The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is located between Tennessee and North Carolina, and is the most visited national park in the United States with more than 9 million vacationers and nature enthusiasts coming to the park every year. Given the more than 2,000 miles of streams that traverse the landscape of the park and the 800+ miles of hiking trails that are available, there is plenty of reason to visit this great national treasure.
This largest national park east of the Mississippi River is on land that was once settled by people who lived, worked, and went to school in the mountains, and the history is preserved in the park still today, giving a glimpse of the past to anyone who takes the historical tour.
There are more than 80 structures that are still standing within the National Park and at Cades Cove, which have been either preserved or re-created from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. They include barns, homes, gristmills, schools and churches, all which once provided a home and a life for many people of the Smoky Mountain region. Protecting the integrity and the history of this area is the reason that the Great Smoky Mountain National Park got its start in the first place. On June 15, 1934, the park was officially declared a National Park, keeping its land safe and preserved for generations to come.
Stay tuned for more history of the Cherokee Indians in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in the next post.
Tags: National Parks