Appalachian Clubhouse
We don’t think it should be. Every campground should hold some sites for whoever drives up.Tell your representative →
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 15 of the next 15 nights read 16:09 UTC
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 16 notices
In the agency’s own words
The Appalachian Clubhouse is a historic building constructed in 1934 in the Elkmont Historic District. The structure has been rehabilitated by the National Park Service to closely resemble its 1930's appearance, with the addition of few modern amenities such as electricity and running water. The building was originally used a gathering spot by lessees and guests of the Appalachian Club whose members, mostly from Knoxville, built rustic cabins nearby to serve as weekend or summer retreats in the years before the Park was created. Today the 3,000 square foot clubhouse provides an excellent location for meetings, events and celebrations with the added charm of exposed wooden beams and massive stone fireplaces at each end, equipped with gas logs. Keep reading
Recreation
Most visitors to the clubhouse host parties or meetings in the expansive, historic space. Although the clubhouse features a few modern amenities, it is still quite rustic in comparison to most venues and requires careful event planning prior to arrival. Tablecloths, tableware, projectors, screens, extensions cords, paper towels, etc. are not provided and must be brought by the renter. Visitors preparing for an event may not pin or tape decorations, balloons, banners, directional signage, etc. anywhere in the park. To ensure visitors arrive safely at the event location, provide guests with directions prior to their departure. Individuals wishing to reserve the Clubhouse for a wedding, wedding reception and/or wedding photography, will need an additional Special Use Permit and may click here for more information.
Facilities
The 3,000 sq ft. clubhouse features a large, open meeting hall (60' x 25') with french doors along the entire east side, opening onto a broad, roofed porch with rocking chairs, overlooking the forest and a small creek. There is no heating or air conditioning at the Clubhouse, but the Ballroom does provide four ceiling fans and 12 electrical outlets, in addition to an outlet in each room. The Clubhouse is furnished with 12 (60") round tables seating 8 people each, 8 (3'x6') rectangular tables and 110 folding chairs to go with them. A sofa and chairs at one of the fireplaces, provides a nice sitting area, but no other furnishings are provided. The Appalachian Clubhouse does not have a kitchen or cooking facilities like a stove or refrigerator, but there is a double sink with hot and cold running water and a warming kitchen (168 sq ft.) with 32 sq ft. of counter space. Six electrical outlets in the warming kitchen can be used to keep food warm and accommodate catering. There are no restrooms inside the main building, but accessible restrooms with cold running water, flush toilets, electric lights and hand dryers are located about 150 ft. from the building.
Natural Features
The Appalachian Clubhouse is located in the southern portion of Elkmont in an historic district referred to as "Daisy Town," between the mouths of Jakes Creek and Bearwallow Branch. The facility is surrounded by the lush forests and steep ridges of Tennessee's Upper Little River Valley, and provides no shortage of both scenic and historic attractions within walking distance of the clubhouse.
Nearby Attractions
Two popular trailheads: Jakes Creek and Little River, are located near the clubhouse. The adjacent Elkmont Campground offers traditional outdoor camping. Gatlinburg, a one of the Smokies' famous tourist towns, is located a short drive from the clubhouse, offering tours, organized rafting trips, museums, restaurants, galleries, an aquarium, skiing and more.
What the agency tells you
A valid parking tag is required for any vehicle parking for more than 15 minutes in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Visitors occupying the 15 designated parking spaces allocated to Appalachian Clubhouse during their reservation do not need a parking tag. Vehicles parking outside of the 15 designated parking spaces will need a parking tag. *Learn more at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park website.
Over the last 10 years, an average of 339 negative human-bear encounters have been reported each year; many more go unreported. Visitors should be aware that high bear activity can occur in any area, and that your safety is not guaranteed. To increase your odds for a safe visit, please follow best practices for living and recreating in bear habitat. Stay alert and be prepared to react appropriately during possible encounters, and always report any unusual bear interactions as soon as possible.
