Hidden within the forests of the Great Smoky Mountains lies a forgotten holiday haven once frequented by East Tennessee's wealthiest families. Now reduced to an eerie ghost town, Elkmont bustled with charming log cabins and plush amenities in the late 19th and 20th centuries – the community even boasted a Millionaires' Row. Captured by Leland Kent for Abandoned Southeast, let's take a trip back in time and discover why this luxury destination was so hastily abandoned... 

Knoxville's wealthiest residents flocked to the town, buying up land and erecting luxury summer cabins. In 1910 they created the private Appalachian Club and built a large clubhouse. The 3,000-square-foot structure was used as a gathering place for members and their guests, and hosted many a glittering event.

The Wonderland Hotel, a swish 50-room resort lodge, was constructed in 1912 and bought in 1919 by a group of Knoxville businessmen, who formed the exclusive Wonderland Club. Grander than the Appalachian Clubhouse, the two-storey hotel was located just above the Little River Railroad station.

As you can see from this amazing historic photo of the Wonderland Hotel lobby captured in 1938, the lodge, like the other buildings in Elkmont, was decked out in rustic decor and featured large stone and brick fireplaces, hardwood flooring and clapboard walls. The rooms were filled with country-style furniture, including homely rocking chairs and wooden sofas.

Vacationers and their guests also congregated around the stone fountain in front of the hotel, as shown in this photo taken some time in the 1920s or 1930s. While the fountain has survived to the present day, it's losing the fight with Mother Nature so you'll need to be eagle-eyed to spot it.

Sadly, this is all that remains of the upscale Wonderland Hotel. The building collapsed in 2005 and what was left burned to the ground in 2017 in a suspected arson attack. Several cabins were also set alight. The Appalachian Clubhouse actually succumbed to fire in 1934 but was rebuilt that same year and has since been restored for posterity. 

During the 1920s and 1930s, the resort town's heyday, Elkmont was the premier summer destination for the upper echelons of Knoxville society. On the now abandoned streets, dozens of cabins were built lining the road to the Appalachian Clubhouse. This section of Elkmont became known as Daisy Town. Other parts of the resort were dubbed Millionaires' Row and Society Hill on account of their lavish log residences.

The Avent Cabin is the second-oldest structure in the Elkmont area. Built in 1845, the cottage was acquired in 1918 by Frank Avent and his wife Mayna Treanor Avent, an artist who used the property as a studio and painted some of her most admired works there.

The area nicknamed Society Hill is located on the banks of Jake's Creek. Moneyed Knoxvillians built sprawling vacation cottages overlooking the tranquil river. Unfortunately, many of the abandoned homes here have gone to rack and ruin, with most properties slowly sliding down the mountainside. 

These days the chalet is in a sorry state of disrepair if this photo is anything to go by. In a tale of riches to ruins, debris litters the floors and windowpanes are missing from the French doors that lead out onto the porch. Still, the structure itself appears fairly robust, unlike the rickety cottages of Society Hill that line the river.

Ironically, efforts to preserve Elkmont and the surrounding wilderness led to its demise. Things started to unravel for the town in 1920, when cottage owner William P Davis, who was inspired by Yellowstone National Park, teamed up with fellow Elkmont landowner David C Chapman to campaign for the creation of a national park in the Great Smoky Mountains.

The lifetime leases were converted to 20-year leases in 1952 and renewed again in 1972. But luck was running out for the leaseholders and in 1992 the National Park Service refused to renew the contracts. The decision was influenced by environmental organisation the Sierra Club, which argued that private land ownership shouldn't be permitted within national parks. The landowners were effectively kicked out and the cabins and other structures were abandoned.

A plan devised in the 1980s called for the demolition of all structures in Elkmont to return the area to nature, but this was thwarted in 1994 when the Wonderland Hotel and several other notable structures were placed on the National Register of Historic Places, known as the Elkmont Historic District. 

Despite their protected status, little if nothing was done to preserve the endangered historic houses, which became increasingly dilapidated. The powers that be spent years debating the future of the ghost town and, as mentioned earlier, the Wonderland Hotel collapsed in 2005 as a consequence of their inaction.

At long last preservation work got under way in 2009, 15 years after Elkmont's finest structures were declared important historical monuments. The Appalachian Club was the first building in the town to get the renovation treatment and was restored to its former glory that year. 

Relics of a long-past era, many of the other historically important vacation cottages are still waiting to be brought back to life. Visitors can glimpse them from the outside but the interiors of the properties, which are seriously unsafe, are strictly out of bounds. While there's hope on the horizon, the future of the rest of Elkmont still hangs in the balance. Only time will tell if this abandoned ghost town can be brought back to life again.