Elijah Oliver Home
Elijah Oliver was born in the original Cades Cove cabin in 1824, the son of John and Luraney Oliver.  It was in this original
cabin that Elijah grew into a young man and married.  He eventually brought his bride to this site where they built the Smokies
cabin that bears his name.  Elijah lived in a time when strangers were taken in and given a meal and shelter.  Cades Cove
hospitality  was so well know that fishermen came to the cove knowing that the mountaineers would give them lodging at no
charge.  So common was this practice that many Cades Cove residents had a special room built to house the strangers
who need shelter.  Elijah Oliver was a man of charity and had a "strangers room" build onto his front porch.  Around 1900
some of the Cades Cove residents began to charge a modest rate for the room and board.