The Clubhouse is available for daily use from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. between April 1 and October 31. A reservation is required and may be made up to one year in advance.
Everything else this campground posts · 13
Facility available for rental for day-use from 10 AM to 8 PM. Day use fee is $300 per day. An additional $400 refundable security deposit is due at booking and will be refunded if the facility is left in good condition. Refund of security deposit will be authorized 5-7 business days after reservation date. Refunds are returned via original method of payment.
Clean-up of the grounds, building, and furnishings is the responsibility of the guest. Furnishings must be returned to their original storage location. Guests are required to sweep and mop. General cleaning supplies and step ladders are provided.
Visitors must check in with park staff at the Elkmont Campground Office between 10 am to 4 pm (EST), no exceptions. Park staff will present the historical structure rules with the door code for the day. Check out time is by 8 pm, no exceptions.
Visitors are encouraged to carpool or consider shuttling guests from outside the park. Shuttle vehicles may not exceed 25 in length. Event-Directional Signs inside the park are prohibited.
Outside paths are not lighted. Visitors should bring flashlights for night use.
Candles, oil lamps and open flame devices are prohibited. Portable fire pits, stoves and grills are prohibited. Portable heating devices, electric or otherwise, are prohibited.
There is no heat or air conditioning in the building.
Decorations are permitted, provided they do not harm the structure (no staples, tape, nails, screws, tacks, hooks, etc.) Carpet runners, balloons, garden arches-stands-risers-arbors or similar unnatural props, fireworks, fog machines, bubbles, silly string, or any other such materials are prohibited. Glitter, Rice, and Seeds are prohibited.
Alcohol is permitted in the cabin and on the patios, consistent with state law and park regulations.
Smoking is prohibited in all federal buildings. Pets are prohibited in all federal buildings.
There is no cell phone service in the Elkmont area; the nearest limited coverage is about 3 miles away at Maloney Point.
Weddings and wedding receptions require a separate permit in addition to the cabin reservation; check the park website for Wedding and Special Event Permits. Guests are prohibited from throwing any substance ( rice, seeds, glitter, confetti, flower pedals, and any similar substances.)
Caterers should call the park dispatch at 865 436 1294 when entering the park
Around the campground
- On the water
- River, Creek
- Visitor center
- Night sky · 61st darkest of 95 in TN
- Bortle 4
- Fall color · reported 3 days ago, 1.5 km away
- No change
Full this Saturdayread 16:09 UTC
The agency files 1 record here and marks it day use, not overnight. On its own record there’s nothing here to spend the night in. How full the weekend is nationally.
3 campgrounds have sites open within 30 miles, read 16:02 UTC. See them
OpenBooked
The one site on offer is taken this Saturday. 1 is free on Mon, Oct 19. read 16:09 UTC Why the weekend fills and the week doesn’t
Watch for a cancellation
Watch this campground
One email when a night opens, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We read recreation.gov once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time a site in your window is free for the nights you asked for.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
Tell me when the season opens
Watch for the season to open
One email when the season goes on sale, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We check once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time the agency has that season on sale.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 15
What you actually pay
Who keeps the booking fee
The agency’s own policy text says the reservation fee and the cancellation processing fee are “retained by the reservation service contractor”, and that a campground concessionaire will decline to refund them because “they did not receive these fees”. Recreation.gov is run under contract by Booz Allen Hamilton. What share of your booking fee the contractor keeps isn’t published in any federal dataset we can read, so we print no number for it. Our reporting on the contract →
How we know this receipt · 5
Open within 30 miles this weekend · 3
Sites the agency is offering this Friday and Saturday that nobody has taken, nearest first. read 16:02 UTC
- Smokemont CampgroundGreat Smoky Mountains National Park · 17 mi · 1 of 274 site-nights open
- Look Rock CampgroundGreat Smoky Mountains National Park · 20 mi · 1 of 130 site-nights open
- Cosby CampgroundGreat Smoky Mountains National Park · 22 mi · 1 of 124 site-nights open
recreation.gov availability, read 16:09 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
1 records · the site map
All 1 records
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 1 of the 1 sites listed. A site with no reading is unknown, never far.
| APPALACHIAN CLUBHOUSE | Appalachian Clubhouse | day use | 25 ft | 15 amp | yes | 105 ftBearwallow Branch | 169 ft | $300 |
The agency files 1 more record here that isn’t a site for the night. It files it as day use. It’s in the table above, marked for what it is, and it isn’t counted as a site.
