Gatlin's Gateway

Gatlinburg is known to millions as a mountain getaway for families, honeymooners, adventurers, and those seeking a soulful lift that only the Smoky Mountains can deliver. But long before this charming town was known as Gatlinburg, it was White Oak Flats, which began with Martha Ogle's first steps onto the fertile soil in 1807.

What made the people of Gatlinburg so special? What makes their history so meaningful and inspiring? Through exhaustive research, Gatlin's Gateway delves deep into their unique past. Though a work of fiction, the people described are real, as are all major events. Within these pages are historical facts and exact quotes taken from some of the best sources, some from the very memoirs of the people themselves.

With writing as beautiful as the Smoky Mountains, readers can step back into the early 1800s to meet Martha Ogle, the woman who started it all - a widow determined to fulfill her late husband's dream of settling in a "land of paradise". Join these early residents as they face the wildness of the mountains, Indians and the Trail of Tears, a radical newcomer in the form of Radford Gatlin, the Civil War, frostbite, tourists, logging, railroads, and other monumental events in American history.

The town now known as Gatlinburg began 133 years before the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was dedicated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. What began as a humble cabin and farm deep in the embrace of white oaks, became a gateway to an entire way of life.