For more than a century, churches played a vital role in the life of communities throughout the rugged Great Smoky Mountains. Churches served as houses of worship, as community centers and as schools. Today the National Park Service preserves seven churches in the Smokies as reminders of the importance of faith to the hundreds of families who called these mountains home. This booklet tells the stories of the seven churches, but also describes burials and cemeteries, baptisms, weddings and church music, including regional shaped note singing. Written by Charles Maynard, a Methodist minister and former executive director of Friends of the Smokies. Filled with historic and contemporary photographs and a map showing the locations of park churches. 36 pages. Published by Great Smoky Mountains Association.