43. Roger Williams National Memorial, Rhode Island

               Hello!  Welcome back to our blog as we travel in this post to the State of Rhode Island’s lone National Park Service Unit, Roger Williams National Memorial.

 

Entrance sign

BACKGROUND:

               In 1636, a colonist in Massachusetts named Roger Williams found himself on the wrong side of the law.  Williams, a Puritan minister, had been urging a separation from the Anglican church.  This however, was considered not just heretical, but also criminal as the head of the Anglican church was the King of England, and as such there was no separation of church and state.  Under threat of arrest, he fled Massachusetts to the southwest, finding a location on the headwaters of Narraganset Bay.  Several Indian Chiefs with whom Williams was friendly with gave him the land on which he formed his own government, the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.  He dubbed the capital of his new colony “Providence,” meaning gift from God, and wrote into the colonial charter provisions that restricted laws to temporal and civil matters rather than spiritual, and guaranteed religious freedoms within the colony, creating the first government with a separation between church and state.  Roger Williams' example of religious freedom would later be enshrined in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.

               To honor not just the man who founded both Rhode Island and its capital city of Providence, but also the first champion of religious liberty in America, Congress authorized the creation of a National Memorial in Providence on the location of Williams’ original settlement.  After acquiring and clearing the authorized land, a large public park was created to serve as the memorial.

 

Roger Williams National Memorial as seen from the north.

THE MEMORIAL:

               Roger Williams National Memorial consists of a large rectangular public park in the center of downtown Providence, opposite the Rhode Island state capitol building.  The park lies on the site where Roger Williams first settled Rhode Island and Providence.  There are several memorials and interpretive signs throughout the park but it is largely green-space.  A small visitor center built within an historic colonial home is located at the park’s northeast corner.  Fittingly, Roger Williams overlooks the park, as his grave-site is directly uphill to the east, with his statue atop his grave looking down on the city from above.

 

The grave of Roger Williams, overlooking the memorial and the city.

TRAVEL TIPS:

               The Roger Williams National Memorial is easily accessible within the center of Providence Rhode Island.  There is limited parking at the Memorial so visitors will mostly need to use street parking.  The park is a public space and is open at all hours and seasons, however the visitor center is only open from 9:00am-4:30pm.  The park is handicapped accessible and the visitor center contains a short film and passport stamps.  For those visitors who are interested, the Roger Williams gravesite is a relatively short, though very steeply uphill, walk away.

ADDITIONAL PHOTOS:

The memorial visitor center.

The well at the center of the park marking the spot where Roger Williams founded both Providence and Rhode Island.

This building opposite the well stands on the place where Roger Williams' house once stood, as indicated by the plaque between the second and third floors.

A view of the park from the south.

A memorial on the park grounds to Gabriel Bernon, a Huguenot who came to Providence fleeing religious persecution in France. 

A view of the Rhode Island State Capitol from the Memorial.

42. Gateway Arch National Park, Missouri

               Welcome back to our blog on the National Park Service.  In this post we are visiting our newest and smallest addition to the “Big 60” National Parks, Gateway Arch National Park in St. Louis.

Entrance sign with a view of the Gateway Arch.

BACKGROUND:

               Since the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, the city of St. Louis had been seen as the gateway to the west.  To commemorate the momentous event which paved the way for the expansion of the United States from sea to shining sea, a movement began in the 1930s to build a suitable memorial in St. Louis.  The plan called for a large public park along the St. Louis waterfront on the west bank of the Mississippi river, crowned with a massive monument, preferably an arch.  Although the land was cleared by 1942, and the Old Courthouse which had been the scene of the first phase of the infamous Dred Scott court case was incorporated into the plan, work on the memorial stalled twice due to World War Two and the Korean War.

               Finally, in 1961 work began on the grand memorial, the centerpiece of which would be a massive stainless-steel arch that would become the defining feature of the St. Louis skyline.  Originally titled Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, the Gateway Arch was opened to the public in 1968 under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service.

The Gateway Arch.

               In the 2010s, a massive renovation of the arch took place, including reshaping the grounds of the memorial.  To cap off the renovation, by an act of Congress, in 2018 the memorial was re-designated Gateway Arch National Park, becoming the first National Park in the state of Missouri, as well as the smallest National Park in the country.

