Frank X Walker and David Brill share a fascination with the Great Smoky Mountains. One has been cultivating his passion for four decades; the other just fell in love with the Smokies last year. Both will be helping to lead the 2024 Tremont Writers Conference October 23–27, and both are
You get to know a lot about a person if you hike 672 miles with them, especially when you climb almost 30 miles in elevation while doing it. From the Great Smoky Mountains, that’s more than enough miles to get you to Chicago or Philadelphia. It’s also ample distance to
As the days grow warmer and the landscape ripples with color, a growing treetop chorus drives the message home—spring is here, and new life is thriving. The show begins sometime in March, as hatching insects and growing plants allow the hardy songbird species that have braved winter in the Smokies
Two decades ago, thousands of flies, bugs, and beetles met their end in insect traps set up at 11 sites around Great Smoky Mountains National Park, part of a still-young effort to catalogue every species found within the park’s 800 square miles. From there, the insects were taken to the
In the heart of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the arrival of spring unveils a masterpiece, painting the landscape with rebirth and renewal. The drab landscapes of winter begin their annual transformation, gradually at first, starting late March in the deepest, lowest valleys. A quiet revelry of subtle color then
Editor’s note: This is the second of a two-part series revisiting a notorious murder in the community known as Chestnut Flats in Cades Cove and the dangerous but lucrative enterprise of distilling illegal spirits in the Great Smoky Mountains prior to the creation of the national park. Read the first
The stream of flowers is mere inches from my face, but I see nothing remarkable as I peer through the camera lens. A bed of brown leaves, beaten down from months of freeze and thaw. A smattering of twigs and protruding rocks. Occasional pockets of moss, a rare shot of
Since 2020, Marilyn Childress, a US Navy veteran and president of the Veterans Heritage Site Foundation in Knoxville, Tennessee, has organized Wreaths Across America in Great Smoky Mountains National Park—working to ensure the names of veterans buried in the park are spoken aloud each year. “We have a saying that
By the third week of April, spring is in full bloom throughout the picturesque valleys of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. In these lower elevations, trails burst with color—blue phlox, yellow trillium, fire pink, purple wakerobin—vibrant and vivid, like a palette of paints beneath a canopy canvas of white dogwood.
Editor’s note: This is the first of two articles revisiting a notorious murder in the community known as Chestnut Flats in Cades Cove and the dangerous but lucrative enterprise of distilling illegal spirits in the Great Smoky Mountains prior to the creation of the national park. Late afternoon, December 11,
Frank X Walker and David Brill share a fascination with the Great Smoky Mountains. One has been cultivating his passion for four decades; the other
You get to know a lot about a person if you hike 672 miles with them, especially when you climb almost 30 miles in elevation
As the days grow warmer and the landscape ripples with color, a growing treetop chorus drives the message home—spring is here, and new life is
Two decades ago, thousands of flies, bugs, and beetles met their end in insect traps set up at 11 sites around Great Smoky Mountains National
In the heart of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the arrival of spring unveils a masterpiece, painting the landscape with rebirth and renewal. The drab
Editor’s note: This is the second of a two-part series revisiting a notorious murder in the community known as Chestnut Flats in Cades Cove and
The stream of flowers is mere inches from my face, but I see nothing remarkable as I peer through the camera lens. A bed of
Since 2020, Marilyn Childress, a US Navy veteran and president of the Veterans Heritage Site Foundation in Knoxville, Tennessee, has organized Wreaths Across America in
By the third week of April, spring is in full bloom throughout the picturesque valleys of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. In these lower elevations,
Editor’s note: This is the first of two articles revisiting a notorious murder in the community known as Chestnut Flats in Cades Cove and the
The Great Smokies Welcome Center is located on U.S. 321 in Townsend, TN, 2 miles from the west entrance to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Visitors can get information about things to see and do in and around the national park and shop from a wide selection of books, gifts, and other Smokies merchandise. Daily, weekly, and annual parking tags for the national park are also available.
