Verna Lee Burchfield was born on Mill Creek in Cades Cove in 1932. And although her family moved away, when she married Hugh Myers in 1949, they moved back to the Cove where she lived or worked for 70 years.
Mrs. Myers, 90, died Nov. 15, 2022, at her home in Blount County, not far at all from the place she loved the most. According to her obituary, Hugh and his dad, Charlie Myers, worked a government lease in the Cove for many years. Later, Hugh and Verna bought out his father and farmed the lease, with their four kids, when row crops (soy beans) were still allowed, raised cattle and baled hay.
Verna told of plowing the Hyatt Hill and seeing arrowheads as she drove the tractor and seeing the dark spots from Native Americans (Cherokee) campfires down near the Blue Springs. Later, she and Hugh bought Cades Cove Riding Stables and they and their children worked 7 days a week for 42 plus years. For many of these years they managed the lease and the stables along with the children concurrently. As the years went by, eventually son Rick and Hugh joined in a partnership, working the lease until 2010.
Verna ran the stables and worked as a horseback guide, taking guests to Gregory Bald, Spence Field and Russell Field. Later she drove the carriage and shared stories with the visitors. Much of the land that was leased was some part of the original Myers and Burchfield family farms in Cades Cove.
Hugh, Verna and the family lived in three houses in Cades Cove without electricity: “Foot of the Mountain” across from the Missionary Baptist Church, the “Noah Burchfield House” near the lower end if the Cove, and the “Gregory House” along Tater Branch.
They later moved near the Cades Cove Campground in order to have electricity. Verna was the sixth generation from Russell Gregory (Gregory Bald), sixth from Robert Burchfield, and fifth generation from John P. Cable (Cable Mill). An 8-minute video accompanies her obituary. It’s a step back in time. Funeral services are today (11/18/22) at Smith Trinity Chapel.