THE PARK:

               Covering an area of barely 91 acres in downtown St. Louis on the west bank of the Mississippi river, Gateway Arch National Park is the smallest of the “Big 60” National Parks.  The park consists of three main features.  The foremost of these is the titular Gateway Arch, located at the center of the park space.  The arch itself is hollow, with a unique tram system that transports visitors to the pinnacle observation deck.  Underground below the arch is the visitor center and the Museum at the Gateway Arch, previously the Museum of Westward Expansion, which tells the story of the Louisiana Purchase, the evolution of St. Louis, and the westward expansion of the country.

The center hallway of the Museum at the Gateway Arch.

               The second feature of the park is its 90 acres of public park space surrounding the arch.  The rectangular plot holds two ponds on the north and south flanks of the arch, with a grand staircase leading to the Mississippi river, and sculpted park lands.  Located in the park’s southwest corner is the Old Cathedral, a Catholic Church dating from the early 1800s.  Along the waterfront is a dock for two replica 19^th Century paddleboat steamships that take visitors for short cruises along the river.

               The third feature of the park is the Old Courthouse, directly west of the Gateway Arch.  Originally constructed in stages from 1816-64, the courthouse is most famous as the scene of the initial trial of the Dred Scott case prior to the Civil War.  Scott, a slave whose master had died while the two were traveling in a northern free state sued for his freedom on the grounds that as the master had died while Scott was in a free state he was no longer the property of the man’s descendants still in the south.  Scott won the case when it was put to trial at the Old Courthouse in St. Louis, but the ruling was struck down in outrageous fashion by the Supreme Court, an event which enflamed the attitudes of abolitionists in the north and contributed to the outbreak of the Civil War.

A view of the Old Courthouse and downtown St. Louis taken from the observation deck of the Gateway Arch.  The Old Cathedral can be seen at lower left, while the circular structure at bottom center is the new main entrance to the arch and museum.

TRAVEL TIPS:

               Gateway Arch National Park has varying hours of operation.  The Old Courthouse is open from 8am to 4:30pm, and the Old Cathedral as a still active Catholic congregation holds regular masses as well as hosting tours of its own.  The Gateway Arch is open for tours from 8am to 10pm during the summer and 9am to 6pm in the winter.  Tours to the top using the tram system are specific to a time of your choosing when purchasing tickets.  Tickets can be bought at the Gateway Arch, but it is recommended to purchase them in advance online.  Also, due to security concerns, all visitors wishing to enter into the museum below ground and tour the arch must go through airport style security checkpoints.  Tours to the top of the arch are also not recommended for those suffering from claustrophobia, as the capsules that transport visitors on the tram are extremely cramped.  While the grounds, Old Courthouse, and museum are handicapped accessible, the arch tram is not.  Passport stamps can be found at the reception desk just inside the main entrance to the museum.  (As of this writing, passport stamp collectors are still allowed to use the obsolete Jefferson National Expansion Memorial stamp as well.)

A view of the interior of the capsules used by the arch tram.  Even from this photo, the capsule is far less spacious than it appears.

ADDITIONAL PHOTOS:

A plaque on the observation deck showing the height at the pinnacle of the arch.

Artifacts from exploring expeditions to west during the early 1800s on display in the museum.

A model in the museum showing the St. Louis riverfront during the mid 1800s.

The interior of the Old Cathedral taken shortly after the conclusion of Sunday Mass.

The exterior facade of the Old Cathedral.

A view of the riverfront dock with the two replica steam paddleboats moored alongside.

A statue commemorating the return of Captains Merriwether Lewis and William Clark to St. Louis upon the conclusion of their epic journey to the Pacific Coast.

A ground level view of the Old Courthouse.

A statue depicting Dred Scott and his wife in front of the Old Courthouse.

A view of the rotunda of the Old Courthouse.

A view taken from the base of the Gateway Arch.

41. Tupelo National Battlefield, Mississippi

Welcome back to our blog!  In this post we follow up on our earlier post about Brices Cross Roads NBS with its identical twin, the nearby Tupelo National Battlefield.

Entrance Sign

BACKGROUND:

               Following the Union’s humiliating defeat at the battle of Brices Cross Roads in June of 1864, General William T. Sherman, whose offensive into Georgia required securing supply lines in Mississippi, sent out an order to his subordinates to find and crush the Confederate force under the command of Nathan Bedford Forrest.

