Henry Whitehead Place, Townsend, Blount County, TN

Significance: The old cabin of 1881 was built by David Shields for his sister when she returned to Cades Cove as a widow with one child. The widow was courted by Henry Whitehead, who, in his efforts to persuade her to marry him, promised to build her the finest cabin in Cades Cove according to Mr. Grossman of the National Park Service, who has studied the log cabins of this region considerably. Henry Whitehead succeeded, and the new cabin is the "ultimate" in log construction. The logs were sash-sawn at the nearby Cable Mill. The cabin is about 16 by 18 feet, which is about the largest length of log which would be sawn at a sash-saw mill.
Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: FN-12
Survey number: HABS TN-161