Oh wait… those are bears. That’s admittedly not the thing you want to hear while tromping through the woods in the middle of the night! Ha!
I’m a big fan of the random things you find in the Smokies – especially when they don’t have a lot of explanation. This little stone spring house was built in the 1920s on the Voorheis Estate, just outside of what would later be called the City of Gatlinburg (incorporated in 1945). Louis E Voorheis, a wealthy business man from Cincinnati, bought the property in 1928 (100 acres for $8,000!), and began developing the site to include an impressive house and collection of barns and other buildings. Mr. Voorheis intended for it to be a mountain retreat, before ultimately donating the property for the formation of the national park. That much is well known and documented, what isn’t, is why the spring house was nicknamed the House of Fairies. For sure a fanciful structure, the name fits, I guess?
The spring house’s setting is behind all the buildings of the estate, up in the woods on a steep hillside. Holly and I had visited during the day to scope the place out and so I could get an idea of what the night composition might look like. When we returned, it was DARK back there – obviously. I wasn’t wanting to draw a lot of attention to us, so we had only a small light on going back to it. As we passed by the last fence and into a small clearing before the woods start, Holly and I heard a noise, which sounded to me like a deer snorting – though noticeably lower in pitch. I didn’t think much of it when I saw eyeballs, but no bodies, and kept walking. When the animals scattered I caught a glimpse of their form and realized it was a group of bears actually! Several ran up the hill on one side of the spring house, and one or two more went to the other side. Holly thought it best we stop for a minute and let them bears get to where they were wanting to go before we proceeded to the spring house ourselves, which was now in sight. When we finally started moving again, the bears that had gone to the left ran on up the hill and joined the ones that had gone to the right, and the group disappeared up the hill. We – Holly would say thankfully – never saw them again!
Always entertaining when you go into the park at night. You never know what you might find!
–Dan Thompson