Known by everyone as "Turkey George"

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Turkey George Palmer: Selected from Smoky Mountains Historical information:

How Turkey George got his name:

Anyone who has spent time in Cataloochee Valley knows that the Palmer family was very influential there. Palmer Creek, Palmer Branch, Palmer Chapel, and the Palmer house all bear the name of the family that migrated to this fertile and beautiful place in the 1830s. Robert "Boogerman" Palmer was another noteworthy descendant who helped preserve the area's old-growth forest and whose nickname lives on in the valley's lore.

"Turkey George" Palmer actually had many claims to fame; first and foremost he was an accomplished bear hunter. A compact and muscular man, he always wore overalls when at work and a double-breasted suit jacket when he went to town. "Turkey George" generally hunted without dogs but still managed to kill 105 bears in his lifetime.

As "Turkey George" grew older, his prowess as a hunter apparently caused him some anxieties. He became terrorized by the thought that, once in the grave, vengeful bears and some of the other animals he had pursued in life, would dig up his remains and desecrate them. Consequently, as his death approached at age 87, "Turkey George" insisted he be buried in a steel coffin. According to George's daughter Flora, such a coffin was procured for her father in Waynesville.

"Turkey George's" homesite is located along Pretty Hollow Gap Trail, a little over a mile from the Beech Grove School in Cataloochee Valley. It was near this spot that, as a boy, George set up an elaborate and effective wild turkey trap. It consisted of a wooden pen with a hole dug beneath one wall for access. George sprinkled a trail of corn as bait from the field into the pen.

When George checked the trap the next morning he was delighted to find 8-10 wild turkeys inside. He crawled through the child-sized hole into the pen with the intent of harvesting them, but the big birds had other plans. According to George's nephew, Gudger Palmer, the entrapped turkeys gave George "a good flogging," pounding him with their powerful wings and stomping him with their feet.

Undeterred, George regrouped and finally succeeded in dispatching the whole flock. In those days there were no freezers to preserve meat, so George decided to give away the birds to his neighbours as a Thanksgiving gift. And that's the moment when George Palmer became "Turkey George," a nickname he kept until his death in the 1940s.

National Park Adventures & History

Contributor: Bo Cash (47658683)