Hazel Creek was one of the largest and most bustling communities displaced by the establishment of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The previous entry here lists 16 cemeteries located in that former community, not counting the 39 inundated by Fontana Lake. Hazel Creek was the home of Cherokee people, and later of bear-hunters, moonshiners, and revenuers. The Ritter Lumber Company brought in first land-buyers and then loggers. Hazel Creek was the site of a CCC camp and provided a workforce for the construction of Fontana Dam. Its most famous resident was Horace Kephart, the author of Our Southern Highlanders (1913) and books about camping and outdoor life. This book was a finalist for the Thomas Wolfe Memorial Literary Award. The author, Daniel S. Pierce, is a professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Asheville and the author of three previous books.
Gatlinburg, Tennessee: Great Smoky Mountains Association, 2017. 119 pages with an Index, Selected Bibliography, and photos. Trade paperback