               Forrest had been hoping to lure the Union into a trap south of Tupelo, Mississippi.  However, Union General Andrew Smith bypassed Forrest and instead marched straight to Tupelo, forcing Forrest to attack in order to retake the town.  The following attacks against the prepared Union troops went badly with the Confederates taking heavy casualties including even Forrest himself being wounded.  Although Forrest would continue to harass the Union in later months, the battle of Tupelo put his force out of action allowing Sherman to continue his drive on Atlanta.

THE BATTLEFIELD:

               Most of the Tupelo battlefield was swallowed up by development as the town expanded over the years.  Now, aside from a few acres on the edge of town preserved by the Civil War Trust, only a one-acre plot in the middle of Tupelo has been preserved under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service.  The site itself is nearly identical to Brices Cross Roads National Battlefield Site, consisting of a simple monument flanked by a pair of cannons.

A view of the entirety of the NPS unit.

TRAVEL TIPS:

               Tupelo National Battlefield is easily accessible, located on Main Street in Tupelo, Mississippi.  The battlefield is administered by the Natchez Trace Parkway, which passes through Tupelo, and does not have a dedicated NPS visitor center. Similar to Brices Cross Roads NBS, visitors can find information on the battle at the Mississippi Final Stands Interpretive Center in nearby Baldwyn, where passport stamps can be found.  Passport Stamps can also be found at the NPS Natchez Trace Parkway visitor center located on the edge of town.

40. George Rogers Clark National Historical Park, Indiana

               Hello and welcome back to our blog.  In this post we travel to Indiana to visit the memorial to the man whose exploits secured the northwest for the United States and opened the west to expansion.

Entrance sign.

BACKGROUND:

               In 1778, as the American War of Independence dragged on, the governor of Virginia, Patrick Henry, approved an expedition to secure American claims to the territory between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi river.  To command this expedition, Virginian George Rogers Clark was appointed to lead men down the Ohio river and capture several British forts in the Illinois wilderness.  Despite having a far smaller army than promised, Clark seized the British posts with complete surprise and managed to broker peace with several Indian tribes.  During the winter the British struck back, the British governor of the Northwest Territories, Henry Hamilton, personally leading a force from Detroit which recaptured Fort Sackville on the eastern bank of the Wabash river.

               Clark, realizing that a British resurgence might erase all of the Americans' gains, gathered up his small force and marched back across Illinois from St. Louis in the dead of winter.  As they approached their objective, Clark and his men came across the Wabash river, swollen from winter snows and rains which had turned the entire area around Fort Sackville into an icy swamp.  Undaunted, Clark lead his men onward, wading through miles of freezing cold water.  Finally, after completing the arduous march, Clark’s troops assaulted Fort Sackville.  Thinking that he was facing a far superior force, the Governor Hamilton surrendered to Clark on February 25^th, 1779.  The capture of the British posts throughout the frontier allowed the United States to go into peace negotiations with a much stronger bargaining position, allowing the new nation to firmly claim the Northwest Territory, the modern states of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, and Wisconsin.

               As for George Rogers Clark himself, despite his heroics in helping win the west, he was soon eclipsed in fame by his younger brother William Clark, who along with Meriwether Lewis led the Corps of Discovery on their famous journey across the west to the Pacific Ocean.  To memorialize this overlooked hero, the state of Indiana with assistance from the Federal government, commissioned a memorial to Clark on the location of Fort Sackville in Vincennes, Indiana.  The classical style monument was completed in 1936 and designated a unit of the National Park Service in 1966.

The statue at the center of the monument rotunda memorializing George Rogers Clark.

THE HISTORICAL PARK:

               George Rogers Clark National Historical Park is located on the east bank of the Wabash river in the center of Vincennes, Indiana.  The park consists of a large park space surrounding the George Rogers Clark monument along with a visitor center.  The monument is a classical style granite rotunda, at the center of which is a larger-than-life bronze statue of George Rogers Clark.  Along the walls of the rotunda are murals depicting Clark’s campaign to capture Fort Sackville.  On the park grounds are two additional statues, one memorializing Francis Vigo, an Italian merchant who acted as an American spy and helped bankroll Clark’s expedition.  The second lies in front of the Old Cathedral of Vincennes depicting Father Pierre Gibault, a French Priest who aided Clark by rallying the French inhabitants of the region to the American cause.

