May 8: We spent another day in Cherokee, North Carolina. On the agenda for today was a ride on the Blue Ridge Parkway. But first, we stopped at the Oconaluftee Visitor's Center at the southern entrance to Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

The Oconaluftee Visitor's Center at the southern entrance to Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

The Oconaluftee Visitor's Center at the southern entrance to Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

This center was built in 2011 and replaced an earlier "temporary" center that was built in 1947.

Love the covered porch !

Great covered porch at the Visitor's Center.

After checking out the Visitor's Center, we headed to the Mountain Farm Museum.

The Mountain Farm Museum is a short walk from the Visitor's Center. The trail to the museum follows the Oconaluftee River.

Lots of interesting trees along the trail to the Mountain Farm Museum.

A couple of dead trees had fallen over into the Oconaluftee River.

It looks like someone carved a chair out of an old tree stump.

This large tree stump sits at the entrance to the Mountain Farm Museum. This tree was HUGE !

This is a section of the tree stump.

Heather standing next to the section of the tree trunk gives a better idea of scale.

The Mountain Farm Museum is a collection of period correct buildings collected from around Great Smoky Mountains National Park that illustrate what life was like for early settlers.

Still walking along the trail next to the Oconaluftee River.

The Oconaluftee River.

We continued along the trail past the entrance to the museum to check out the shore along the river.

Shore along the Oconaluftee River.

The Oconaluftee River.

The John Davis Cabin originally stood in the Indian Creek area near Bryson City, North Carolina. Davis moved to the area in 1885 and, along with his two eldest sons, built the cabin around 1900. It was moved to this location in the 1950s.

I was standing on the porch of the Davis Cabin looking up at the roof line and thought this view of the hand-cut shingles would make an interesting picture.

The rear of the Davis Cabin.

I wanted to take a panorama shot of this side of the museum by stitching multiple photos together. This is the Enloe Barn from 1880.

Next to the Enloe Barn is one of two corn cribs on the property.

A second corn crib sits a few yards away.

Stitching the previous photos together produced a good panorama. L - R: Enloe Barn, first corn crib (which also served as a tool shed), second corn crib, Messer apple house (background), sorghum mill and furnace (foreground).

The field shown above is behind the Enloe Barn.

The field behind the Enloe Barn was full of small bright flowers.

Flowers in the field behind the Enloe Barn.

Flowers in the field behind the Enloe Barn.

The Enloe Barn was built around 1880 by Joseph Enloe, grandson of Abraham Enloe, an early settler of the Oconaluftee Valley. This is the only building that originally stood on this property, (it was moved about 200 yards to its current location). The upper level of the barn was used to store grain and hay.

The lower level of the Enloe Barn housed livestock.

Several period horse-drawn wagons are kept in the Enloe Barn.

Another horse-drawn buggy in the Enloe Barn.

From the Enloe Barn, we headed toward the first corn crib.

Period correct farm equipment.

Fence that surrounds the garden area.

Fence that surrounds the garden area.

The outhouse.

I liked the large flowering shrub.

Not sure what it is. But I bet it looks quite nice in the spring.

I tried to make a panorama of the field in front of the Visitor's Center. Elk are often seen in this field.

The second picture of my panorama of the field.

I stitched the previous two photos together to create a panorama of the field in front of the Visitor's Center.