This moderately difficult four-mile roundtrip hike offers hikers a wooded hike with an old cemetery, creek views, historic buildings, and a 40-foot cascading waterfall.

The lush and uncrowded setting makes it the perfect place to unwind. In addition, the wildflower viewing during springtime months is second-to-none. This serene hike offers plenty of vistas and history and is the perfect place to escape for an afternoon.

Porters Creek Trail is one of the many family-friendly hikes in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Porters Flat is located in the Greenbrier Cove, 6 miles east of Gatlinburg. The 1 mile moderate walk from the parking lot to Porters Flat provides the opportunity to introduce kids to the natural communities within the cove hardwood forest.

There are also historical remnants of the people who lived in the area before the park was established. The first Europeans settled in the Porters Flat and Greenbrier Cove area in the late 1700s. At one time the community boasted three general stores, two churches, one public school, a hotel, three blacksmith shops, five corn mills, and approximately 500 people, most of them supported by small farms. Today you can still find the evidence of this community. You may see indications of old homesteads, stone fences, and stairs, as well as the Ownby cemetery along the way.