Spence Cabin
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 16:43 UTC
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 15 notices
In the agency’s own words
Spence Cabin is an ideal place to hold a small family gathering or family reunion away from the hustle and bustle of nearby towns. It is also an excellent location for a meeting or training session for a small group of people, or for a small wedding or reception. The outdoor patios are great places to relax and enjoy the beautiful atmosphere of the Great Smoky Mountains. The cabin is situated within the Elkmont Historic District, which was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994. Keep reading
Recreation
There are numerous hiking trails within or near Elkmont, including the Little River, Jakes Creek and Laurel Falls Trails. The lower section of the Little River Trail is an old roadbed and relatively easy to hike. The Laurel Falls Trail is paved and accessible. The self-guided Elkmont Nature Trail is nearby. The most unique feature of the area is the Elkmont Historic District with a number of cabins still standing. Fishing is popular both above and below Elkmont.
Facilities
The cabin has four small meeting rooms ranging in size from 118 to 165 square feet. One larger room is 432 square feet, and has a gas fireplace. The rooms have between two and six electric outlets. There is also a warming kitchen, which contains a refrigerator and microwave oven. No cook stove is available, but electrical outlets can be used for warming devices such as slow cookers. The lighting is consistent with the historic use of the cabin and is rather dim. The building has no heat or air conditioning, but it does have ceiling fans in the main room and screened porch, as well as a gas fireplace in the main room. Most of the cabin is accessible, with the exception of the riverside patio. Two bathrooms are available, one of which is accessible. A 192 square foot screened outdoor porch faces the Little River, as does a nice stone patio. A smaller patio is located on the bank of the Little River. Parking for nine cars is located about 100 yards from the cabin, with an additional two spaces located at the cabin. Furnishings are limited to 40 folding chairs, four 6-foot diameter round tables, eight 2.5-by-6 foot rectangular tables and six rocking chairs. Guests may set up the furniture in any configuration that will suit their needs. Guests may also wish to bring additional items such as a portable gas barbecue grill, slow cookers and lawn chairs.
Natural Features
The Elkmont Historic District sits in a relatively flat and narrow valley at the confluence of Jakes Creek and the Little River. It encompasses a tract in a montane alluvial forest, which occurs primarily within the floodplains of the Little River and its tributary, Bearwallow Creek. The valley is surrounded by steep ridges, including Sugarland Mountain to the east, Meigs Mountain to the west, Blanket Mountain to the south and Cove Mountain to the north.
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 9 designated parking spaces allocated to Spence Cabin during their reservation do not need a parking tag. Vehicles parking outside of the 9 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 cabin is available for daily use from 10a.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 · 12
Day use fee is $200 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 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 park dispatch at 865 436 1294 when entering the park.
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets
- ACCESSIBLE FLUSH TOILETS on 1 of 1 campsite records
- Drinking water
- Yes
- DRINKING WATER on 1 of 1 campsite records
Around the campground
- On the water
- River, Creek
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Historic site
- Fall color · reported 3 days ago, 1.7 km away
- No change
Full this Saturdayread 16:43 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 Thu, Oct 22. read 16:43 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 · 16
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 · 16 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 16:43 UTC · rules read Oct 1, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
1 records · the site map
All 1 records
| SPENCE CABIN | Spence Cabin | day use | 15 amp | yes | 108 ft | $200 |
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
Appalachian ClubhouseGreat Smoky Mountains National Park · 0.2 mi
Elkmont CampgroundGreat Smoky Mountains National Park · 0.5 mi
Elkmont Group CampGreat Smoky Mountains National Park · 0.7 mi
Metcalf Bottoms Picnic PavilionGreat Smoky Mountains National Park · 4.5 mi
Cades Cove Group CampgroundGreat Smoky Mountains National Park · 5.3 mi
Deep Creek CampgroundGreat Smoky Mountains National Park · 5.3 miSpence Cabin is located near Elkmont Campground. Drive south from Gatlinburg, TN on Newfound Gap Road (U.S. 441) for 1.7 miles and turn right onto Little River Road toward Cades Cove. Proceed 5 miles to 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). After crossing the bridge, take the second left into the parking lot. Parking for Spence Cabin will be on your right as you make the loop through the parking lot. (The 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
Spence Cabin 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 Spence Cabin, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee
Dear Diana Harshbarger, I’m a constituent in Tennessee’s 1st district. I tried to camp at Spence Cabin, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee, and couldn’t. Every site at Spence Cabin 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. Spence Cabin keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Spence Cabin. 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 Spence Cabin (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 Spence Cabin, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee
Dear Bill Hagerty, I’m a constituent in Tennessee. I tried to camp at Spence Cabin, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee, and couldn’t. Every site at Spence Cabin 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. Spence Cabin keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Spence Cabin. 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 Spence Cabin (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 Spence Cabin, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee
Dear Marsha Blackburn, I’m a constituent in Tennessee. I tried to camp at Spence Cabin, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee, and couldn’t. Every site at Spence Cabin 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. Spence Cabin keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Spence Cabin. 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 Spence Cabin (Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee) via campanac.com