Palmer Chapel Elk
Cataloochee Valley is nestled among some of the most rugged mountains in the southeastern United States. Surrounded by 6000-foot peaks, this isolated valley was one of the largest and most prosperous settlements in what is now the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Some 1,200 people lived in this lovely mountain valley in 1910. Most made their living by farming, including commercial apple growing, but an early tourism industry developed in Cataloochee with some families boarding fishermen and other tourists who wished to vacation in the mountains.
Palmer Chapel is a small Methodist church building that was constructed in 1898 on land donated by Mary Ann Palmer. It was the only church in Big Cataloochee. The community was not large enough to support a full-time preacher, so services were held once a month whenever one of the circuit riding preachers came to town.