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The Great Smoky Mountains (, Equa Dutsusdu Dodalv) are a mountain range rising along the Tennessee–North Carolina border in the southeastern United States. They are a subrange of the Appalachian Mountains and form part of the Blue Ridge Physiographic Province. The range is sometimes called the Smoky Mountains, and the name is commonly shortened to the Smokies. The Smokies are best known as the home of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which protects most of the range. The park was established in 1934 and, with over 11 million visits per year, is the most visited national park in the United States.
The Smokies are part of an International Biosphere Reserve. The range is home to an estimated of old-growth forest, constituting the largest such stand east of the Mississippi River. The coves hardwood forests in the range's lower elevations are among the most diverse ecosystems in North America, and the Southern Appalachian spruce–fir forest that covers the upper elevations is the largest of its kind. The Smokies are home to the densest black bear population in the Eastern United States and the most diverse salamander population outside of the tropics.
Along with the biosphere reserve, the Great Smoky Mountains have been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The U.S. National Park Service preserves and maintains 78 structures within the national park that were once part of the numerous small communities scattered throughout the range's river valleys and coves. The park contains five historic districts and nine individual listings on the National Register of Historic Places.
The name "Smoky" comes from the natural fog that often hangs over the range and presents as large smoke plumes from a distance. This fog is caused by the vegetation emitting volatile organic compounds, chemicals that have a high vapor pressure and easily form vapors at normal temperature and pressure.
The sources of several rivers are located in the Smokies, including the Little Pigeon River, the Oconaluftee River, and Little River. Streams in the Smokies are part of the Tennessee River watershed and are thus entirely west of the Eastern Continental Divide. The largest stream entirely within the park is Abrams Creek, which rises in Cades Cove and empties into the Chilhowee Lake impoundment of the Little Tennessee River near Chilhowee Dam.
Other major streams include Hazel Creek and Eagle Creek in the southwest, Raven Fork near Oconaluftee, Cosby Creek near Cosby, and Roaring Fork near Gatlinburg. The Little Tennessee River passes through five impediments along the range's southwestern boundary, namely Tellico Lake, Chilhowee Dam, Calderwood Dam, Cheoah Dam, and Fontana Lake.
| Kuwohi | Central Smokies | "Mulberry place" in Cherokee, formerly Clingmans Dome | ||
| Mount Guyot | Eastern Smokies | Arnold Guyot (1807–1884), surveyor | ||
| Mount Le Conte | Central Smokies | Joseph Le Conte or John Le Conte, scientists | ||
| Mount Chapman | Eastern Smokies | David Chapman (1876–1944), park promoter | ||
| Old Black | Eastern Smokies | Spruce-fir stand at summit | ||
| Luftee Knob | Eastern Smokies | Oconaluftee River | ||
| Mount Kephart | Central Smokies | Horace Kephart (1862–1931), author | ||
| Mount Collins | Central Smokies | Robert Collins, mountain guide | ||
| Marks Knob | appx. | Eastern Smokies | ||
| Tricorner Knob | Eastern Smokies | Intersection of Balsam crest and Great Smokies crest | ||
| Mount Hardison | Eastern Smokies | James Archibald Hardison (1867–1930) | ||
| Andrews Bald | Central Smokies | possibly Andres Thompson, early settler | ||
| Mount Sterling | Eastern Smokies | possibly lead at mountain's base mistaken for silver | ||
| Silers Bald | Western Smokies | Jesse Siler, who used the mountain for grazing | ||
| Thunderhead Mountain | Western Smokies | constant cloud cover | ||
| Gregory Bald | Western Smokies | Russell Gregory (1805–1863), Cades Cove resident | ||
| Mount Cammerer | Eastern Smokies | Arno B. Cammerer (1883–1941), NPS director | ||
| Chimney Tops | appx. | Central Smokies | resemblance to cabin chimneys | |
| Blanket Mountain | appx. | Western Smokies | blanket left atop mountain by surveyor Return Meigs for a reference point | |
| Shuckstack | Western Smokies |
In 2004, the remnants of Hurricane Frances caused major flooding, , and high winds, which were soon followed by Hurricane Ivan, making the situation worse. Other post-hurricanes, including Hurricane Hugo in 1989, have caused similar damage in the Smokies.
As for temperatures, the average temperature difference between the mountains (Newfound Gap around MSL and the valleys (Park Headquarters around MSL in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is between 10 and 13 °F (5.6 and 7.2 °C), with highs and between 3 and 6 °F (1.7 and 3.3 °C) with lows. The difference between high temperatures is similar to the moist adiabatic lapse rate (3.3 degrees Fahrenheit per 1,000 ft | 6 °C/km), while the smaller difference between low temperatures is the result of frequent temperature inversions developing in the morning, especially during autumn.
Strong damaging winds (, or sometimes greater) are observed a few times each year around the Smoky Mountains during the cool season (October through April), as a result of a phenomenon known as Lee wave. These mountain wave winds are strongest in a narrow area along the foothills and can create extensive areas of fallen trees and roof damage, especially around Cades Cove in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Camp Creek community. Strong winds created by mountain waves were a contributing factor with the devastating Gatlinburg fire on November 28, 2016, during the 2016 Great Smoky Mountains wildfires. Damaging winds can also be generated by strong thunderstorms, with tornadoes and strong thunderstorm complexes (also known as mesoscale convective systems) occasionally affecting the Smoky Mountains.