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Spence CabinGreat Smoky Mountains National Park · 0.2 mi
Elkmont CampgroundGreat Smoky Mountains National Park · 0.4 mi
Elkmont Group CampGreat Smoky Mountains National Park · 0.5 mi
Metcalf Bottoms Picnic PavilionGreat Smoky Mountains National Park · 4.2 mi
Cades Cove Group CampgroundGreat Smoky Mountains National Park · 5.5 mi
Deep Creek CampgroundGreat Smoky Mountains National Park · 5.5 miProceed south from Gatlinburg, TN on Newfound Gap Road (aka US 441) 1.7 miles and turn right onto Little River Road towards Cades Cove. Proceed 5 miles to the Elkmont (Campground) Road and turn left. Go. 1.4 miles and turn left just before the campground office (sign says: Elkmont Nature Trail 0.3, Little River Trail 0.6 and Jakes Creek Trail.). Follow the road to Jakes Creek and continue on around the one-way loop to the Appalachian Club. (Nearest street address is 500 Elkmont Road, Gatlinburg, TN)
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Gatlinburg, TN
Typical weather
Typical October night 44°F, day 69°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 27°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.
Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or more
A normal is the 1991-2020 average for the month, not a forecast: about half of all Julys are colder than the July line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.
The land, and who answers for it
what threatens it · who answers for it · a letter you can send
What threatens this place
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Appalachian Clubhouse is in Tennessee’s 1st congressional district. Its representative, Diana Harshbarger (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →
Who can change it · 3
Two offices, two different asks. The draft to the agency asks it to set aside a published share of the sites here for whoever drives up. The draft to Congress asks why that share is zero and presses for a published minimum at the campgrounds it funds.
- The member who votes the moneyDiana HarshbargerU.S. Representative · Tennessee’s 1st district
- Your senator, on the same appropriationBill HagertyU.S. Senator · Tennessee
- Your senator, on the same appropriationMarsha BlackburnU.S. Senator · Tennessee
Read the draft, or change the wording
For the camper who turned up, or tried to book, and couldn’t get in. Every draft is written from this campground’s own record (its agency, its unit, its site count and its own weekend) and the buttons above copy whichever wording is selected here.
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Appalachian Clubhouse, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee
Dear Diana Harshbarger, I’m a constituent in Tennessee’s 1st district. I tried to camp at Appalachian Clubhouse, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee, and couldn’t. Every site at Appalachian Clubhouse is reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, the one site recreation.gov was offering there was already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Appalachian Clubhouse keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Appalachian Clubhouse. I’m asking you to put it to the National Park Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Appalachian Clubhouse (Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Appalachian Clubhouse, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee
Dear Bill Hagerty, I’m a constituent in Tennessee. I tried to camp at Appalachian Clubhouse, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee, and couldn’t. Every site at Appalachian Clubhouse is reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, the one site recreation.gov was offering there was already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Appalachian Clubhouse keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Appalachian Clubhouse. I’m asking you to put it to the National Park Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Appalachian Clubhouse (Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Appalachian Clubhouse, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee
Dear Marsha Blackburn, I’m a constituent in Tennessee. I tried to camp at Appalachian Clubhouse, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee, and couldn’t. Every site at Appalachian Clubhouse is reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, the one site recreation.gov was offering there was already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Appalachian Clubhouse keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Appalachian Clubhouse. I’m asking you to put it to the National Park Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Appalachian Clubhouse (Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee) via campanac.com