The exterior of the monument.

TRAVEL TIPS:

               George Rogers Clark National Historical Park is open year-round with holiday exceptions from 9am to 5pm daily.  The park is located at the center of downtown Vincennes, Indiana, a roughly two-hour drive southwest from Indianapolis.  The visitor center contains a short film.  The monument, having been built in the 1930s, is not handicapped accessible.  Passport stamps can be found at the visitor center.  In addition, Vincennes is home to several other historic sites, including Grouseland, the mansion of President William Henry Harrison, which may also be of interest to visitors.

ADDITIONAL PHOTOS:

A distant view of the monument.

Two of the murals in the rotunda, depicting the opening of Ohio to settlement at Marietta, and the Louisiana purchase at St. Louis, both made possible by George Rogers Clark's seizure of Fort Sackville.

A statue of Francis Vigo, Clark's financier, on the bank of the Wabash river.

39. Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, Georgia

               Hello and welcome back to our blog!  In this post we are visiting the first ever park dedicated to preserving a battlefield at Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park.

Entrance Sign

BACKGROUND:

               By September of 1863, the Confederacy had suffered devastating defeats at Vicksburg and Gettysburg and had been pushed completely out of Tennessee.  The Union was now preparing for a new offensive into Georgia to take the south’s vital industrial hub of Atlanta.  Hoping to stem the tide, the Confederates shipped in as many reinforcements to the Army of Tennessee as possible.  Just south of Chattanooga, along the banks of a creek called Chickamauga, alleged to mean “River of Death,” the Army of Tennessee attacked their Union counterparts the Army of the Cumberland.

The Georgia state monument at the Chickamauga battlefield.

               The first day of fighting ended in a tactical stalemate.  On the second day fighting resumed, the armies aligned parallel to each other running north to south slugging it out at close range.  As the day dragged on, an erroneous report reached Union command that a hole had opened in the center of the Union line.  Union General William Rosecrans, commander of the Army of the Cumberland ordered the gap closed.  However, Rosecrans’ chief of staff, future President James A. Garfield, was occupied dictating a previous order, and so the order was given to another subordinate who misunderstood it.  The order was passed down to Union commanders who then moved their unit out of the line, opening up a real gap where the fictitious one had been.  Confederate troops saw their chance and poured into the breach.

Markers along the tour route marking the location of Confederate units during the battle.  The two sides were locked in such close combat...

...that their Union counterparts were located just on the opposite side of the road less than one hundred yards apart.

               With the exception of a lone Union cavalry brigade at the extreme southern end of the line who managed to hold due to the firepower from their quick-shooting repeating rifles, the entire Union right flank collapsed.  Thousands of Union troops began fleeing to the northwest back to Chattanooga, Rosecrans among them.  However, the left flank under General George Thomas continued to hold.  Despite continuing ferocious Confederate assaults, Thomas’s troops held their ground until nightfall when they retreated under the cover of darkness back to Chattanooga.  For his stout defense of the Union flank, Thomas was heralded as “The Rock of Chickamauga.”

The Monument to Wilder's Brigade, the Union force cut-off at the extreme southern end of the Union line following the rout of the Union right flank.  The castle tower-like monument can be climbed by visitors.

               The Confederates now occupied the high ground surrounding Chattanooga, namely Missionary Ridge to the southeast and Lookout Mountain to the southwest.  In order to relieve the bottled-up Union army, Ulysses S. Grant, fresh off his crushing victory at Vicksburg, raced east.  Wasting no time, Grant led his troops in a series of daring attacks in October, starting with the stunning capture of the mighty Lookout Mountain in an action called “The Battle Above the Clouds.”  Then turning his entire force to face Missionary Ridge, the Union army charged up the entire length of the ridge-line, sweeping the Confederates off the heights.  Grant’s counterattacks were so devastating it turned a potentially crucial Confederate victory after Chickamauga into a crippling defeat following Chattanooga.

Chattanooga as seen from atop Lookout Mountain.

