Happy Valley's first permanent Euro-American settler, Robert Rhea, arrived in the valley sometime around 1823.
 Rhea was a veteran of the American Revolution and the War of 1812, and sought the land as an ideal place to spend his waning years.
 For nearly 40 years after Rhea's arrival, Happy Valley was known as Rhea's Valley.

In the 1830s, Cades Cove entrepreneur Daniel Davis Foute financed the construction of a road connecting his iron forge in Cades Cove with his resort hotel at Montvale Springs.
 Known as the Cooper Road after its builder, Joe Cooper, the road followed Abrams Creek from Cades Cove into Happy Valley, crossed Chilhowee Mountain at Murray Gap (near Look Rock), and descended to Montvale Springs.
 Throughout the 19th century and early 20th century, Cades Cove residents used this road to drive cattle back and forth between markets in Maryville and the grassy balds atop the western Smokies.

In the years following the American Civil War (1861–1865), a large number of settlers migrated from Carter County, Tennessee to Happy Valley.
 The valley— which had been known as Rhea Valley— obtained the name "Happy Valley" around this time.
 The name might have been inspired by Happy Valley in Carter County, which was the original home of many of the post-Civil War migrants.
Happy Valley's first permanent Euro-American settler, Robert Rhea, arrived in the valley sometime around 1823.  Rhea was a veteran of the American Revolution and the War of 1812, and sought the land as an ideal place to spend his waning years.  For nearly 40 years after Rhea's arrival, Happy Valley was known as Rhea's Valley.
In the 1830s, Cades Cove entrepreneur Daniel Davis Foute financed the construction of a road connecting his iron forge in Cades Cove with his resort hotel at Montvale Springs.  Known as the Cooper Road after its builder, Joe Cooper, the road followed Abrams Creek from Cades Cove into Happy Valley, crossed Chilhowee Mountain at Murray Gap (near Look Rock), and descended to Montvale Springs.  Throughout the 19th century and early 20th century, Cades Cove residents used this road to drive cattle back and forth between markets in Maryville and the grassy balds atop the western Smokies.
In the years following the American Civil War (1861–1865), a large number of settlers migrated from Carter County, Tennessee to Happy Valley.  The valley— which had been known as Rhea Valley— obtained the name "Happy Valley" around this time.  The name might have been inspired by Happy Valley in Carter County, which was the original home of many of the post-Civil War migrants.
Happy Valley, Blount County, Tennessee