A stay at Charit Creek Lodge is a brush with history. Originally settled by long hunters who followed Daniel Boone’s route across the Cumberland Gap, some of the buildings date back to 1817. The lodge has the designation of having what may be the oldest operating lodging structure in the entire National Park Service system. The property served as a single family residence and subsistence farm until the mid 1900s.
Fascinating people lived on the property, including William Riley Hatfield, of the infamous Hatfield-McCoy feud, who moved to the property to escape tensions between the hostile families. Respected and loved by many, he is interred in the cemetery of the property. The ridge to the north of Charit Creek Lodge is Hatfield Ridge, named in his honor.
During the Civil War, skirmishes happened throughout the valley. During one such skirmish, two young boys, the Tackett brothers, hid out in a nearby cabin under a feather mattress to evade capture. Unfortunately, they suffocated and were buried a short distance from the lodge.
From the mid-1880s through 1945, the area was logged and mined extensively. One of the major players, Stearn’s Coal and Lumber Co, established 18 company stores throughout the area, one located near the Charit Creek Lodge parking area. The corn crib barn was once burned down by a moonshiner after the property owner turned him in. After that act of revenge, Stearns rebuilt the barn. It still serves a vital role today in keeping all of our firewood dry and seasoned.
In the early 1960s, Joe Simpson bought the property and established a hunting lodge which operated until 1982 when the National Park Service established the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area. He added the two cabins in the field, moving them from nearby Jake’s place, built the dining room and added the manager’s quarters, also moving it from a nearby homestead, which was last owned by the fiercely respected Apalonie Slaven.
In 1987, the property began operating as a youth hostel and continued this use until 1989, whcn it became the present-day Charit Creek Lodge.