Smoky Mountain Tour Connection, Inc.

09/18/2024

Great Smoky Mountains News Release
DATE: September 18, 2024
CONTACT: Katie Liming, [email protected]

Kuwohi name restored to the highest peak in the Smokies
U.S. Board of Geographic Names Approves Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Name Change Request
GATLINBURG, Tenn.—The U.S. Board of Geographic Names voted today in favor of the formal request submitted by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) to change the name of Clingmans Dome (FID #1326387) to Kuwohi. Kuwohi, is the Cherokee name for the mountain and translates to “mulberry place.” In Cherokee syllabary, the name is ᎫᏬᎯ. The National Park Service strongly supported the name restoration and applauds today's decision, which also received support from local communities and governments.

Kuwohi is a sacred place for the Cherokee people and is the highest point within the traditional Cherokee homeland. Kuwohi is visible from the Qualla Boundary, the home of the EBCI. Efforts are already underway to update signage, website and other materials with the Kuwohi name.

“The Great Smoky National Park team was proud to support this effort to officially restore the mountain and to recognize its importance to the Cherokee People,” said Superintendent Cassius Cash. “The Cherokee People have had strong connections to Kuwohi and the surrounding area, long before the land became a national park. The National Park Service looks forward to continuing to work with the Cherokee People to share their story and preserve this landscape together.”

The proposal was submitted in January of this year by EBCI Principal Chief Michell Hicks following an effort started in 2022 by Lavita Hill and Mary Crowe, both enrolled EBCI members, to restore the traditional name of the summit.

Kuwohi is one of the most popular sites in Great Smoky Mountains National Park with more than 650,000 visitors per year. It is the tallest point in Tennessee and the third-highest summit east of the Mississippi River.

The park closes Kuwohi for three half days annually to provide access to predominantly Cherokee schools to visit the mountain and learn the history of Kuwohi and the Cherokee people from elders, Cherokee language speakers, culture bearers and community members.

Clingmans Dome has always been known as Kuwohi to the Cherokee People. The mountain became known as Clingmans Dome following an 1859 survey by geographer Arnold Guyot, named for Thomas Lanier Clingman who was a lawyer, U.S. Representative and Senator from North Carolina, and Confederate Brigadier General.

-NPS-

09/11/2024

From Linda Black - beautiful day on the mountain this week with her group

05/26/2024

The best way to celebrate National Moonshine Week is with some ‘shine and some tunes. Come join us, y’all!

05/26/2024

Love the fuzzy visitors

05/07/2024

https://www.nps.gov/grsm/learn/nature/elk.htm

04/26/2024

Your casserole dish does (practically) all the work in these riffs on your favorite dinner recipes.

03/22/2024

Dollywood’s Flower & Food Festival will be back starting April 19th!

03/22/2024

My favorite photo from 2023
Smoky Mountain Tour Connection Guide - Linda Black
had this view with one of her groups - someone was having lunch!

03/22/2024

"More than $10 million in improvements coming soon to Great Smoky Mountains National Park" -NPS

Date: March 20, 2024
Contact: Emily Davis, 865-440-0066

GATLINBURG, Tenn.—In the first year since Great Smoky Mountains National Park launched the Park it Forward program, the park generated over $10 million in recreation fee revenue, which includes parking tag sales and camping fees. The park is using this money to improve visitor safety, increase park ranger presence, and repair, enhance and maintain public park facilities. The park's second year of the parking tag program began this month.

“Our team at Great Smoky Mountains National Park is grateful for the support of our partners, our neighbors and the millions of visitors who are helping us take care of one of the country’s most visited national parks,” said Superintendent Cassius Cash. “We’re already using this funding to increase our search and rescue program, add parking spaces at Laurel Falls trailhead and we are in the process of hiring more than 25 new park rangers."

Launched in March 2023, Park it Forward was designed to provide critical support to protect and enhance the visitor experience at Great Smoky Mountains National Park, now and into the future. Park users directly contribute to protecting the park when they purchase a $5 daily, $15 weekly, or $40 annual parking tag. The park also increased frontcountry and backcountry camping fees starting in March 2023. One hundred percent of the funds generated by park fees stays in the Smokies.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park is using recreation fee revenue funds to:

Improve visitor safety. We’ve started the park’s first Preventative Search and Rescue (PSAR) team. These seven rangers aim to reduce search and rescue missions through visitor preparation, education and information—look for them on the trails this summer! They are also highly trained medics and EMS professionals who will respond to search and rescue incidents throughout the park.

We’re also bringing on a team of arborists to quickly remove hazard and downed trees that may block roads or create unsafe conditions, especially after major storms.

Increase park ranger presence. We’ve hired eight roving park rangers who travel across the park providing information to visitors. Since they were hired in March 2023, these rangers have made more than 117,000 visitor contacts, picked up over 612 pounds of trash, and assisted with dozens of search and rescue missions, motor vehicle accidents and wildlife incidents.

