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Great Smoky
Mountains
NATIONAL PARK
TENNESSEE—NORTH CAROLINA
OPEN ALL YEAR
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE
INTERIOR · Douglas McKay, Secretary
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE · Conrad L. Wirth, Director
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Great Smoky
Mountains
NATIONAL PARK
The National Park System, of which this park is a unit,is dedicated to conserving the scenic, scientific, and historicheritage of the United States for the benefit andenjoyment of its people.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park is located onthe crest of the high divide which forms the boundarybetween Tennessee and North Carolina. This mountainrange, representing one of the oldest uplands on earth,zigzags through the park from northeast to southwest for71 miles, or 54 miles by air line. For 36 miles along itsmain crest the range maintains an altitude in excess of 5,000feet. Sixteen of its peaks rise more than 6,000 feet. Thedeep blue haze rising from the valleys to the summits of thelofty peaks gives these mountains their name.
View from Heintooga Overlook.
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Renowned for its splendid forests and containing a richvariety of plant life, the Great Smokies region has long beenregarded by prominent botanists as the cradle of the presentvegetation of eastern America.
Arnold Guyot, eminent scientist whose exploration of theAppalachian System began a century ago, was the first todescribe the Great Smoky Mountains from personal observation.He wrote:
“Although the high peaks of the Smoky mountains aresome fifty feet lower than the isolated and almost exceptionalgroup of the Black mountains, by their number, their magnitude,the continuity and general elevation of the chains,and of the base upon which they repose, they are like amassive and high citadel which is really the culminatingregion of all the Appalachian System.”
History of the Park
Prior to the start of the 20th century, the area now comprisingthe park was little known to the outside world,although DeSoto is believed to have viewed the mountains.They were, and still are, the home of the Cherokees who nowoccupy the Cherokee Indian Reservation in North Carolina,adjacent to the park on the south. The few white settlerswere the rugged mountaineer descendants of colonists fromEngland and Scotland who lived isolated and primitive lives.The Great Smokies region became better known during andsubsequent to World War I when logging railroads oflumber companies penetrated some of its virgin forests.Still later, highways skirted the area and visitors were ableto view its majestic peak