A Little Bit Of Starkeytown History

Starkey’s Homestead is named for our family (The Starkeys) who homesteaded here in the late 1800s from a government land grant in Civil War times. Elaine and I are the great-great granddaughters of Andy Starkey, who lived in what is now the National Park on land behind Starkey’s Homestead. The old chimney of the home is barely standing now, but you can see a great picture of it in the back bedroom to the left. We spent much of our childhood on this property because it’s where our father grew up. Our late Daddy met our beautiful Mommy as a neighbor (our Mommy grew up in the little shack where the Wild Side Cabin is today). We spent more time with our Aunt Helen than we did at home, hearing stories about tobacco farming, how Granny cooked for an entire logging camp when she married Pap at the age of 13, Pap’s mules, bear hunting, quilting and looming. Neither of us ever managed the art of quilting, but I (Regina) did fall in love with photography.

Aunt Helen’s house (now called Starkey’s Homestead) was originally built in 1976 after our great-grandfather passed away. According to the story, Pap was so stressed over the government reclaiming 300 acres for National Park that he had a heart attack one evening in the loft of the barn while feeding his mules. He made it back down to the house and lay in our great-grandmother’s arms while he passed away. Back then, it took a lot longer for emergency services to reach this area. Granny wrote love letters to Pap for years after his passing. They are now some of our most treasured historic memorabilia. Aunt Helen and Uncle Homer built their house on the hill above Granny’s in 1976 and lived there happily until passing away within four months of each other in 2012. It was at that time I inherited the property and moved in after an extensive remodel.

Another completely secluded cabin in Starkeytown is Little Mountain Hideaway. This little rustic cabin treasure belongs to my sister, Elaine. Our precious Daddy built it in the late 1990s where he and our sweet Mommy escaped to rekindle the flames from time-to-time. After Daddy passed in 2005, my sister eventually inherited this historic property and continued its amazing reputation as a secluded mountain getaway. She continues to make updates and one of my favorite things she did to this cabin was the beautiful, tiled shower in one of the bathrooms. Her modern cabin sits on the old homestead of “Uncle Jesse Starkey”, who fought on the Union side in the Civil War. It is close to what we also call the “Billy Holler”, where Uncle William Starkey lived. One of my most treasured photographs I’ve taken over the years is a set of boots I found when exploring the abandoned cabin in the 1980’s. It won a blue ribbon at the Sevier County Fair and gave me the confidence I needed to continue the journey toward professional photography.

That, in a 200+ year compression, is our little story of how our property came to be. If our centuries-old and historically rich property can serve a beautiful purpose for your wedding or get-together, we would love to have you become part of our history as well! Your visits here will only add to the legacy of love started centuries ago and validate that the Smokies are best enjoyed away from extreme commercialism.

See our vacation rentals at these links below:
* Starkey’s Homestead
* Mountain Hideaway
* The Wild Side Cabin

See our shop at https://starkeytownsisters.com/index.php/shop/.

Contact us today for any questions about any of the above at https://honeysucklehills.com/contact-regina/.