Elkmont, Tennessee – A hiker by the name of Jordan Liles from Southern California has gone public with photographs he took of an abandoned town in Tennessee back in May of 2013. At the time, he was hiking off trail in the Great Smokey Mountain Park.
Through the trees he came up on a 100-year-old abandoned town. What is significant about the finding is that the town was long ago forgotten. Liles recently updated his blog with the photographs and included video footage of the town.
The photographs show an eerie series of abandoned houses. Since making his discovery public, other hikers have also followed his directions to locate the town and photograph it. Liles has done some research on the settlement and says it was known as the “Wonderland Club” back in the day. The day he is speaking of is rural Tennessee pre-World War I or “The Great War” as it would be originally termed. It is not clear what purpose the village served other than perhaps a small ski resort town. Neither is it known how many people once resided there, and when and why it was abandoned.
That said, the mystery of the town is part of the allure in hiking to it and exploring it. In his video footage, he shows what appears to be a ski lift. In the residential part of the village, the houses seem very similar to the style of homes found throughout the South East.