At a glance

Marked by the introduction of the Clinchfield Railroad which made logging the area possible. The land was clear cut and turned to pasture land with very bad erosion problems.
This gap was a famous gap used along a pioneer road to get from the Toe Valley to Johnson City. At this gap people would brand their livestock. See Below.
The Vanderbilt family began buying large tracts of the Land, hundreds of millions of acres worth, began reforesting it, and donated it to the start the Forest Service. These lands are now known as Pisgah
The NC/TN line was a great place for outlaws to hangout as any arrest could be disputed as “outside of the jurisdiction.” This also lead to the naming of “Shootout Mountain,” and “Battle Branch,” both are along Beans Creek Road.
Elk Wallow Mountain had a small squash farm on top of it and many horse back riding trails along it. It stayed this way until a wildfire demolished the area in 1989. Many of the roads and trails in the woods were during the blaze to control it.
After the forest recovered from the fire, Nathan Byrd subdivided the 600+ acre property into the large estates on the mountain. At this time the forest was clear cut for the last time. The Earthship was the third house on the mountain.

Brandy Gap or Branding Gap

On old maps, the area is named differently. Some maps call it Brandy Gap (presumably after the Moonshining in the area). Other maps refer to it as “Branding/Branded Gap” After the practice of branding livestock to track ownership of cattle grazing in the region. Both are plausible.

Excerpt from Foxfire Magazine

Letters from Pigeon Roost, Winter 1974. This briefly mentions the formation and livestock market located at the gap.

Young Forest and Younger House