The Great Smoky Mountains

A short history of the Smokies

Cherokee homeland. Long before the park, these mountains were the heart of Cherokee country, laced with towns, trails and hunting grounds. Most Cherokee were forced west on the Trail of Tears in 1838; families who stayed in the North Carolina mountains became today’s Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. ^[S1][S5]

Settlers in the coves. Through the 1800s, farm families cleared the coves — Cades Cove, Cataloochee, Greenbrier, Elkmont — building the log cabins, churches and mills you still see today. ^[S1]

The logging boom. Around 1900, big lumber companies laid railroads deep into the mountains. Townsend grew up around the Little River Lumber Company, and the town is named for its founder, W. B. Townsend. By the 1920s, much of the old forest had been cut. ^[S5]

Building a park from private land. Unlike the big western parks, the Smokies had to be bought, tract by tract, from thousands of owners. Congress authorized the park in 1926; Tennessee, North Carolina, private donors and schoolchildren raised money, and John D. Rockefeller Jr.’s family memorial fund gave $5 million. Families in places like Cades Cove and Elkmont had to sell and leave. The park was established in 1934, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicated it at Newfound Gap on September 2, 1940. ^[S1][S5]

The CCC and the modern park. Civilian Conservation Corps crews built many of the trails, bridges and overlooks in the 1930s. UNESCO named the park a World Heritage Site in 1983 for its plant and animal life — it is one of the most biologically diverse places in the temperate world. ^[S4]

Recent chapters. The November 2016 Chimney Tops 2 fire swept into Gatlinburg, and the town rebuilt. In 2024, the park’s highest peak, long called Clingmans Dome, officially took back its Cherokee name, Kuwohi. ^[S6]

Go deeper on our East Tennessee history hub and the Sevier and Blount county histories.

Why “Smoky”?

The blue haze that hangs over the ridges is natural: the forest’s trees and plants give off vapor that scatters blue light. The Cherokee called the area Shaconage — roughly, “place of blue smoke.” Settlers called them the Smoky Mountains, and the name stuck. ^[S1]