From humble beginnings, Wilma Maples rose to become a force in business, charity
GATLINBURG — A local legend who welcomed generations of visitors to the Smoky Mountains and was one of Sevier County’s greatest patrons died Friday at the inn she helped build into an institution.
Wilma Maples had the kind of life in her 88 years that best-selling books are written about, from humble beginnings to a marriage proposal that came in the mail to rubbing elbows with celebrities. She ended her life in the Smoky Mountains she vowed never to leave, passing quietly in the apartment at the Gatlinburg Inn she once shared with her late husband.
Maples often seemed to be bragging when she would reminisce about her modest beginnings, getting a distant look on her face as she talked with what seemed to be an ever-present smile that made her eyes sparkle from behind silver-framed glasses. One of 11 children, she helped work on her parents’ farm in Union County and laughed in later years as she recalled literally walking two miles in every kind of weather, including snow, to get the education her family put a premium on.
Her clan moved to Lenior City when she was in the eighth grade and she graduated from high school there before attending Knoxville Business College. After completing her studies, she got a job with Great Smoky Mountains National Park as assistant to J. Ross Eakin, the first superintendent. She was among the earliest employees of the new park, which was officially created in 1935. She often credited the post with helping nurture the seeds of her love for both the park itself and the hills of East Tennessee.
From there she took what would turn out to be a fortuitous job at the Gatlinburg Inn, which was then one of only a handful of lodging houses in the resort town that was filled with natural spaces and stores run by crafters. She would eventually leave that seasonal position for Oak Ridge National Laboratory, though she was brought back to Gatlinburg not long after by a letter from Rellie “Rel” Maples, her former boss. In it, the man 18 years her senior asked her to marry him “out of the blue,” as she would often describe it. The message included promises of how her life would be if they did wed, including the vow she could sleep as late as she wanted. Wilma Maples would later laugh at the thought, saying Rel
She moved back to Gatlinburg for a courtship that ended with their marriage in 1954. That union lasted 31 years, ended by Rel Maples’ death in 1985. The couple lived in the apartment at the inn for 25 years, with Wilma Maples planting a garden of 450 rose bushes for her husband that survives today. In 1975 they moved out of the hotel to a home they had built over the previous two and a half years.
Since Rel Maples’ passing, Wilma Maples was most often found at the inn, staying in the apartment and welcoming a new generation of traveler as she worked seven days a week up until her health prohibited it. Even after she moved back to the Parkway property, she still hosted occasional fundraiser gatherings for groups like the Gatlinburg Garden Club at the home, with each an elegant affair planned in detail by Maples herself.
In her later years, Maples pined for the Gatlinburg she knew when she first came to the inn, begrudging the changes that made her little rose garden the last plot of green in downtown, as she both loved and hated to call it. While she welcomed the growth of the area as a destination for those looking for its beauty, she sometimes sparred with city leaders over what she saw as a lack of foresight in how the development was being done.
That devotion to the ways of the past led her to preserve the Gatlinburg Inn in a state that made the late-1930s construction seem to be stuck in a time warp. An alpine-inspired sign — devoid of the neon that illumines many other Parkway properties — remains out front, floral wallpaper decorates the lobby and wood-paneled walls fill the rooms. Rules that now seem antiquated also endure there, including ones mandated by Mrs. Maples that unmarried couples not share a room, motorcycles not enter the parking lot and dogs just plain stay off the property. Guests were also forbidden from bringing their own food into their rooms.
There is considerable history to the place where pictures of celebrities, some of them standing with Maples, adorn the walls as guests walk in. There are local tales, like the stretch in the mid-1940s when the city offices were located there, the fact the city’s first national bank and dentist’s office got their starts there, and the basement space where the area’s first large press newspaper — a predecessor of The Mountain Press — was printed.
Then there is the national and worldwide renown. The inn became a stopping-off point for celebrities, including those who performed at Hunter Hills Theater. Rel Maples mortgaged all his property to build that venue, which became the first facility of its kind in Gatlinburg and is credited by many as leading the way in making the area a destination for entertainment. For many years it hosted the outdoor drama “Chucky Jack: the Story of Tennessee,” for which Wilma Maples and other Gatlinburg-area ladies sewed the costumes in the basement of the Gatlinburg Inn. Maples is also credited with doing promotion, landscaping, housing, business management and other behind-the scenes work on the show.
Maples would often host the stars who came to perform at Hunter Hills. She remembered proudly cooking for the likes of Liberace, whom she said loved her southern food, and rolled out the welcome mat for First Lady Lady Bird Johnson. Dinah Shore bedded down there, as did Tennessee Ernie Ford and J.C. Penney, who founded the department store that shares his name.
Room 388 of the inn hosted Felice and Boudleaux Bryant in 1967 over the couple days when they penned the song “Rocky Top,” a tune that became a state song of Tennessee and the fight song of its flagship university. Meanwhile, the inn itself was featured in the 1970 Ingrid Bergman film “A Walk in the Spring Rain.”
For many years the lodge also was home to the most celebrated restaurant in the city, with the eatery at the Gatlinburg Inn a destination for many visitors to the area and the Sunday dinner location of choice for plenty of local residents. Throughout its run, Maples oversaw operations at the restaurant, from the kitchen to the dining table. She always insisted on polite and efficient service from all employees, her friends have said.
The future of the inn, which is now closed for the winter season, is in some doubt with Maples’ passing. The property is held in a family trust in Rel Maples’ name that is controlled by Knoxville attorney Bill Davis. Maples herself wondered to friends if any of her beneficiaries will have an interest in keeping the hotel open after her passing, though so far there is no official decision on that.
n dhodges@themountainpress.com