Preservation of Historic Elkmont with Robert Sanders

DREAM JOB
Presented by Robert Eugene Sanders
5:30 – Meet and Greet
6:00 – Presentation/Clinic
As you drive or hike through the Great Smoky Mountains
National Park and absorb its great beauty and wonder, you will
come across many historic structures. Ranging from homes and
churches to mills, spring houses and cane presses. All of which
need to be preserved to keep our history alive and for future
generations to appreciate.
Rob has a “Dream Job” and will be sharing his passion and
personal stories of working on, in, and under these amazing
artifacts. Learn of fascinating things that most visitors
overlook or see but don’t actually comprehend what they are
seeing. His hope is that you will depart with a better
understanding, and desire to visit or revisit the Great Smoky
Mountains historic structures.
Afterwards he will display and demonstrate the use of some
of the tools used to construct and restore these irreplaceable
structures.
Robert Eugene Sanders, AKA Rob, is a Carpenter at the Great
Smoky Mountains National Park, with the Forever Places Program
responsible for the preservation of the historic structures
within the park. What he considers to be a “Dream Job.” He
started as a seasonal maintenance mechanic in 2017 working with
a small crew to restore the Daisy Town area of Elkmont. Later
was rehired as a carpenter to continue the Elkmont project along
with many other projects.
In 2022 the Forever Places Program was established, and he
was selected to be its first carpenter. He considers it to be
an honor and has become passionate about the work that the
Forever Places crew does to preserve the historic structures for
the descendants of those that used to call the Smokies home and
for the millions of visitors that come to experience the Great
Smoky Mountains.
His passion and dedication aren’t just to the preservation
of the structures, but also to the technics and tools that the
settlers used to construct them. He is in the process of
building and collecting his own historic tools to demonstrate
the skills it took to literally carve out a home and a way of
life in the Great Smoky Mountains.

Event Location: Little River Trading Company