Smoky Mountains News

 My husband, Lenny, and I first visited Great Smoky Mountains National Park back in 1974. We were on a driving vacation from New Jersey and thought we could “do” both Shenandoah National Park and the Smokies in a mere two weeks. While I carried a pack filled with food, water and diapers, Lenny backpacked our 15-month-old up the Smokies’ Ramsey Cascades Trail, east of Gatlinburg, Tenn. We marveled at the huge hemlocks and the profusion of blooming red bee balm.

In response to a growing concern about a new malady that has killed an estimated 400,000 bats in the Northeast, managers at Great Smoky Mountains National Park have closed all of its caves to public entry until further notice.According to biologists from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, a condition called White-nose Syndrome (WNS) is taking a heavy toll on bats that hibernate in caves and mines in nine states from Virginia north to New Hampshire.

As the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was being formed, the nation was sinking into the Great Depression, a convergence that brought benefits still reaped today by many national parks, including the Smokies.

As the area's and one of the nation's most significant symbols of environmental protection, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park's first opportunity to exhibit its environmental chops is in the just-completed Twin Creeks Science and Education Center.

The iconic Clingman's Dome Tower, atop the highest point in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, is a prime example of the Mission 66 era, from the mid 1950s through the mid-1960s when the National Park Service spent $1 billion to upgrade park facilities across the country.

Spring wildflower programs are planned at Fall Creek Falls and other state parks starting this month and continuing through May.Tommy Solomon, a naturalist at Fall Creek Falls, said wildflower weekends in April and May are usually well-attended and include a variety of hikes and driving tours.

As it marks its 75th year, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is seeing, for it, a veritable spate of construction activity after going 45 years without a major new building project.The $4.5 million Twin Creeks Science and Education Center near Gatlinburg was completed last year. Soon, ground breaking is expected for the $3 million Oconoluftee Visitor Center near Cherokee, N.C.

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is shaking off its winter slumber and has posted a schedule of when park facilities will reopen. The park will also be celebrating its 75th anniversary this year. New this year are brown bag and dining room lunches that dayhikers can buy at the Mount LeConte Lodge. Food service had previously been restricted to overnight guests at the rustic mountaintop retreat.

The National Park Service is cleared to build a new visitor center on the North Carolina side of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.Park Superintendent Dale Ditmanson says an environmental study has found no significantimpact would take place from construction of a new Oconaluftee Visitor Center.

 Sen. Lamar Alexander has confirmed that he will be on hand to play the piano with the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra during the Great Smoky Mountains National Park’s 75th Anniversary concert in Cades Cove.

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park will celebrate a great milestone. One of America’s most popular national parks - with more than 9 million visitors annually – The Great Smoky Mountains have been treating people from far and near to its natural splendor, serving as a tranquil refuge and scenic sanctuary for 75 years. 

Just over 9 million people visited the Great Smoky Mountains National Park as tourism dropped 4 percent, or 328,000 people, in 2008. 

Snowfall has closed several roads in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.Officials have closed Newfound Gap Road and the portion of Little River Road running from the Townsend entrance to Elkmont. Parks spokesman Bob Miller said the park will probably end up closing Little River Road all the way to the Sugarlands Visitor Center. 

Wilderness Wildlife Week™, a Top 20 Event in the Southeast according to the Southeast Tourism Society, tallied a cumulative attendance of more than 25,300 in almost 300 classes, presentations, musical programs, hikes and excursions.  

With the attention on this year's 75th anniversary of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, some focus needs to be on Annie M. Davis, wife of Willis P. Davis, both of whom were instrumental in the park's creation.