Gatlinburg - Great Smoky Mountains National Park
The Great Smoky Mountains National Park comes to halt at the foot of Gatlinburg, along the popular Gatlinburg Trail tremendous amounts of logging in the early 1900s led to pleas by conservationists for federal change to the region, and in 1911 Congress passed the Weeks Act that allowed the massive purchase of land for national forests. Authors such as Horace Kephart and Knoxville-area business interests began advocating the creation of a national park in the Smokies, similar to Yellowstone or Yosemite in the Western United States. With the purchase of 76,000 acres (310 km²) of the Little River Lumber Company tract in 1926, the movement quickly became a reality. Andrew Huff would spearhead the movement in the Gatlinburg area. He opened the first hotel in Gatlinburg "The Mountain View Hotel" in 1916. His son, Jack, would establish LeConte Lodge at over 6500ft altitude atop Mount Le Conte in 1926. In spite of resistance from lumber ers at Elkmont and difficulties with the Tennessee legislature the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was opened in 1934. The park radically changed Gatlinburg. When the Pi Phi's arrived in 1912, Gatlinburg was a small hamlet with six houses, a blacksmith shop, a general store, a Baptist Church, and a greater community of 600 individuals, most of whom lived in log cabins. In 1934, the first year of the park, an estimated 40,000 visitors passed through the city. Within a year, this number had increased exponentially to 500,000. From 1940 to 1950, the cost of land in Gatlinburg increased from $50 to $8000 per acre. While the park's arrival benefited Gatlinburg and made many of the town's residents wealthy, the tourism explosion led to problems with air quality and urban sprawl. The town's infrastructure is often pushed to the limit on peak vacation days, and must consistently re-adapt to accommodate the growing number of tourists. The National Park has over 9 million visitors per year currently and it is the most visited National park in the US. Much of what is attributed to the fact it is within 1 day's driving distance from over 2 thirds of the entire US Population.
Today the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is a hiker's haven with over 800 miles of well maintained trails. And over 1400 bears live in the parks boundaries. And 10,000 species of plants have been documented in the park and it is believed that there are over 100,000 species of plant life yet to be discovered. Elevations in the park range from 875 feet to 6,643 feet above sea level. The mountains in the park are among the oldest in the world at over 300 million years old. And covers over 500,000 acres
Great Smoky Mountains National Park Today
Today the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is a hiker's haven with over 800 miles of well maintained trails. And over 1400 bears live in the parks boundaries. And 10,000 species of plants have been documented in the park and it is believed that there are over 100,000 species of plant life yet to be discovered. Elevations in the park range from 875 feet to 6,643 feet above sea level. The mountains in the park are among the oldest in the world at over 300 million years old. And covers over 500,000 acres