Great Smoky Mountains National Park, North Carolina and Tennessee

by United States. National Park Service

Interpretive Programs

Guided walks and evening programs are conducted by the National Park Service throughout the park. Most of these start or take place at the visitor centers and at campground amphitheaters. The uniformed park employees who render these services are trained in the natural history and/or history of the Great Smokies. They give you excellent vignettes of the park’s nature and its historical period of Indian and mountaineer life and the opportunity to ask questions. You, for instance, might enjoy a short nature walk up a burbling Smokies stream and so learn about the more than 1,100 kilometers (700 miles) of streams in the park. Schedules of these activities and programs are posted at the visitor centers and on campground bulletin boards. A copy of the schedule is in Guide to Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which is available free at any visitor center, ranger station, or campground.

Sugarlands Visitor Center (above) in Tennessee and Oconaluftee Visitor Center in North Carolina (below), are the best places to begin your park trip. Exhibits explain the natural and human history of the Great Smokies. A free park folder is available, books and maps are sold, and you can check the posted schedule of activities being offered.

Live demonstrations of mountain life skills and folkways are also provided periodically (spring through October) at places such as the Pioneer Farmstead beside the Oconaluftee Visitor Center and the nearby Mingus Mill, or at the Cable Mill in Cades Cove. You even might be able to buy cornmeal freshly ground just as it was a century or more ago.

Self-guiding nature trails have been laid out throughout the park. Look for these marked trails near campgrounds, visitor centers, and picnic areas. Most are easy walks of 1.5 kilometers (a mile) or less which take you through former farmsteads now returning to forest, groves of the world-famous cove hardwoods, reclaimed logged-over lands, or other aspects of the park. Trails are well marked and seldom difficult. At the trail’s start look for a container offering a descriptive brochure for sale on the honor system.

Two self-guiding motor nature trails lead you through impressive areas of the park in the comfort and convenience of your own vehicle. Near Gatlinburg, off the Cherokee Orchard Road, is the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail. Its scenic route takes you by several restored pioneer buildings. The Cades Cove Loop Road is an 18-kilometer (11-mile) drive through the pleasant scenery of Cades Cove. Here you get pleasant vistas out across the cove where you may well see deer grazing against a mountain backdrop. The fields recall the rural scene of many years ago. A brochure available at the start of the loop describes points along the way that are designated by numbered signs. At several points you can park your car and visit preserved farm structures, both log and frame, and churches and cemeteries. Partway through the loop is a small visitor center and the restored Cable Mill. Associated restored buildings here display farm implements once used for valley and mountain farming in this region.

Guided interpretive programs are offered largely in summer. Check the current schedule at the visitor centers or on campground bulletin boards.

Evening campground programs offer interesting free family entertainment. Try the many interpretive programs offered at park campgrounds in the evenings throughout the week. Check bulletin boards for the schedules.

The three most often asked questions in the park are: Where can I fish? Where can I camp? and What about the bears? Some evening programs cover the bears in detail and you will learn about unusual denning habits in the Smokies. All evening programs are offered for the general public by trained National Park Service interpreters. You will enjoy them no matter how much, or how little, you know about the topic. And you are free to ask questions, knowing they will be taken seriously.

Evening programs cover such topics as the pioneer life, wildlife, hiking, and the incredible botanical story of the Smokies. There are programs on the “preserve and protect” philosophy of how the park is managed, and exploring the park. For the adventurous there are “night prowls,” guided experiences after dark to sample the sights, sounds, and odors of the night forest.

Quiet walkways provide short walks on easy grades. They usually begin at parking areas that accommodate no more than two cars, so crowds are excluded. This is a nice way to experience the naturalness of the Smokies in walks not exceeding 0.5 kilometers (0.3 miles).