Who is responsible for creating the GSMNP?
The one-hundredth anniversary of the founding of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park is approaching on the horizon. It’s nearly impossible – or at least for me – to truly understand life in the mountains before the national park.
Imagine a time when interested parties across a wide-ranging spectrum of experiences and ideals came together in an effort so large and grand as to create our wonderous and wonderful park. So who do we have to thank for the GSMNP? The list is long and many of them are mostly forgotten in history.
IN THIS ARTICLE
The area before the park
The history of the mountains goes back eons. The native people’s arrival in the mountains dates thousands of years as the prehistoric Paleo Indians made their way into the mountains as hunters and gatherers. The Cherokee were among the most developed cultures in North America. They established cities, cultivated croplands, sophisticated political systems and an extensive infrastructure – a network of trails. All of this was accomplished by the time European settlers arrived in the mountains in the late 1700s. Some of them claimed lands “given” to them as a result of their service in the Revolutionary War.
The clashes between the established native peoples and the influx of European settlers continued into the 1830s and Andrew Jackson’s tragic, horrific forced relocation of most of the Cherokee to Oklahoma. Known as the Trail of Tears, it remains one of the darkest marks in the history of the United States.
The main goal was survival
Through the 1800s life in the mountains remained threadbare and rugged. Even in places like Cades Cove where communities grew, the main goal was survival from one season to the next. It was during this period that stories of the mountain settlers and the wilds of the Smokies began spreading to the rest of the country. This built what would become a national fascination with both the mountains and its people.
That reputation of the mountain people continued through the early 1900s. However, by that time, rural life in the mountains wasn’t that different from rural communities across the nation. In the early 1900s, the push to create the national park and preserve the wonder of the mountains began to pick up steam. Logging companies had begun to buy huge tracts of land, creating a boomtown. They clear-cut the forest before moving to the next spot and did it all over again.
To me, the best example of just how little these companies cared for the environment was the creation of the series of waterfalls on the Little River known as The Sinks. A massive logjam on the river was slowing production and causing issues. So the loggers decided to dynamite the jam and clear the way. They blew the log jam to ‘Kingdom Come’ and then some. They used so much dynamite they blasted the riverbed, changing the course of the river and creating The Sinks.
Demands came from all over to protect the mountains and their beauty as had been done out West at places like Yellowstone. The problem was Yellowstone was largely uninhabited. To create the GSMNP, homesteads, landowners and logging companies would all have to be bought out. Whether they liked it or not.
Who was critical in the Park’s creation?
Calvin Coolidge
When we talk about the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and presidents, most of the focus is on FDR – more on him later. However, it was Coolidge who signed the 1926 bill to establish both the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and The Shenandoah National Park. The bill allowed the Department of the Interior to assume responsibility for the administration and protection of the park as soon as 150,000 acres had been purchased.
The Rockefellers
Remember when the insanely rich used to do cool stuff for the improvement of the country with their money? Yeah, me neither. After Coolidge signed the bill, raising the money to buy the lands became an issue. Tennessee and North Carolina gave $2 million each and private groups raised an additional million. Oil Baron John D. Rockefeller created the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Foundation after the death of his wife in 1915. That foundation matched the $5 million raised, creating a fund of $10 million for land acquisition in the park. When FDR dedicated the park in 1940, he did it from the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial. That spot still stands today off of Newfound Gap Road near the Tennessee-North Carolina state line as well as the Appalachian Trail.
Naturalists and Authors
A big part of the interest in the mountains and its people came from authors, artists and rugged outdoorsmen who visited and/or lived among the mountains and then shared their stories. One of them was Horace Kephart. Kephart was a Midwestern librarian who worked for a time running the Yale University Library. He also spent time in Italy in the employ of a wealthy book collector.
A naturalist who loved camping and hunting, Kephart moved to the mountains of Western North Carolina in 1904 as his wife and six children moved to Ithica, New York. He lived among the settlers at Hazel Creek before moving to Bryson City. Kephart published “Our Southern Highlanders” in 1913 and revised the book several times over time. By 1923, Kephart was one of the major voices advocating for the creation of the park. He wrote and advocated fervently for the movement. He was an expert on the Smokies and their trails, helping to plot the Appalachian Trails path through the region.
Kephart was friends with George Masa, a Japanese-born photographer whose brilliant work helped carry the majesty of the mountain beauty to the masses. Masa arrived in Asheville in 1915 where he eventually set up his photography studio. A strong proponent of the park, he later was part of the Nomenclature Committee, tasked with confirming and establishing names of the various mountain peaks, streams, creeks and other features on the North Carolina side of the park.
Auto Clubs
Car clubs throughout the region were big proponents of the park. AAA had several clubs in the region, and all pushed for a national park with good roads and interesting scenery where they could drive their fancy automobiles. Next time you are road-tripping through the park think of them.
Local politicians
People like Knoxville Mayor Ben Morton, Tennessee State Rep. Ann Davis and a North Carolina State Senator helped keep the campaign on track. Morton worked with Col. David Chapman – a Knoxville drug company president – closely on land acquisition efforts. Chapman helmed the Great Smoky Mountains Conservation Association.
FDR
As president, Franklin Roosevelt inherited a process that was already in motion in terms of the National Park. Defeating Hoover in 1932, Roosevelt assumed the presidency as the country was in the throes of the Great Depression. In the National Park, he saw an opportunity to further the effort and give work to the unemployed of the region. Among his many alphabet agencies was the Civilian Conservation Corps, which hired young men to build facilities like roads, bridges, trails and campgrounds. They also restored early settlers’ buildings in the park. Before it was dismantled in 1942, the CCC planted trees, removed invasive plants, built wildlife habitats and fought tree-killing insects. From most perspectives, the CCC is considered one of the more successful programs of the New Deal.
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