Found! The Holy Grail of LeConte Lodge

Professor Orpheus Schantz (fourth from left) on a 1927 field trip to the Smokies with stylish University of Chicago students (University of Chicago archives).

When Mike Hembree and I published our centennial history of LeConte Lodge, we had to leave some chapters unwritten. At that time, we were unable to find accounts from Professor Orpheus Schantz, who was the first paying guest at the mountaintop camp opened by Paul Adams in 1925.

Now, we've finally gained a glimpse of that story,. which includes some previously unpublished images.

The lodge celebrated its 100th season last year, but July 16-17 marks the actual centennial of the first guests.