06/08/2026
This post will try to answer the questions I have received recently about the "making of" and topics discussed on the "Voices of Cades Cove" documentary series. I will say that it takes a village. The outcome would not be what it is today without the former residents and descendants and historians and protectors of all things Cades Cove who participated, throughout our journey by times, 1994 - 2026. Yes, that's 32 years!
Main contacts lending encouragement in the early days, were Judy Sparks Kilby and George Hubert Sullivan in the mid-1990s, then Gloria Motter in the early 2000s and beyond, then nearing the mid-2000s and beyond, Verna Lee Burchfield Myers, Richard Anderson, Stephen Weber, Ken Garland, Gladys Oliver Burns, Larry Sparks, Bernard Myers, Ruth Caughron Davis, Inez McCauley Adams, Gene LeQuire, Gordon E. Wright, Sr., and many more.
Many Cades Cove former residents and descendants provided invaluable contributions including family photos and stories, research, in-person and audio interviews, items to be photographed by us, demonstrations, discussions, meetings, reflections, and some were generous with their time for draft reviews of the programs prior to release. We wove all of that into other interviews and assistance from National Park Service and others into our own research, for which much filming was done over so many years.
After much consideration, we decided to approach the story as we go along the Loop Road, because to tell it chronologically would have negatively impacted the continuity of the piece. We would have to zigzag all over the Cove and back again. So, we decided to tell the story as we are going around the Loop Road, because that is how everyone sees it today. The Loop Road became an actual character in the story.
Scripting and filming took many years because we did these types of projects in our spare time, as both of us were fulltime employed elsewhere. Each piece of the entire project had always to be developed with an eye on all the rest of the pieces to follow. Now, I will need to find that one thread that holds the last program together, and re-edit Voices 10, weaving it into the larger picture.
The "Voices..." project tells the enormous story of a typical small American farming community of its time, including many topics:
- the Appalachians, the Cherokee, roads and railroads, trails, guns, hunting, geology, the creeks, floods, caves, quarries, ore and forges
- the cabins, storekeepers, churches and preachers, cemeteries and burials, schools and teachers, barns, mail carriers, mills and stills of yesteryear, horses and riding stables of modern times
- the daily life, growing up in Cades Cove, livestock, herding on the high mountain meadows (the balds), births and deaths, illnesses, doctors, farming, chores, clothes, cooking, music, family traditions, harvests, good times and hard times, and the harsh winters deep with mountain snows
- the impact that wars and other events of national importance had on Cades Cove, such as the Civil War, World War I, the Great Depression, the Civilian Conservation Corps, the formation of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the eviction and displacement of Cove families, and World War II following the bombing of Pearl harbor
- the nearby communities with links to Cades Cove such as Hazel Creek, Chestnut Flats, the White Oak Sinks, Townsend, Walland, Knoxville, etc.
- the different ways that the history of Cades Cove is preserved and shared today with reunions, presentations, displays, museums, events, books, videos, etc.
I want to thank everyone who helped us with this important and factual history of the people of Cades Cove and hope we will stay in touch for many years to come. I hope this sheds light on the making of Voices and what it is all about. I regret that Part 10 has taken so long due to medical issues; however, I believe that it will absolutely get done! - Kate
