The schoolhouse itself is old, built in 1882 out of poplar logs and white oak shingles. Its single room used to double as a church for the community, but now the two long, narrow windows on either side open out onto the protected forest of the park. A woman stands in the doorway, dressed in a pink bonnet and an old-fashioned, ankle-length dress. She rings a cast iron bell. The children, who have been out walking on this early spring morning, hear the bell and begin to run toward it. Some of them see the school and shout and beckon the others. In their hurry, they spread out and fill the clearing with flashes of color and expectation. The woman in the doorway is their teacher.
They have spanned a century and longer. They now live in more worlds than one, because they have come to the place where their spirit lives. It is again homecoming in the Great Smoky Mountains.
Part 3
Guide and Adviser
Traveling in the Smokies
“You can’t get there from here,” an oldtimer might tell you about traveling in the Smokies, and you might think that’s true when you get on some of the back roads in the area. But if you stick mostly to the paved roads and use your auto map and the map in this book, you should not have much or any trouble finding your way around Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
The park, which is administered by the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, is located along the border between North Carolina and Tennessee. It can be reached by major highways in both states and by the Blue Ridge Parkway, which connects the park with Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. Newfound Gap Road, the only road that crosses the park, connects Gatlinburg, Tennessee, with Cherokee, North Carolina. It is closed to commercial vehicles.
There are just a few other roads within the park itself, so travel between distant points is quite roundabout and time consuming. But you will see plenty of nice scenery along the way. Because this handbook focuses on the history of the area, the travel information does, too. But by no means should you let the limited scope presented here limit what you do. We encourage you to enjoy the scenic views, flowers, shrubs, and wildlife as you travel to and through the historic sites. For example, while you’re in the Cable Mill area at Cades Cove, you might take the trail to Abrams Falls. It’s a delightful short hike to a beautiful spot in the park. And if you take the Roaring Fork Auto Tour, you might hike the 2.4 kilometers (1.5 miles) through a hemlock forest to Grotto Falls. There are plenty of other short hikes in the park, and when you take them you may come across decaying ruins of early settlements.
Visitor Centers
Park headquarters and the major visitor center are at Sugarlands, 3.2 kilometers (2 miles) south of Gatlinburg. Other visitor centers are at Cades Cove and at Oconaluftee, both of which are prime historical areas in the park. The Sugarlands and Oconaluftee centers are open 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. during the winter, with extended hours the rest of the year. The Cades Cove center, located in the Cable Mill area on the loop road, is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. from mid-April through October. Exhibits at the Cades Cove and Oconaluftee centers feature the human history of the Smokies. The relative flatness of the Cades Cove area makes this the best place to bicycle in the park.