|Vol. V, No. 3, Winter 1992| Buffalo National River--A National
Park Service Historic District in Private Hands Story by Jim
Liles When Buffalo National River came into the National Park
System March 1,1972, it included 24 bottomland farms, with more
than 50 inhabitants--most descended from the early 19th Century
pioneers who settled the seven mile stretch of river once known
as "Big Buffalo Valley." It is now "Boxley Valley." Think of
Boxley Valley as a kind of Cades Cove, only in north Arkansas
rather than east Tennessee. Cades Cove and Boxley Valley are
similar in size, heritage, and historical aspect. Cades Cove is
a famous "museum landscape" of the culture of the Southern
Highlands, located in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Cades
Cove was a living community until its population was displaced
by the creation of the National Park in 1930. As in other units
of the national park system created at that time, little or no
recognition was accorded either the cultural landscapes that
might have pre-existed