Before LeConte Lodge was born

As LeConte Lodge prepares for its 100th birthday celebration, here's a 1923 adventure by the Chicago professor who became the lodge's first paying guest back on July 16, 1925. This is a story we were seeking when we wrote LeConte Lodge / A Centennial History of a Smoky Mountain Landmark.

Guide Wiley Oakley and soggy Chicagoans Gertrude Schwass, Frank Freels, and Jennie Russ camped on Mount Le Conte in 1923 (Orpheus Schantz photo, Appalachian State University archives)