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                                           Jimbo Whaley and Greenbrier

The Gatlinburg Garden Club’s Lucinda Oakley Ogle Log Cabin Restoration fund to benefit from the Jimbo Whaley and The Greenbrier In Concert at the Mills Auditorium Sat. night 6-8 PM Aug. 25, 2012 during the Smoky Mountains Songwriters Festival. Tickets are $20 each sales tax included. You can purchase these tickets on line at www.smswf.com or call 865-604-9066 for tickets. The Garden Club receives a portion of the ticket sales from this concert.

    “There could not be a better event than the Smoky Mountains Songwriters Festival to help raise money and attention to the Lucinda Oakley Ogle Log Cabin Restoration fund,” noted Mary Fairbanks, President of the Gatlinburg Garden Club. “Lucinda’s dad, Wiley Oakley, known as the first ambassador of this area and sometimes called the “Will Rogers of The Smokies gave President Roosevelt the vision to have a free National Park called the Great Smoky Mountains,” Fairbanks observed.

     Lucinda Oakley Ogle and her daddy Wiley Oakley are part of our heritage here in the Smoky Mountains. They were one of the families who had to leave their home when the Smoky Mountains National Park was established. Lucinda Oakley Ogle was one of the founders of the Gatlinburg Garden Club established in 1937. The gardens that surrounded Lucinda’s home were filled with native flowers, shrubs and trees, many of which were identified with hand painted signs.

    “We are so fortunate in this community to have Jimbo Whaley and The Greenbrier”, reflected Jan Lapides, a member of the Gatlinburg Garden Club, who was instrumental in getting Jimbo Whaley to write a song about the Lucinda Oakley Ogle Log Cabin. “This song will first be heard on the Aug. 25^th Mills Auditorium Stage during the 6-8 pm venue slot during the Smoky Mountains Songwriters Festival”,Jan Lapides announced. It is most appropriate that Jimbo Whaley would write a song about Lucinda as he previously wrote a song about Jack Huff carrying his mother to the top of Mount LeConte. Jimbo Whaley and The Greenbrier portray well our musical heritage here in the Smoky Mountains.

 Rebuilding the cabin is a project of the Gatlinburg Garden Club, the City of Gatlinburg and the Gatlinburg Gateway Foundation to preserve the area's history. Lucinda Ogle was one of the founders of the garden club and had preserved and propagated wildflowers around her home. Thus far, the log cabin has been dismantled, logs numbered, cataloged and stored in preparation of its reconstruction.

 The partnership between the City, Gateway Foundation and the Gatlinburg Garden Club has raised some money already to rebuild the cabin. Funds raised through the Smoky Mountain Songwriters Festival; is but another component in this process. Once enough money is secured the cabin will be restored, eventually transforming it into a museum. Plans are to include artifacts, photographs and interpretive displays about the people who lived here. It will also tell the story of the women in the area and show how they were able to earn a living by selling their crafts. A self guided tour of Lucinda's former home will provide a free educational experience that can be enjoyed by people of all ages. Eventually, there will be an opportunity at the cabin to have modern day traditional craft demonstrations and storytelling.

 The Smoky Mountains Songwriters Festival Aug. 23-25, 2012 is a Special Event in downtown Gatlinburg “Celebrating Our Appalachian Musical Roots” hosted by Mountain Rentals of Gatlinburg, Ole Smoky Moonshine and Ober Gatlinburg among others such as BOSE , ASCAP, NSAI, Tennessee State Bank, Park Vista, Sidney James, Reagan Resorts and many others. For more information about the first Smoky Mountains Songwriters Festival go to www.smswf.com or contact us at smwf@hotmail.com.

 The hills are alive again with the sounds of music from the Appalachian Mountain Range to “Music City” in Nashville, Tennessee and beyond! Join us for the Jimbo Whaley and the Greenbrier In Concert 6-8 PM Aug. 25, 2012 at Mills Auditorium.

 For more information or assistance contact Amy Garland at garland2009@gmail.com or 865-257-0100.