The Preservation of Daisy Town
Plus, the New Madrid Earthquakes, Lake Watauga, and Bell Buckle Daffodil Day
Tonight, we head to the Volunteer State to explore an abandoned resort that originated during the early 1900s logging boom. We also revisit a historic event that temporarily reversed the Mississippi River’s flow, explore what lies beneath Lake Watauga, and preview an annual daffodil-centric festival.
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Daisy Town
Elkmont Campground Road C
Gatlinburg, Tennessee
Daisy Town developed during the later years of the logging boom, which occurred between 1901 and 1925. It served as a summer retreat for Knoxville’s elite and is frequently credited as the birthplace of tourism in the Great Smoky Mountains before the national park was established there in 1934. By the 1920s, the resort included roughly 80 rustic cabins along Jakes Creek, and was accessible via a train ride prior to 1925, when cars became the more common option.
Daisy Town’s cabins were virtually abandoned after their lifetime leases expired between 1992 and 2001. Today, 19 of those cabins have been preserved by the National Park Service. Visitors can stroll through the area, enter cabins, and reserve the Appalachian Clubhouse, built in 1912, for special events (shown in the photo at the top of this post).
If you visit Daisy Town, plan to hike the Elkmont Nature Trail, an easy 0.8-mile loop. If you’re looking for a more challenging hike, the Little River Trail is 5.4 miles out and back, and features a legendary mossy troll bridge and several historic sites.
The New Madrid Earthquakes
February 7, 1812
Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, and Arkansas
Is it possible to reverse a river’s flow? Possibly, but it takes a natural disaster to make it happen. In the early hours of February 7, 1812, the largest shock in the New Madrid earthquake sequence struck the Mississippi River Valley. This quake—which measured to be magnitude 7.4–7.7 (and possibly higher)—was the third major earthquake in a series that began in December 1811. Together, the quakes rank among the most powerful ever recorded in the continental United States.
Violent shaking toppled chimneys, destroyed the frontier town of New Madrid, Missouri, and triggered landslides along Western Tennessee’s Chickasaw Bluffs. The earthquakes also caused widespread soil liquefaction, opening huge fissures that spewed sand and water across the landscape in what are now called sand blows.
The February 7 quake dramatically reshaped the land. Ground along the Reelfoot Fault rose and sank, creating a natural basin that filled with water and formed Reelfoot Lake in northwestern Tennessee. In some areas, the land subsided 5 to 20 feet. It also produced one of the most famous geological phenomena in American history: eyewitnesses reported that the Mississippi River appeared to temporarily flow backward. In reality, the quake lifted parts of the riverbed and generated massive waves called seiches, which surged upstream and created the illusion that the river had reversed its course.
Accounts from boatmen described enormous waves and even temporary waterfalls in the Mississippi River near present-day Kentucky Bend. Boats were nearly overturned as the river churned violently during the shaking. There are even reports that church bells rang in Boston due to shaking.
Lake Watauga
Elizabethton, Tennessee
Tucked in the mountains of eastern Tennessee, Lake Watauga offers some of the region’s clearest, most vibrant waters. When the Watauga Dam was completed in 1948, the reservoir flooded the original town of Butler, Tennessee, forcing 735 families to relocate. In 1983, the lake was lowered so repairs could be made to the dam, revealing some of the town’s foundations and streets. View some of those photos here.
Today Lake Watauga’s shimmering blue surface and rugged backdrop create an unforgettable landscape—especially for Appalachian Trail hikers, since the trail runs along the lake’s western side.
Bell Buckle Daffodil Day
Saturday, March 21, 2026, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Bell Buckle, Tennessee
This annual festival, held the third Saturday in March since 1978, celebrates spring’s arrival in rural Bell Buckle with thousands of daffodils blanketing roadsides and farmlands along a 6-mile stretch. Legendarily planned as a “character-building” exercise for Webb School students over a century ago, the celebration was expanded in the 1940s. Highlights include a judged Daffodil Day Flower Show with multiple categories, an Arbor Day ceremony, the “Best of the Butts” cook-off, live music, arts and crafts, vendor booths, and family-friendly activities.
We close with a golden winter view of Cades Cove, Tennessee, by the amazing Bruce DeBoer of Raleigh, North Carolina.
Thanks for reading, and remember to always … take the long way home.
