Carolina Mountain Club celebrates 100 years

As temperatures neared 90 degrees on the sunny afternoon of Sunday, July 16, the forested Carolina Mountain Trail offered a shady respite for the 20 people joining Tom Southard for a 2.1-mile hike through the woods of the North Carolina Arboretum in Asheville. Southard, a volunteer with 13 years of experience leading walks at the […]

Horace Kephart, “a student, first, last, and always”

In early 2009, during the 75th anniversary of the establishment of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Libby Kephart Hargrave, the great-granddaughter of noted Smoky Mountain writer Horace Kephart, offered a complete manuscript of an unpublished novel, written in the 1920s by her ancestor, to the director of Great Smoky Mountains Association for possible publication. The novel, […]

Curiosity Cabinet: Hellbenders

By Peyton Proffitt Growing up in a gateway community, I spent most of my childhood summers swimming in the rivers of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Some of my happiest memories are of looking for salamanders with my friends and sketching the specimens in my notebook. For my first Curiousity Cabinet entry, I decided to […]

Little Sluice of Heaven: A tiny sliver of the A.T.

By Lisa Duff Memorial Day Monday found me with a mild case of cabin fever, which was a bit strange since CF is typically a wintertime ailment. What happened was this: I’d successfully managed to add a few at-home days to the end of my vacation to allow for ease of real-world re-entry, and Monday, […]

Park Tourism Generates $953 million in Visitor Spending

A new National Park Service (NPS) report shows that 11,421,203 visitors to Great Smoky Mountains National Park in 2018 spent $953 million in communities near the park. That spending supported 13,737 jobs in the local area. National park tourism is a significant driver in the national economy, with every dollar invested by American taxpayers in […]

DLiA’s Science at Sugarlands Focuses on Fish Restoration

Friday, June 21, at 1 p.m., Pat Rakes will discuss—and show terrific photos of—the often hidden world of our colorful park fish in a Science at Sugarlands presentation sponsored by DLiA. Rakes has been involved in fish restoration since 1985 when he was a graduate student studying zoology at University of Tennessee–Knoxville and is now […]

Cades Cove Story re-released by GSMA

“No story of Cades Cove can ever be complete…” These humble words written by A. Randolph Shields in 1977 comprise the first line of The Cades Cove Story. The enduring legacy of this work continues to connect readers to the lives of the people who once lived in one of the most beloved places in […]

Goshen Prong on Mother’s Day

By Lisa Duff Three years ago, as Mother’s Day was approaching, I decided it was high time my daughter and I started a new tradition in recognition of the day dedicated to mothers everywhere. No more would she need to worry herself about what tangible item or simple gesture might make an appropriate gift, I […]

Science at Sugarlands Features Wildflowers

You couldn’t pick a more perfect month than May to head out on the trails to spot wildflowers. to help you learn more about them, Discover Life in America will host Wildflowers: Gems of the Smokies at the Sugarlands Visitor Center Friday, May 17, from 1–3 p.m. Leading this free program will be wildflower expert […]

Park Announces Spring Opening Schedule

Great Smoky Mountains National Park officials finalized the 2019 spring opening schedule for park facilities. Most campgrounds, picnic areas, and roads will open this Friday, April 19, in time for Easter weekend. The remainder of the facilities will open between now and Memorial Day weekend in preparation for the busy summer season.   “Our staff […]