Historic information about the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Local author Ron Rader is passionate about the Great Smoky Mountains. That led to his book “The Blue Mountains Sing of Rivers, Old Men, Trails and Trout,” a memoir that shares a title with a presentation he will give Tuesday at 5 p.m. at the LeConte Convention Center, as part of Wilderness Wildlife Week. >>
In the late 1930’s, a young Californian named Joseph Hall was invited by the park service to come to the Smokies and record it’s people. “Because he was a linguist, he was interested in documenting the speech of the people of the Great Smoky Mountains,” says Dr. Ted Olson of East Tennessee State University’s Appalachian
Western Carolina University’s Hunter Library will produce a new digital collection of 2,000 items focused on the history of Great Smoky Mountains National Park with support from a $93,000 grant from the North Carolina State Library. This 1920s photograph depicts men at LeConte Lodge. The lodge still serves visitors today on the third highest peak
Moonshine: A word that paints a thousand pictures. In fact, according to author and University of North Carolina at Asheville history professor Dan Pierce, life in the Smoky Mountain region for many often brings to mind a vivid image of the lowly moonshiner holding his XXX-labeled stoneware jug, passed out beside his cooper pot still.
With each passing day our connections to the past slip through our fingers, taking with them their first-person stories of what life was like in the Smokies before Google, iTunes or even black-and-white television. When Beth Bramhall, in her role as a Parks in Classroom seasonal ranger with Great Smoky Mountains National Park, decided to
It is a day Lawrence Hyatt looks forward to all year — venturing into the Smokies backcountry to pay homage at the graves of early settlers who lived there. But this year, a landslide washed out the only trail leading to Lower Noland Cemetery, a place he’s visited regularly since childhood. The National Park Service,
Standing only five-foot tall and weighing 100 pounds, Japanese immigrant George Masa, was tiny in stature but the lasting impact he left on the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is immeasurable. Born Masahara Izuka in Osaka, Japan in 1881, it’s believed he came to the United States sometime in the early 1900’s to study mining.
If you’ve ever read the classic narrative, “Our Southern Highlanders” by Horace Kephart then you probably know what tooth-jumping is. You should also be thankful that you never had to experience it first hand, although in some cases it may have been the less painful option. In many areas of the Appalachians good medical and
Below is a 13 minute long program dedicated to the history of the Cataloochee Settlement in the Great Smoky Mountains. Featuring narration and historical photographs it tells the story of the early settlers of Cataloochee Valley and some of their descendants. Cataloochee, NC was once the largest settlement in the Great Smoky Mountains. Many of
Elijah Oliver, the son of John and Lucretia Oliver, was born in Cades Cove in 1824. Today you can visit the old Elijah Oliver Place via a short, easy 1.0 mile roundtrip walk from the Cades Cove Loop Road. Elijah moved his family out of the cove prior to the Civil War but later bought
