In the early 1900s, Colonel William P. Townsend purchased approximately 80,000 acres of land from people living near Elkmont to form the Little River Lumber Company. This logging company constructed the Little River Railroad, which soon became a popular mode of transportation for weekend travelers from Knoxville, especially after the Wonderland Hotel opened in Elkmont in 1912.

In 1910, the Little River Lumber Company deeded a tract of 50 acres of land to the Appalachian Club to build a clubhouse. Founded in 1907, the Appalachian Club was a hunting and fishing club made up primarily of weekend visitors from Knoxville. The lumber company later gave the club a ten-year lease of exclusive hunting and fishing privileges on some 40,000 acres.

Club members eventually built around forty cabins, which were used as summer residences. In the 1920s, when the movement to conserve the Smoky Mountains through the establishment of a national park was gaining momentum, Appalachian Club cottage owners were able to negotiate a provision that allowed them to sell their cottages at half-price to the federal government in exchange for lifetime leases. Most of these leases expired in the early 1990s.