At an elevation of 6,593 feet, Mount LeConte is the third highest peak in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. LeConte Lodge® is located west of the summit at 6,360 feet elevation. Although LeConte Lodge® is now under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service, it predates the national park’s establishment in 1934. In 1925, when the movement to establish a national park in the Smokies was in full sway, a tent camp atop Mt. LeConte was erected by Paul Adams to entertain visiting dignitaries from Washington, D.C. Jack Huff, a Gatlinburg mountaineer and founder of the lodge, began constructing the rustic retreat in 1926. Jack, along with wife Pauline and their family, continued to operate the lodge until 1960. Huff constructed many of the existing buildings still in use today.
Herrick and Myrtle Brown owned and operated the lodge from 1960 to 1975. At that time, logging for wood burning stoves and use of horses at the lodge were still a common practice. Shared ownership of the lodge occurred from 1976 to 1989 between the likes of Jim Huff, Hugh Ogle, and Bill Rinearson. It was during that time the lodge began utilizing pack llamas for weekly provisions instead of horses and mules. Cabins were no longer heated by burning wood, but via kerosene stoves.
The Stokely family began its tenure of lodge ownership and operational oversight in 1989. It is currently a limited partnership between Stokely Hospitality Enterprises and Tim Line. It is during this time that the lodge switched to propane and limited solar power as its means of energy dependency. Tim Line has been the longest serving steward of LeConte Lodge, beginning as crew in 1976 and retiring from management responsibilities in spring 2018. John Northrup assumed the role of General Manager in autumn 2017 and has been with the Lodge since 2010. In recent decades, Stokely Hospitality Enterprises has operated several quality food and lodging establishments across neighboring Sevier and Knox counties, one of which includes the famous Applewood Farmhouse Restaurant, Sevierville’s oldest restaurant.
