ON TOP OF OLD
SMOKEY
The SMOKEY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK in east Tennessee and western North
Carolina was chartered by congress in 1934 and dedicated by Franklin D.
Roosevelt in 1940. Unlike national parks
in the west which were founded on federal property, the land for the SMNP had
to be purchased parcel by parcel with the largest number of private parcels on
the Tennessee side. The park was funded
by private contributions, the largest from John D. Rockefeller (Five million
dollars), some by the federal government, but a large portion of it by ordinary
people and school children from the area.
It is the most visited national park in the country.
VIEW FROM NEWFOUND GAP
The park has been a source of
recreation and inspiration for me for many years, beginning in the 1960’s. I have hiked the 76 miles of the Appalachian
Trail across the top ridge of the mountains from Fontana Lake in the southwest
corner to Cosby in the northeast corner.
I have run the 11 mile loop in Cades Cove as well as the Smokey Mountain
Marathon and Five mile Run in Townsend.
I have done research and written a paper on the controversy surrounding
the Elkmont Cabins. It was, thus, with
great anticipation that I planned a visit to the park in October more than six
weeks ago. To my dismay, the park was “shut
down” just days before I was to go because of the political impasse in congress
in Washington. But I was determined not
to let a little “shutdown” deter me.
Ironically, I was hiking in the park when the government shut down in
1995.
Before I left on my trip to the
GSMNP last Friday, October 4, I read that Highway 441 from Gatlinburg across
the mountain to Cherokee, NC, would remain open. Since this road transverses the heart of the
park with spectacular views, especially from Newfound Gap, I knew I would be
able to at least drive across the park even though I would not be able to hike
on any of the trails, drive up to Clingman’s Dome, or drive through Cades
Cove.
On Saturday, October 5, after a
delicious breakfast in Gatlinburg, I began the drive up to Newfound Gap, an
uphill trip of about 17 miles. As I got
higher the hardwood forests of the lower elevations had changed to a spruce and
fir forest typical of Canadian flora. To
my surprise Newfound Gap was overrunning with peple. Evidently, other people who loved the
mountains and the park were not going to be deterred either. There was a festive atmosphere. People were taking pictures, eating lunches
they had brought, talking to each other and enjoying a sparkling October day
with the tinge of fall colors on the trees.
A quick survey of the car tags indicated that people from all over the
eastern U.S. had come to the park. One
family said they had been doing this every year for years and they were bound
and determined to come this year, no matter what.
As inspiring as the scenery was,
perhaps the most moving experience occurred when I saw a group of soldiers with
backpacks in the parking lot. They told
me they were from Fort Campbell and had come to the mountains to get some
mountain hiking experience before they left soon for Afghanistan. I asked if I could take their picture and
they became willing subjects. It easily is one of the best pictures I have
taken. I will treasure the photo and the
young men who embodied the great American spirit of sacrifice for the greater
good.
SOLDIERS FROM FORT
CAMPBELL
These young men are in many ways
like the young men of the 1930’s. They
volunteered for a program sponsored by the federal government. In 1935 the country was in the midst of the “Great
Depression.” There were few, if any,
jobs available to young men of that time, especially young men from the
cities. One of the programs initiated by
President Franklin Roosevelt was the CIVILIAN CONSERVATION CORPS (the
CCC). There is a plaque at Newfound Gap
honoring these men. Here are two
excerpts from that plaque:
AS I was reading this board, another
man beside me said, “You know, a program like this couldn’t pass in congress
today.” Sad but true I said. But this reference to the CCC stirred a
number of memories in my head. One was
from the time I was five years old, 75 years ago. There was a CCC camp across the street from
my grandmother’s house in Albany, Ga. I
remember seeing the “camp” and all the men. If fact, as I later discovered, my
mother’s sister married one of those young men.
Another memory was of being in
Pickett State Park on the Cumberland Plateau north of Jamestown, TN. There are these beautiful cabins made of
native stone still there which were constructed by CCC men. With a little research I found out that in
Tennessee in the 1930’s there were about 70,000 young men in the CCC. They were working in 17 state parks as well
as the SMNP. They planted trees, cut
trails, built cabins and walls and did a multitude of constructive work which
remains to this very day. I am reminded
anew that every time I visit a state park in Tennessee – whether to camp,
picnic, or play golf - I am benefiting
from the legacy of young men from the 1930’s who found meaningful work through
a creative program of the federal government.
It is a reminder that in good times and in bad times, we are all in this
together.
For further
reading about the CCC in Tennessee, see the following:
Tennessee
Encyclopedia
Civilian
Conservation Corps
All in all, I consider my weekend
trip to the Smokies well worth the effort.
I came away feeling that the strength of America is in its people, not
in its politicians. It’s in the people
who in essence say, You may shut the park down but we are coming anyway. It’s in those young men who volunteered to
serve their country even though it means putting oneself in harm’s way. It’s in
our natural resources and the natural beauty which belongs to and nourishes us
all. I came home reinforced in my belief
that we are, indeed, all in this together.
Let me leave
you with one more view from Newfound Gap:
NEWFOUND GAP, GREAT SMOKEY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL
PARK
