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That’s a Flaming Lie

What One Hiker Found In The Mountains of Tennessee Is Beyond Incredible.

While hiking in Tennessee’s Great Smoky Mountains National Park, hiker Jordan Liles discovered something you probably wouldn’t expect to find in the middle of a nature preserve: an entire town, completely abandoned, and being reclaimed by nature.

The Wonderland Hotel Annex

Jordan Liles

A cottage, heavily damaged.

Jordan Liles

The town is, or was, named Elkmont, and is now referred to as being part of the Elkmont Historic District. It’s located on the still-active Elkmont Campground, in the park. Since it was built in the early 20th century, the site has been home to a hotel and resort community, and, before that, to a pioneer community and logging town.

The hotel in the early 1900s.

Jordan Liles, via Great Smoky Mountains National Park

The fountain’s foundation can still be found on the property.

The dining room of the hotel in about 1990, two years before closing.

Jordan Liles, via Great Smoky Mountains National Park

At this time, there were only six property holders left at Wonderland.

To get there, Liles went about a mile up an old gravel road inside the park and entered the abandoned community. It consists of houses and a large hotel, called the Wonderland Hotel and built in 1912. The hotel, and the surrounding houses, became known as the “Wonderland Club,” and were used as exclusive vacation properties in the 1920s and 30s. When the land became a federal park in the 30s, the owners of the cottages were given lifetime leases, so they could keep enjoying their vacation homes. However, the park officials eventually got tired of dealing with the properties, and the lifetime leases became 20-year leases in 1952. By 1992, the park refused to renew the leases, and the hotel and cottages were slated for removal. However, some people considered the buildings historical, and a debate over their fate would go on for the next fifteen years.

For now, it looks like the Wonderland Club has been spared, though the buildings are falling quickly into disrepair. Restoration efforts would more than likely go into the neighboring Appalachian Club, whose buildings are older as well as more historically significant to the area.

The Wonderland Annex, which is the only part of the hotel that remains standing.

Jordan Liles

This sign provides hikers with information about the Wonderland Club.

Jordan Liles

Luckily for us, though, Liles had his camera with him when he rediscovered the Wonderland Club, so even if the buildings deteriorate or are removed, we’ll always have a record of them. Liles compiled his footage into a 22-minute documentary called ‘Tennessee Wonderland,” in which he explores the buildings, including some of the cottages and the Wonderland Annex, which is the standing structure of the hotel. The main hotel collapsed in 2005 after being damaged by a fire a decade earlier, and its remains have been dismantled.

Be sure to watch it until the end, where you can see images of the Wonderland Club throughout the years, including then-and-now comparison photos.

Was away for not even a day and I come back to this

You Know You're In Idaho When…

Special Snowflake Soledad claims she’s so special that she’s above bias

http://twitter.com/#!/rdbrewer4/status/235908241647882240

Oh, honey. Bless your precious, little heart! As Twitchy reported, CNN’s Soledad O’Brien was recently caught using notes, on-air, from liberal blog Talking Points Memo as “research.” This resulted in side-splitting mockery from Twitter users. Bless her heart-y Soledad decided that the way to conquer this was to … utter more mock-worthy nonsense? We aren’t really sure why she chose to give this interview; we’ll wait to hear from Talking Points Memo.

@adamsbaldwin @soledad_obrien if I'm defending my integrity, I'm going to the Hollywood reporter! 5 more people will see there than on CNN

— George Jackson (@jorge9083) August 16, 2012

After spending several minutes excoriating O’Brien for what he called her liberal bias, Limbaugh on Tuesday posted photos on his website of her with a bumper sticker on her forehead touting the Obama-Biden ticket.

“I didn’t hear what he had to say, and it’s sort of irrelevant to what I do,” O’Brien said Wednesday. “People are entitled to do what they want, and I do what I do — which is, as a journalist, focus on the substance of someone’s argument.”

She’s a “real journalist,” people! Of course, by “substance,” she actually means only “things with which she personally agrees.” Twitter users quickly call her on this latest idiocy; how on earth does she lie with a straight face like that? While debunking, hilarious mockery also occurs.

Best laugh of day: Soledad O'Brien Says She's Not Biased http://t.co/oJ3LkLwr @Soledad_OBrien My belly still aches from laughing #tcot #p2

— Dalyanks (@dalyanks) August 16, 2012

Biased people never do @Soledad_OBrien. CNN Soledad O'Brien: 'I Don't Think I Show Bias'… http://t.co/QbSznnMn

— Valar Morghulis (@KiltedLush) August 16, 2012

.@Soledad_OBrien is so unbiased she blocks her conservative critics on Twitter.

— Andy at AoSHQ (@AndyM1911) August 16, 2012

Hey @Soledad_OBrien, when your biggest defender against obvious charges of bias is @mmfa, you're doing it wrong https://t.co/CFA5fzU1 #Fail

— Derek Hunter (@derekahunter) August 16, 2012

In the interview, Soledad also claimed that she uses conservative blogs, like RedState, as well. Twitter users swiftly debunk that fallacious claim.

@AceofSpadesHQ check @soledad_obrien follow list. No @RedState but plenty of Daily Beast and Huff Post!

— cosmoscon (@gdthomp01) August 16, 2012

Is she a liberal? Is she a conservative? Who can tell? Except anyone checking her Twitter feed. @gdthomp01 @Soledad_OBrien @RedState