Length: 1.1 Miles
Difficulty: Easy
The Walker Sisters Cabin Trail is an easy 1.1 mile walk along a dirt and gravel service road. The Walker Sisters were a group of five sisters well known in the Smoky Mountains as being the last holdouts of those living in the National Park.
When the government began purchasing the land from settlers for the purpose of forming the National Park, the five Walker Sisters resisted. They eventually sold the land to the government in exchange for a life long leasehold on this cabin. The sisters used the land for nearly all of their needs.
The trail to their cabin and barn is located just past the Little Greenbrier school along a gated service road. The 1.1 mile hike brings visitors alongside thick rhododendron and mountain laurel before reaching a switchback intersection with Little Brier Gap Trail.
From this intersection, the homestead is only a few hundred yards away. Once at the cabin, watch for rattle snakes, they can be very active in this area during the warmer months. They may be especially likely near the spring house.
Nearby Trails:
Little Brier Gap Trail – 1.4 miles to Little Greenbrier Trail
Metcalf Bottoms Trail – 0.6 miles from Little Greenbrier School to Metcalf Bottoms picnic area
Directions:
From the Metcalf Bottoms Trail cross over the wooden bridge continue along the road towards Wears Valley. Follow road signs towards the right turn in to Little Greenbrier School.
[…] Walker Sisters Cabin – 1.1 miles: Near the parking area at Little Greenbrier School is another hiking trail to the Walker Sisters Cabin. I highly recommend combining these two hikes together, or if you must choose between one or the other, drive to Little Greenbrier School to see the school, and then hike the Walker Sisters Cabin trail. […]
It may interest some local hikers to know that my wife and I were assigned to the Walker cabin for the next few months or more as GSMNP Volunteer Preservationists. We will visit the cabin area several times a year to do cleanup and preservation activities. The cabin is now on the National Register as an historic place.
Safe hiking all!
The story of the Walker Sisters is fascinating. Glad I came across their story.
Mr. Miller, that is interesting even to an Ohioan who may never visit and only learned of this story through Bing’s main page. But if I ever do have my dream, I will live in the foothills of that great range in Loudoun County, Northern Virginia. With….I might add, amenities the sisters did not choose to have. But I will mix it up with a couple dairy goats and some hens. My admiration to them and my prayers for joy and safety for your wife and you on this worthwhile adventure.
I wandered over here from the bing homepage also, thinking how wonderful it would be to hike this area in the fall. I wish the auto traffic getting there wasn’t so absolutely horrific.
hi we will be there this next week. could you possibly give me directions on how to get to the house? do we drive ,park, then walk ?
My Aunt and uncle just traveled to the walker sisters place and said it was beautiful..but along their way they came across an old man, that they asked, how much farther they had to go..the “mysterious” man answered “not far” and they didn’t suspect anything odd till after they got to where they were going as they were exhausted themselves from walking the trail..they thought how could this “old man” (they thought to be in his 80s” be on a trail such as this?..after hearing stories of other people seeing the man, it was thought to them that it was a spirit..I was just wondering (as I’m fascinated with this story) if anyone else has seen or heard of stories of an old man on this trail??..
Thank you,
Danny