Improve roads and facilities. We’re hiring additional maintenance employees to help us better maintain roads, bridges, and tunnels in the park. These crews will be able to repair road shoulders, patch potholes, and replace damaged signs and fences more quickly across the park. We will also use recreation fee revenue for campground and picnic area maintenance, to replace horse stalls at Tow String Horse Camp, resurface the Cosby access road and replace sidewalks in the Cosby picnic area. Future recreation fee funds will allow us to continue to make improvements at several campgrounds throughout the park.

Enhance visitor experience. Recreation fee revenue will fund the construction of 50 new parking places at Laurel Falls Trailhead that will begin later this year. Revenue will also be used to rehabilitate Mingus Mill, a historic gristmill near Oconaluftee Visitor Center, and provide accessible amenities and campsites at Look Rock Campground. We are also replacing steel bear-proof dumpsters across the park and will increase the cleaning cycle at some of the park’s most used restrooms, like at Sugarlands Visitor Center.

“There’s so much more to come—our team continues to plan fee-funded projects for future years to address needed maintenance and to improve your experience in the park,” said Superintendent Cash. “We look forward to continuing to demonstrate the value of this historic investment in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.”

The $40 annual parking tags are available for purchase online through Smokies Life. The $5 daily and $15 weekly parking tags are available for purchase at recreation.gov or by credit card at more than 30 kiosks located in parking lots across the park. All parking tag types are also available for purchase at Smokies Life store locations. Annual tags are valid for one year from the date of purchase.

Great Smoky Mountains Nation al Park

https://www.nps.gov/grsm/learn/news/more-than-$10-million-in-improvements-coming-soon-to-great-smoky-mountains-national-park.htm

01/19/2024

12/03/2023

Merry Christmas

Photo from Amanda Ward

11/06/2023

Monday's Memory...a look back at historic Pigeon Forge

Churches and schools were always the center of small communities (sometimes being the same building) and that was true for early Pigeon Forge as well. A wonderful photo of both Piney Grove Churches, the Old (log) and the New, D.L. McMahan. This was between present day Shiloh cemetery and the Pigeon Forge Parkway and torn down 1940 - 50.

May 19, 1860 - A Baptist church was organized at Henderson Springs. It was first pastored by the Reverend A.M. Layman.
"The church was established on May 19, 1860. It was named The United Baptist Church of Christ. Church services were held every third Saturday and Sunday of each month. The church began with 33 members.” (Source: the late Grace Montgomery Morell’s history on the church found in The Rise and Decline of Pine Grove by Theodore Davenport.)

Pre 1861 – Sevierville First was taken over by confederate sympathizers, converted into a horse stable and later completely destroyed. (Pine Grove Book – P. 9)

By 1873, there were 162 members (Sevier County, TN and Its Heritage).

1890 or 1891 – Lumber was hauled from the church at the springs to present location and built a new church on land donated by Bill and Rebecca Henderson. (As told by Mattie Murrell who retold her father George F. Sharp’s story. Moved because church grew at Henderson Springs (In beginning P. 62).

09/04/2023

https://www.smliv.com/api/amp/dispatches-from-the-smokies/

When artist and photographer Louis E. Jones arrived in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, in the 1920s, he became the first artist to reside permanently in the remote mountain village and earn a living from his craft.

06/15/2023

Don't forget your parking permit!

05/17/2023

https://gsmheritagecenter.org/

Connect with the spirit and history of Townsend, Cades Cove, and the Great Smoky Mountains. Our museum offers something for everyone, from hands-on activities to tours of original 19th-century buildings and our Cherokee Native American Collection. Our Educational Programming, Summer Concert Series,....

05/17/2023

03/17/2023

http://www.highonleconte.com/daily-posts/march-13-2023

10/21/2022

10/21/2022

We are excited about these new changes!

Ober Gatlinburg will soon be under new ownership! Here are some changes the Sevier county natives have in store for the resort.

10/08/2022

Opens October 21st - Book Now!

10/04/2022

We are heartbroken to learn about the passing of Country Music legend Loretta Lynn, the Coal Miner’s Daughter. She paved the way for so many, inspired generations of female musicians and has forever left a mark on Country Music’s history. Our deepest sympathy goes out to her family and loved ones during this difficult time.

09/20/2022

ALL I REALLY NEED TO KNOW about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate-school mountain, but there in the sandpile at Sunday School. These are the things I learned:

Share everything.

Play fair.

Don’t hit people.

Put things back where you found them.

Clean up your own mess.

Don’t take things that aren’t yours.

Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody.

Wash your hands before you eat.

Flush.

Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.

Live a balanced life—learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.

Take a nap every afternoon.

When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together.

Wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.

Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup—they all die. So do we.

And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned—the biggest word of all—LOOK.

Everything you need to know is in there somewhere. The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation. Ecology and politics and equality and sane living.

Happy Tuesday!
Excerpt from All I really need to know I learned in kindergarten by Robert Fulghum

09/08/2022