Dan Lawson Place

The cabin of Dan Lawson in Cades Cove.

Dan Lawson’s is believed to have built his home around 1856. The property he built his cabin on originally belonged to his father-in-law, Peter Cable. A very capable carpenter, Cable may have aided with the construction of the home, as it features some of the finest woodwork of the cabins still standing in Cades Cove.

The inside faces of the logs were hewn smooth, and the ceiling joists were dressed and beaded with a plane. Another unique feature of the cabin was its brick chimney, as this was not a common feature of homes in Cades Cove at the time the home was built. Lawson would later expand the cabin, adding a second story and a porch for the post office he ran in his home.

A smokehouse, granary, and corn crib would be added as additional structures on the property. Lawson also accumulated other properties over time, at one point owning a solid strip of land from the state line on the ridge behind the house, across the center of the Cove, to the top of the mountains in front.

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