Janice Haynes
Creekwalk Inn Bed and Breakfast and Cabins at Whisperwood Farm, Great Smoky Mountains, Cosby, TN
Historic Settler's Cove Cabin on 30 acre farm adds texture to a Gatlinburg bed and breakfast stay in the Smoky Mountains. Our first bed and breakfast guest came to this historic cabin in 1987. Tifton and I moved out to a camper on the creek and welcomed our guest into our loft bedroom! It is a unique way to begin being an innkeeper, moving out of a house with only one bath and one bedroom, so we could make room!
Today I revisited our cabin and enjoyed swinging in the porch swing. This Gatlinburg area cabin was built in the early 1800's and was in the Fox family until the 1960's, I believe. We were the 3rd in line from the original family and have preserved everything we can about the place, including the chestnut rail fence circling the maples around the yard. A spring at the foot of cliffs marks the spot where the early settler's set up their log home.
We lived at Settler's Cove for 5 years, brought our first baby home there in 1987, and our 2nd. Instead of selling, we decided to share our cabin with guests. It now sleeps up to 10, with 5 beds, 3 in the loft, one in the smokehouse, one in the living room. The bathroom has a claw foot tub and their in a hot tub in the yard near the picnic table and camp fire ring. I have to explain carefully to guests that there are 3 beds upstairs, not bedrooms! Gathering around the campfire at Settler's Cove is the perfect storytelling backdrop to share your family sagas. My Gatlinburg honeymoon cabin lovers enjoy the sense of history, walking in the meadows, dipping their toes in the icy spring that nourished the early pioneers. I played in the spring with my babies and we enjoyed freezing ourselves on hot summer days.
Hope you enjoy this poem I wrote this morning from the swing. We had an Airedale named Duffy and a few hens laying eggs. This poem is about one hen in particular who began dueting with Duffy on the porch rail. I enjoyed going back to the farm today to clean, memory hugging!
Homecoming
And could I be so
precious as to have
homecoming's wherever I go?
Here I am at Settler's Cove
on the swing
time traveling
Duffy and the chicken on the
rail singing
alternating Airedale gentle
wheezing moans so tenor
with soprano crooning of
raised beak
no dueling banjos
on this porch
the farm music we
shared each evening
our untrimmed
Airedale and our red hen
blending against
ancient wood
alternating voice
this cabin built 200 years ago
this porch to celebrate place
and a swing to undulate
with time
like tides or breaths
or heartbeats
I roam through time
here
and celebrate
moments etched
my mind seeing
multi-dimensional overlaps
of fur and feathers
smiling
Yes, you can leave the farm (Settler's Cove) and come to breakfast at our Creekwalk Inn (www.creekwalkinn.com) in Cosby...sometimes we even deliver!
Loving the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee!
Janice
