Welcome to Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the most visited national park in the country including Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon. Its endless forest and huge diversity of plants and animals make it a world-renowned natural landscape.
This land was inhibited only by native Cherokee Indians before native American settlers began to arrive. Great pride is taken in the park’s history and heritage. Many conflicts took place before the mountains became a national park in 1934. Prior to that time, there was another conflict going on. A conflict between man and the forest. Timber was the main industry of the mountains before the park came into existence. Since the creation of the national park, the timber industry was converted into a tourism industry. Logging was stopped within the park’s boundaries and many species of animal and plants were saved from extinction because of it.
The National Park Service has several programs underway to help restore the plants and animal life to the native species and to eliminate exotic and non-native species. The restoration of elk is one of those programs. Another is the restoration of the native brook trout in some of the park’s streams.
Although the national park is the heart of everything, there are many other things that have nothing to do with the outdoors, nature or the park but are still a part of the mountain heritage and culture. Music, arts and crafts, museums, shopping, entertainment and food are some of the main attractions outside of the things to do in the park.
Copyright 2011 James Marsh
