In the late 1800s, Elkmont was a lumber town - used as a transport center for the logs stripped from the nearby mountains in the rush to profit from the huge hard wood giants. The lumber town was displaced by wealthy families from Tennessee wanting a respite from the heat of the cities. They established the "Appalachian Club" - an exclusive group of homes for the Knoxville elite. During the 1920s the land was acquired by the National Park Service. The Park Service allowed the residents to live out the remainder of their lives on the land in exchange for a lower price. The future of the homes is uncertain - the Park Service hopes to restore some of the more historically significant homes leaving the others to revert back to their natural state. This is a photo essay of those homes before they become reclaimed by the forest.