If you’ve hiked Porters Creek Trail in the last few years, you may remember the old barn in Greenbrier looking pretty rough, or roped off entirely. Good news: the John Messer Barn has been rebuilt from the ground up, and you can walk up and see it again.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Friends of the Smokies held a ribbon cutting at the barn on Monday, September 28, 2026, with park leaders and descendants of Greenbrier families on hand. Here’s what was done, plus how to fit the hike into a fall trip to Gatlinburg.
A Barn Older Than the Park
According to the park’s news release, the Messer Barn is the oldest structure in Greenbrier and the only building in that part of the Smokies that predates the national park. Pinkney Whaley built it in 1869, and it was later sold to John Messer. It’s a double-cantilever barn, a design you really only find in East Tennessee, and it’s listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Several storms over the years did enough damage that the park considered the barn unsafe for visitors. Rather than patch it, crews took it down and rebuilt it using methods and materials close to the original. The new logs are finished to look hand-hewn, wooden studs were used in place of nails, and the barn’s original doors were saved and put back on.
Friends of the Smokies paid for the $465,000 project through its Forever Places endowment. The Mountain Press reported that a historic rehabilitation crew from outside the Park Service handled the rebuild, and that much of the money came from donors connected to the annual Greenbrier Barn Party held near Pittman Center. Members of the Messer family came to the ceremony and shared stories about the parents and grandparents who lived on the farm before the park was created.
How to Hike to the Messer Barn
The barn sits about a mile up Porters Creek Trail in the Greenbrier area, roughly 20 minutes east of Gatlinburg off U.S. 321. The park’s Porters Creek Trail page lays out the hike:
- Drive to the dead end of Greenbrier Road. The trailhead has a gravel lot with room for about 20 vehicles.
- Walk about one mile to a large trail intersection. On your far right, a side path of roughly 350 yards leads to the Messer Barn and the Smoky Mountains Hiking Club cabin. That makes a 2-mile round trip.
- Want a waterfall too? Keep going on Porters Creek Trail. You’ll cross a long footlog bridge around 1.6 miles, climb a bit, and reach 40-foot Fern Branch Falls at about 2 miles in, for a 4-mile round trip.
- The trail continues to backcountry campsite #31, about 3 miles in, but it gets steeper past the falls and camping there requires a backcountry permit.
Good to Know Before You Go
You’ll need a parking tag if you park for more than 15 minutes anywhere in the park. Tags are $5 for a day, $15 for a week, or $40 for a year, and you can buy them online through the park’s fees page. Pets aren’t allowed on Porters Creek Trail, so leave the dog at the cabin.
The parking lot is small and the park warns it fills up during busy seasons. Fall color weekends count, so an early start or a weekday visit will make life easier. Part of the Greenbrier entrance road is gravel, which is fine for regular cars but worth taking slowly.
Bears are active across the park this fall, so keep your distance if you see one and pack your snacks out. Before you go, look over the park’s Current Conditions page and the latest posts from @GreatSmokyNPS on X for any closures that pop up.
I like this one for families. It’s a short, mostly gentle walk along the creek, and kids get to stand inside a barn that was here before anyone was talking about a national park. Pair it with Fern Branch Falls and you’ve got a nice half day before heading back to town for dinner.