Walks and Talks
Some of the guided walks and evening programs deal with history. Check schedules at the visitor centers and campgrounds or in the park newspaper.
Mountain lifeways and skills are demonstrated periodically from early spring through October at the Pioneer Farmstead at Oconaluftee, Cades Cove, Mingus Mill, and Little Greenbrier School. At Oconaluftee you can walk through a typical Smokies farm and see many of yesteryear’s household chores being demonstrated. At Cades Cove, you can see, among other things, how sorghum and wooden shingles were made. Millers seasonally operate the gristmills near Oconaluftee and at Cades Cove. All of these demonstrations indicate that the good old days were not easy ones.
Further Information
For more detailed travel and natural history information, see Handbook 112, Great Smoky Mountains, in this National Park Service series. This book and an extensive array of literature about various aspects of the park are sold at the Sugarlands, Oconaluftee, and Cades Cove visitor centers by a nonprofit organization that assists the park’s interpretive programs. For a price list, write to: Great Smoky Mountains Natural History Association, Gatlinburg, TN 37738.
Specific questions can be addressed to: Superintendent, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Gatlinburg, TN 37738. The headquarters’ telephone number is (615) 436-5615.
Accommodations and Services
You can obtain gasoline, food, lodging, and camping supplies in most communities near the park in both Tennessee and North Carolina. Several campgrounds are located in both the park and in the nearby towns.
Within the park, only LeConte Lodge and Wonderland Hotel offer accommodations, and they are limited. A half-day hike up a mountain trail is required to reach LeConte Lodge, which is open from mid-April to late October. Rustic hotel accommodations and food service are provided at Wonderland Hotel in Elkmont from June 1 to October 1.
Write to the chambers of commerce in the communities near the park for general travel advice and for current information on the availability of lodging facilities.