THE MILITARY PARK:

               Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park was the very first battlefield to be preserved for its historical significance by the Federal Government in 1890, beating out even the famed Gettysburg.  It was initially managed by the War Department (the Army precursor to the Defense Department) before being transferred to the National Park Service in 1933.  The Military Park as it exists today consists of two major areas in the vicinity of Chattanooga, Tennessee, and several smaller plots of land in the area.

               To the south of Chattanooga, just inside the Georgia state line is the Chickamauga battlefield.  The battlefield comprises a large square shaped area of land and owing to its early park establishment is preserved in much the same state as it was during the battle.  However, in the century since the park was established the suburbs of Chattanooga have expanded greatly and now virtually surround the battlefield.  The Chickamauga battlefield visitor center is located near the north entrance to the battlefield and a road circuits the battlefield for a driving tour.

The historic visitor center at the Chickamauga battlefield.

               Farther north is the other main portion of the battlefield, Lookout Mountain.  While the top plateau of the mountain was turned into an upscale suburb, the flanks of the mountain where much of the fighting took place is protected by the Military Park.  In addition, at the very tip of the mountain is Point Park, now administered by the NPS, which overlooks the city of Chattanooga from former Confederate artillery positions and which later became a popular location for Union troops to pose for photographs.  A second visitor center is located at the entrance to Point Park.  Most of the rest of the Chattanooga battlefield has been swallowed up by the growth of the city.  Several small areas are protected by the NPS, namely a small acreage at a battlefield locale called Orchard Knob and several plots of land along the length of Missionary Ridge.  There is also a section of the park located on the Moccasin Bend peninsula across the Tennessee River from the city reserved for archaeological digs and is not open to the public.

The entrance to Point Park atop Lookout Mountain.

TRAVEL TIPS:

               Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park is open year-round, with grounds open from sunrise to sunset and visitor centers open from 8:30am to 5:00pm.  There is no fee to enter the Chickamauga battlefield but a fee is required at Point Park on Lookout Mountain.  While the Military Park is spread out across the vicinity of Chattanooga it is possible to visit the entirety of the park in the span of a day.  The park brochure provides a driving tour of the battlefield and both visitor centers contain a short film.  The Chickamauga battlefield is handicapped accessible while the Lookout Mountain battlefield is partially accessible.  Passport stamps can be found at both visitor centers.

ADDITIONAL PHOTOS:

A view across the open fields at the north side of the battlefield from the position of Confederate batteries.  General George Thomas's troops were located in the area of the treeline.

A Monument to Ohio artillerymen at the Chickamauga battlefield.

The New York monument at Point Park at the summit of Lookout Mountain.

A second view from Point Park on Lookout Mountain.  The Moccasin Bend Peninsula is located at the left of the photo.  Missionary Ridge is marked by a line of foliage running across the frame from the center of the picture straight across to the right about a quarter of an inch below the horizon. 

38. Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee

               Welcome back to our blog on the National Park Service!  We are making another stop in one of the “Big 60” National Parks, this time to the most visited National Park in the country, Great Smoky Mountains.

Entrance sign.

BACKGROUND:

               The name ‘Great Smoky Mountains’ derives from the Cherokee, who said the mountains of the southern Appalachians along the North Carolina and Tennessee border looked, “Blue like smoke.”  Being in the eastern portion of the country, the mountains quickly became home to European settlers moving west who carved out homesteads in the valleys.  The mountains were covered with massive forests which gave cover for generations of moonshiners and provided an abundant source of timber for lumber companies.  These companies soon built railways into the mountains to transport timber back to mill sites rather than continuing to float newly cut trees down the narrow streams.  In order to make some extra money, the railways began offering sightseeing tours.  The popularity of these tours and the showcasing of the area’s natural beauty led locals to band together in efforts to save the mountains from mining and logging.  At the same time, the newly formed National Parks Service was looking to expand by forming new National Parks in the east.  A debate began about where to establish the new eastern park, with supporters split between the Shenandoah mountains in Virginia and the Great Smoky Mountains further south.  Remarkably, Congress approved both, starting with the Great Smoky Mountains in 1926.  The problem however was that the federal government was too strapped for cash at first to purchase the necessary property.

Horses graze in the Cades Cove valley.

               Philanthropist John D. Rockefeller Jr. lent his family’s vast fortune to the cause as citizens in Tennessee and North Carolina raised more cash through fundraising campaigns.  The formation of the park had a dark side though.  Over four thousand people who called the territory where the park had been established home, were forcibly evicted as the government condemned their land, and only a handful were able to successfully fight the removal.

