Popular and Great Mountains National Park

The Alum Cave Bluffs trail to the summit of Mount LeConte provides numerous views of the Great Smoky Mountains: The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is a major tourist attraction in the region.Over 11.3 million recreational visitors (tourists) a an additional 11 million non recreational visitors traveled to or through the park in 2016. The recreational figure represents nearly twice as many tourists as the Grand Canyon which recived nearly 6 million visitors the same year. surrounding towns notable Gatlinburg Pigeon Forge Sevierville and Townsend Tennessee and Cherokee Sylva Maggie Valley and Bryson City North Caroline receive a significant portion of their income from tourist associated with the park. The two main visitors centers inside the park are Sugar lands Visitors Center near the Gatlinburg entrance to the park and Oconaluftee Visitor Center near Cherokee North Carolina at the eastern entrance to the park.



These ranger stations provide exhibits on wildlife geology and the hstory of the park They also sell books maps and souvenirs. U.S Highway 441 (known in the park as Newfound Gap Road) bisects the park providing automobile access to many trailheads and overlooks most notaby that of Newfound Gap. At an elevation of 5,048 feet (1,539 m) it is the lowest gap center of the park on the Tennessee/ Noorth Carolina state line halfway between the border towns of Gatlinburg and Cherokee.

It was here tt in 1940 from the Rockefeller Memorial Franklin Delano Roosevelt dedicated the national park. On clear days Newfound Gap offers arguably the most spectacular scenes accessible via highway in the park. The park has a number of historical attractions. The most well preserved of these (and most popular) is Cades Cove a valley with a number of preserved historic buildings including log cabins barns and churches. Cades Cove is the single most frequented destination in the national park. Self guided automobile and bicycle tours offer the many sightseers a glimpse into the way of life of old tome southern Appalachia. Other htorical areas within the park include Roaring Fork Cataloochee Elkmot and the Mountain Farm Museum and Mingus Mill at Oconaluftee.