Going My Way Episode 117: Son Carries Mother up Mount Le Conte

Mount LeConte rises six thousand five hundred ninety three feet. It's the third highest peak in the National Park. But one man has done more for the mountain than any other. Meet Jack Huff, whose love for his mother was so strong He made it up the mountain with her, strapped to his back. Going my way with Alan Williams brought to you by the Lawson Family Foundation. Planting positive seeds for the future. This is east to the sea in the early nineteen twenties courtesy of the camera of Jack Huff. It's the early days of Gatlinburg, and viewing these mountains, especially mountain caught, years before it became part of the National Park. Jack was born in nineteen o three at an early age, helped his grandfather, Andrew Jackson Huff. He went in and cleared fields of lumber. He was he had a lumber mill. Jack fell in love with Mount LeConte when a job came open on the summit as a lookout for fires. He'd always loved that mountain. I'm told that he went up there when he was eight years old. Hiked all way to the top. Well, you went up there when you were, what, four? Three months old. So I almost carried up there, of course. Jack's love for the mountain group, and he wanted to build a lodge on the ferry top. But with no roads, it would take an incredible feat to get the materials up the mountain. I know for a fact he carried loads of whatever they needed twice a day. So he was he was well fit, and they would go up over at that time, the Rainbow Falls Trail went over the top of Rainbow Falls. He used horses, even a sled. Cookie says they even haul the engine out of a model t up the mountain to saw the wood for the cabin. But the most incredible story of all is about his aging mother. She also loved the mountain. For seven months of the year, family lived on the summit. And I can never forget my mama said the quietness that they was so quiet. It hurts your ears. Later, Jack's mom suffered from cancer, and unable to climb. So we rigged up a kitchen chair. Had that chair so he strapped it and you can see in the picture of it that it's how he strapped it to back. I'm sure he had to stop many times and rest her and rest him. And I do not know how long it took him, but it was a full day of course. His mother was kind of strapped in so she wouldn't fall off. Right. That's just unbelievable. Legend has it. It took him more than five hours to hike to the top. The picture is still in the lodge on the mountain. The chair is on display in the East Tennessee History Museum in Downtown Knoxville. Jack eventually built a motel in the heart of Gatlinburg still in operation today from Andrew Jackson Huff to Jack, their legacy is now passed down to younger family members. Another thing that lives on is one that would get them all running to the dinner table. You really wanna hear it? I do. Going my way in Gatlinburg. I'm Alan Williams.