A former mill, preserved at Cades Cove.  The park preserves many structures left by former residents of the area.

               With the onset of the Great Depression, Great Smoky Mountains became one of epicenters of activity for the Civilian Conservation Corps.  The CCC provided work for thousands of unemployed men during the 1930s, and at Great Smoky Mountains the men of the CCC transformed the rugged mountains into a true National Park, clearing trails, building campsites, roads and visitor centers.  In the post-war era, the popularity of the park increased, and it was recognized by international organizations being declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site and an International Biosphere Reserve.

A platform built by the CCC at the Newfound Gap overlook along the Tennessee/North Carolina state line.

               The Great Smoky Mountains are well known for its wildlife, in particular its famous black bears, but is also home to elk, bobcats, many species of birds and rodents, and is notable for its rare synchronous fireflies.  In addition, the park is home to five varied types of forests; spruce-fir, northern hardwood, cove hardwood, hemlock, and pine-and-oak forests.

A view from Route 441 looking down the valley between Sugarlands Mountain and Mount Le Conte.  The gray spot in the lower portion of the photo is another section of Route 441 far below.

THE PARK:

               Great Smoky Mountains National Park is located along the border of Tennessee and North Carolina covering over five-hundred thousand acres in the southern Appalachian Mountains in the rough shape of an elongated oval.  Although the park territory is nearly evenly split north and south between the two states, the park is headquartered in Tennessee.   The Tennessee side is also the more developed area of the park with more facilities and road access.  The park is bounded to the south by Fontana Lake, a reservoir created by a 1940s Tennessee Valley Authority Dam, and the Eastern Cherokee Indiana Reservation, populated by descendants of the Cherokee tribe that managed to evade the Indian removal efforts of the 1830s.

Entrance sign to the Eastern Cherokee Indian Reservation.

               The park has four visitor centers.  The primary visitor center is Sugarlands, located in the north-central area of the park near the town of Gatlinburg which abuts against the park’s northern boundary.  To the west is the Cades Cove visitor center, nestled in a wide valley once home to settlers who farmed the area before being forced off their land in the 1920s.  At the very the center of the park is the Clingmans Dome visitor center, perched near the peak of the tallest mountain in the park.  At the southern edge of the park is the Oconaluftee visitor center, home to the Mountain Farm Museum which showcases how settlers in the area once lived.  Just beyond the Oconaluftee visitor center is the southern entrance to the Blue Ridge Parkway.  The parkway runs almost 470 miles north to the southern entrance of Shenandoah National Park in Virginia, serving as a long-distance link between the two great eastern National Parks.

The Cades Cove visitor center.

               Road access in the park is somewhat limited.  There are virtually no roads in the park on the North Carolina side, with exception of two rough unpaved roads.  One of these connects the Big Creek and Cataloochee campgrounds on the park’s eastern edge near Interstate 40.  The other is the one-way Balsam Mountain Road which diverts up into the mountains from the Blue Ridge Parkway until winding back to the Oconaluftee visitor center.  The main road that splits the park between east and west is Route 441, which runs up from Gatlinburg between Sugarlands and Le Conte Mountains, crosses over the Newfound Gap on the state line, then straight down alongside the Oconaluftee River to the town of Cherokee.  Splitting off from this road at Newfound Gap is another road which runs to the Clingmans Dome visitor center.  To the north, starting in Gatlinburg is the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail, a one lane scenic drive which loops up along the side of Mount Le Conte above the town.  Finally, starting at the Sugarlands visitor center and running west alongside the river of the same name is the Little River Road, built along the former railroad grade used by lumber companies in the early 20^th century.  The road continues to Cades Cove where it forms a single lane drive that loops around the valley.  There is one further scenic drive in the park, the Foothills Parkway.  Intended to follow the line of foothills several miles north of the actual park, the parkway, originally authorized in 1944, still is not complete, with less than half of the parkway built.  Two small sections, one beginning at the far western tip of the park and running to the small town of Walland, the other at the other extreme end of the park connecting the small town of Cosby to Interstate 40 are currently the only finished portions.  A new section of the parkway, running from Walland to Wear Valley near Gatlinburg, is scheduled to finally be completed later this year.

