Laura Spelman Rockefeller was the wife of John D. Rockefeller and mother of John D. Rockefeller, Jr. She was a teacher, a prominent abolitionist, and philanthropist. Georgia’s Spelman College was named for her. In 1938, the Olmsted brothers (prominent architects) were commissioned to create a monument to her in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park — a lookout over Newfound Gap.

The Fontana Dam, just outside the southern border of the national park, was a Tennessee Valley Authority project. The dam, the highest east of the Rockies, provides water for thousands of local residents. The Appalachian Trail passes by the dam, and the TVA maintains a trail shelter for weary hikers. It is one of the few with the luxury of hot showers, leading to its nickname, the “Fontana Hilton.”

There is no road leading to LeConte Lodge in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park; instead, visitors can only access by hiking. Supplies for the lodge must also be delivered via the trails. Three times a week, a pack of llamas carries goods up the Trillium Lodge Trail. They can easily manage the rocky pathways.

Plentiful elk once roamed the valleys of the Great Smoky Mountains, but European settlers eventually hunted them to extinction. In 2001, a herd was reintroduced to the region, and they have successfully grown to number about 200. They typically graze in the Cataloochee Valley area and can be spotted at dawn or dusk. Tourists are warned not to get too close, as the animals may be aggressive.

There are several dozen waterfalls throughout the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Some are more popular than others with visitors, based on their location and ease of access. The tallest is Ramsey Cascades, which can only be reached via a strenuous four-mile hike. The water drops 100 feet into a pool that provides a rich salamander habitat.

The hellbender is the largest species of salamander found in the Great Smoky Mountains. It is known by a number of other names, including “mud devil,” “snot otter,” or “ground puppy.” Hellbenders can grow to be as big as 30 inches long. They lay their eggs under rocks in the stream beds.

In 1926, President Calvin Coolidge signed a bill establishing Great Smoky Mountains National Park. After several years of land acquisitions, trails and campgrounds had to be built. Finally, in 1940, President Franklin Roosevelt officially dedicated the park. He declared the land was a park for the whole nation to enjoy.

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the most-visited national park in the U.S., with 12.94 million visits in 2022. Within the park, Cades Cove is the most popular area. Cades Cove was once a thriving settlement, and many of its homes and churches have been preserved and are open to visitors. At peak times, traffic on the Cades Cove Loop Road can be backed up, which fortunately offers the opportunity to spot the area’s plentiful deer.

There is only one driving route through the Great Smoky Mountain National Park: Newfound Gap Round. In Appalachia, a gap is a pass through the mountains — Newfound Gap is the lowest pass through the Great Smoky Mountains. At an elevation of 5,065 feet, the 33-mile route connects Gatlinburg and Cherokee and is a popular scenic drive.

To naturalists, the Great Smoky Mountains are the Salamander Capital of the World. The salamander population in the mountains is incredibly diverse, with at least 30 different species. Of particular note within the park are 24 types of lungless salamander. These have evolved to breathe through their skin. A common regional name for the salamander is the spring lizard, although salamanders and lizards are very different creatures.

The black bear is widely used in connection with the Great Smoky Mountains. The national park provides a protected habitat for these bears, one of the largest animals in the eastern U.S. The average male black bear weighs about 250 pounds, and the average female weighs about 100 pounds. An estimated 1,900 of them live in the park.

There are many streams and waterfalls in the Great Smoky Mountains, making it a popular destination for photographers, white water rafters, and fishermen alike. The longest river in the national park is the Little River. It flows for 18 miles through the park, eventually making its way into larger rivers before joining the Mississippi River.

The Cherokee peoples, who once lived throughout the Great Smoky Mountains, named the region Shaconage. In English, it translates to “place of the blue smoke.” The name comes from the bluish mist that often hangs over the mountains.

The resort town of Gatlinburg, Tennessee, is one of the main gateways into the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. Established in 1860, the settlement was named after a local store owner. Today, the town attracts visitors year-round with amusement parks, mini golf, and a ski resort in the winter.

The Eastern Band Cherokee peoples have deep roots in the southern part of the Great Smoky Mountains. Today, visitors can learn about their way of life at the Museum of the Cherokee Indian in Cherokee, North Carolina. When Europeans first arrived, the Cherokee peoples had settlements through much of the southeast; about 11,000 tribal members now live on the reservation in North Carolina.

The Appalachian Trail stretches for more than 2,100 miles from Maine to Georgia, passing through 14 states in total. A 72-mile segment of the trail also passes through the Great Smoky Mountains. If working north, hikers enter the national park at Fontana Dam. From there, they climb up and over Clingman’s Dome to Davenport Gap. This segment takes approximately seven days to hike.

The Great Smoky Mountains are home to at least 19 species of firefly, but one species in particular brings thousands of visitors to the park each year. As the name suggests, synchronous fireflies synchronize their flashing pattern. This helps the females know that they are mating with one of their own species and not being trapped by a predator. The synchronous firefly display takes place in June each year, and viewing tickets are available through a lottery system.

Clingman’s Dome reaches a height of 6,643 feet above sea level. The peak is also the highest point in Tennessee, as well as the third-highest peak east of the Mississippi River. It is a popular spot for visitors to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park — and on clear days the view can extend for up to 100 miles.

The Great Smoky Mountains are a subrange of the Appalachian Mountains. The Appalachians are some of the oldest mountains in the world; some of them may have been formed as long as 500 million years ago. The entire range reaches about 2,000 miles in length, stretching from Newfoundland and Labrador in Canada to the southern states of Alabama and Georgia.

The Great Smoky Mountains extend from eastern Tennessee into western North Carolina. Much of their area falls within the 522,000-acre Great Smoky Mountain National Park, which was established in 1934. The range is heavily forested and supports a broad diversity of wildlife, part of the reason it has also been named a UNESCO World Heritage Site.