated.
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 trailhead
Elijah Oliver Place0:00 / 0:31
“You're coming up on the path to Elijah Oliver Place, a farmstead reached by a half-mile walk each way. Allow forty-five minutes to an hour for the uneven path and a look around.”
Plays as you drive up to this trailhead in the Parkwolf Great Smoky Mountains Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- Abrams Falls Trailhead
- Cable Mill Historic Area
- Cades Cove Missionary Baptist Church
- Henry Whitehead Place
- 188 audio storiesacross Great Smoky Mountains’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
- Wildlife heatmapsfor Black Bear, Elk, Bald Eagle, and 13 more
- Works offlinemaps, 197 trails, 100 places, and audio download before you lose signal
- CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Trail guide
Hiking Elijah Oliver Place Trail
A short walk to the farmsteadElijah Oliver Place Trail is an out-and-back of about 1 mile round trip, with the historic…
Elijah Oliver Place Trail is an out-and-back of about 1 mile round trip, with the historic homesite about 0.5 mile from the roadside start. The wide path climbs gradually over dirt, gravel, rocks and roots, with one stream crossing. Follow the access trail straight at the Wet Bottom Trail junction, then return the same way. Allow roughly 45 to 60 minutes for the walk and a look around the buildings.
At the Oliver farmsteadThe destination is a group of working farm buildings, not just a cabin: a dog-trot house, corn…
The destination is a group of working farm buildings, not just a cabin: a dog-trot house, corn crib, smokehouse, springhouse and barn. The dog-trot cabin joins two rooms with a breezeway under one roof. A spring runs beneath the springhouse, which is the only one still standing in Cades Cove.
Oliver’s storyElijah Oliver was born in 1824.
Elijah Oliver was born in 1824. During the Civil War, he moved his family to Tuckaleechee Cove to escape attacks by Confederate supporters and rebel groups from North Carolina. He returned after the war and bought this farmstead property in 1865. A small room off the porch, called a stranger room, gave overnight visitors a separate place to stay; rooms like it were common in Cades Cove.
Getting thereStart at the paved pullout on Cades Cove Loop Road, about five miles along and just past Cooper…
Start at the paved pullout on Cades Cove Loop Road, about five miles along and just past Cooper Road Trailhead. A parking tag is required if you leave a vehicle parked for more than 15 minutes. Pets are not allowed on this trail; trained service animals are permitted.
Wildlife
Wildlife in Great Smoky Mountains
1,566 sightingsBlack BearMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
899 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.