Cars pass through a tunnel along Little River Road.  The road was constructed using the old railroad grade used by lumber companies.

               What Great Smoky Mountains National Park lacks in road access in makes up for in trails.  The mountains are crisscrossed with hundreds of miles of hiking trails, including the king of all hiking trails, the Appalachian Trail.  The famous AT crosses into the park at its southern boundary along Fontana Dam, then up to the peaks following the state line until it exists near Big Creek.  Further trails provide visitors with strenuous hikes to mountain tops and scenic waterfalls.

The Appalachian Trail passes by Newfound Gap tracing along the Tennessee/North Carolina state line.  Note the signpost.  "It's only two-thousand miles to Maine."

               The park has ten developed campgrounds; Cosby, Big Creek, and Cataloochee in the far east, Balsam Mountain near the Blue Ridge Parkway, Smokemont near Oconaluftee visitor center, Deep Creek near Fontana Lake on the park’s southern border, Elkmont (home of the famed synchronous fireflies in the late Spring) is off of the Little River Road, Cades Cove in its namesake valley, Abrams Creek in the far west, and Look Rock along the completed portion of the Foothills Parkway.  There are also numerous primitive backcountry campsites and shelters.  There is only one small lodge at the park, at the summit of Mount Le Conte which can only be reached by foot.

Mt. Le Conte as seen from the Carlos C. Campbell overlook.

TRAVEL TIPS:

               Great Smoky Mountains National Park is open year-round twenty-four hours a day.  The best time to visit is during the summer, when the visitor centers are open later into the evening, all roads are open, and wildlife are more active.  However, summer is the most popular time of year, and as the park is officially the most visited in the country, it is likely to be crowded, particularly along roads, at visitor centers and trail heads.  There are no entrance fees to enter the park.  At developed campgrounds, while there are flush toilets and sinks, there are no showers or waste hook-ups for RVs/trailers.  All backcountry shelters and campgrounds may be used by permit only.  As mentioned above, the Mount Le Conte lodge is only accessible by foot.  A room at the lodge can be reserved in advance, but the conditions are primitive with no electricity or showers.  Cell phone service within the park is almost totally nonexistent, so prepare for any emergencies in advance if you are looking to enter the backcountry.  The developed areas of the park, namely the areas around the visitor centers are as handicapped accessible as possible, however trails and many backcountry locations are not due to the terrain.  Passport stamps can be found at all four visitor centers.

Probably the preferred way for all to see a bear; safely fifty yards away and the bear sitting in a tree.  This photo was taken along the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail.  The bear was actually about eye-level with the authors, however it was perched at least thirty feet up the tree due to a steep drop in elevation from the edge of the road.

If you are on foot and can see a bear this easily, you're TOO CLOSE.  [Legal disclaimer:  This was a chance encounter with a bear along a roadside.  The authors did not at any time exit the vehicle or attempt to approach the bear.  The bear in question quickly retreated into the forest and the authors drove on.  Federal law prohibits willfully approaching within fifty yards of a bear or attempting to feed a bear.]  This photo was taken along the Cades Cove loop road near the Cades Cove campground.

Visitors are strongly advised to follow all park directions in regard to the proper behavior concerning wild animals, particularly the park’s famous black bears.  The park has taken extensive steps in the last few decades to limit harm to the native bear population caused by human interaction, so we please ask that all visitors follow all park instructions given on avoiding feeding or approaching them.

ADDITIONAL PHOTOS:

A log bridge crosses a small creek in the vicinity of the Cosby campground.

 A view from an overlook above the town of Gatlinburg along the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail.

Visitors swim at the junction of the Little River and Laurel Creek.

A waterfall known as "The Sinks" along the Little River.  The waterfall is man-made, the result of blasting to clear a log jam on the river.  The waterfall is extremely hazardous and swimming at the location has been banned due several drownings.

The Clingmans Dome observation tower, atop the highest peak in the park.

A view from the Clingmans Dome observation tower looking south.  Fontana Lake, the park's southern boundary can be seen in the distance.

A hiker decided to have a bit of fun with an oddly shaped rock along a trail near the Cosby campground.  For the curious, Sasquatch country is the Pacific Northwest, not the southern Appalachians.

A stream flows downhill beside Route 441.