A new front porch at LeConte

Architect's rendering of the newest building on Mount Le Conte

Decades of guests have been welcomed to LeConte Lodge in a recreation hall and office built by Herrick Brown in the early 1970s. That's where hikers checked in, bought T-shirts, and gauged the frost-bitten thermometer. Each night after sunset, guests would gather inside for sing-a-longs.

This fellowship was lost the last two seasons, as the cantilevered cabin fell victim to design and construction flaws and the toll of mountaintop weather. Steel braces held up the west wall, but national park engineers found that the building was beyond repair, and in the coming weeks they will tear it down. Meanwhile, the cramped dining room has been used for recreation and souvenir sales.

Now, the national park service and the concessionaire LeConte Lodge are taking a big step to restore the old-time experience. On Wednesday, July 8, they announced that the old building will soon be torn down and a new recreation hall will open in 2027. The new hall will include a gift shop, guest registration desk, and a north-facing deck (approximate elevation 6,400) overlooking the Tennessee Valley more than a mile below. It will be built in the same terrace where Brown's cabin has stood.

The office project was originally conceived in 1968 as a possible replacement for the 1939 dining hall. Brown operated a sawmill and milled timber from trees that grew on the mountain. The basement included the lodge's first flush toilets.

Because the lodge is accessible only by road, timbers and other construction materials are being airlifted to the lodge, starting July 14. The lodge will remain open for overnight guests, but hikers will be redirected while the airlift is underway.

This will be the first new guest accommodations at the lodge since 1984, when Jim Huff opened the East Lodge on the site of his uncle Jack Huff's original 1925 cabin. In the early 2000s, the lodge added porches to the single-room cabins and built facilities for storage and crew.

If you want to know more about the history of LeConte Lodge, order our centennial book.

The "old office" with the famous thermometer under the porch.