The climate of Kuwohi is hemiboreal (Köppen Dfb, Trewartha Dcb). As with much of the southern Blue Ridge, the area qualifies as part of the Appalachian Rainforest. On the other hand, Gatlinburg's climate is four-season subtropical ( Cfa) under Köppen (oceanic Do under Trewartha), typical of Tennessee.
The Precambrian gneiss and schists—the oldest rocks in the Smokies—formed over a billion years ago from the accumulation of and igneous rock in a primordial ocean. In the Late Precambrian period, this ocean expanded, and the more recent Ocoee Supergroup rocks formed from accumulations of the eroding land mass onto the ocean's continental shelf.
By the end of the Paleozoic era, the ancient ocean had deposited a thick layer of marine sediments which left behind sedimentary rocks such as limestone. During the Ordovician period, the North American and African Plate plates collided, destroying the ancient ocean and initiating the Alleghenian orogeny—the mountain-building epoch that created the Appalachian range. The Mesozoic era saw the rapid erosion of the softer sedimentary rocks from the new mountains, re-exposing the older Ocoee Supergroup formations.
Around 20,000 years ago, subarctic glaciers advanced southward across North America, and although they never reached the Smokies, the advancing glaciers led to colder mean annual temperatures and an increase in precipitation throughout the range. Trees were unable to survive at the higher elevations and were replaced by tundra vegetation. Spruce-fir forests occupied the valleys and slopes below approximately . The persistent freezing and thawing during this period created the large blockfields that are often found at the base of large mountain slopes.
Between 16,500 and 12,500 years ago, the glaciers to the north retreated and mean annual temperatures rose. The tundra vegetation disappeared, and the spruce-fir forests retreated to the highest elevations. Hardwood trees moved into the region from the coastal plains, replacing the spruce-fir forests in the lower elevations. The temperatures continued warming until around 6,000 years ago, when they began to gradually grow cooler.
The forests of the Smokies are typically divided into three zones:
Appalachian balds—patches of land where trees are unexpectedly absent or sparse—are interspersed through the mid-to-upper elevations in the range. Balds include grassy balds, which are highland meadows covered primarily by thick grasses, and heath balds, which are dense thickets of rhododendron and mountain laurel typically occurring on narrow ridges. Mixed oak-pine forests are found on dry ridges, especially on the south-facing North Carolina side of the range. Stands dominated by the Tsuga canadensis ( Tsuga canadensis) are occasionally found along streams and broad slopes above .
Over 130 species of trees are found among the canopies of the cove hardwood forests in the Smokies. The dominant species include yellow birch ( Betula alleghaniensis), Tilia americana ( Tilia americana), Aesculus flava ( Aesculus flava), tulip tree ( Liriodendron tulipifera; commonly called "tulip poplar"), Halesia carolina ( Halesia carolina), Acer saccharum ( Acer saccharum), cucumber magnolia ( Magnolia acuminata), Carya ovata ( Carya ovata), Carolina hemlock ( Tsuga caroliniana) and Tsuga canadensis ( Tsuga canadensis). The American chestnut ( Castanea dentata), which was arguably the most beloved tree of the range's pre-park inhabitants, was killed off by the introduced Chestnut blight in the 1920s.
The understories of the cove hardwood forest contain dozens of species of shrubs and vines. Dominant species in the Smokies include the Eastern redbud ( Cercis canadensis), Cornus florida ( Cornus florida), Catawba rhododendron ( Rhododendron catawbiense), Kalmia latifolia ( Kalmia latifolia), and smooth hydrangea ( Hydrangea arborescens).
In the Smokies, the northern hardwood canopies are dominated by yellow birch ( Betula alleghaniensis) and American beech ( Fagus grandifolia). White basswood ( Tilia heterophylla), Acer spicatum ( Acer spicatum) and striped maple ( Acer pensylvanicum), and Aesculus flava ( Aesculus flava) are also present. The understory is home to diverse species such as coneflower, skunk goldenrod, Rugels ragwort, bloodroot, hydrangea, and several species of grasses and ferns.
A unique community is the beech gap, or beech orchard. Beech gaps consist of high mountain gaps that have been monopolized by beech trees. The beech trees are often twisted and contorted by the high winds that occur in these gaps. Why other tree types such as the red spruce fail to encroach into the beech gaps is unknown.
The spruce-fir forest consists primarily of two conifer species—Picea rubens ( Picea rubens) and Abies fraseri ( Abies fraseri). The Fraser firs, which are native to southern Appalachia, once dominated elevations above in the Smokies. Most of these firs were killed, however, by an infestation of the balsam wooly adelgid, which arrived in the Smokies in the early 1960s. Thus, red spruce is now the dominant species in the range's spruce-fir forest. Large stands of dead Fraser firs remain atop Kuwohi and on the northwestern slopes of Old Black. While much of the red spruce stands were logged in the 1910s, the tree is still common throughout the range above . Some of the red spruces are believed to be 300 years old, and the tallest rise to over .
The main difference between the Southern Appalachian spruce–fir forest and the spruce-fir forests in northern latitudes is the dense broad-leaved understory of the former, which are home to catawba rhododendron, Sorbus americana, pin cherry, thornless blackberry, and hobblebush. The herbaceous and litter layers are poorly lit year-round and are thus dominated by shade-tolerant plants such as ferns, namely mountain wood fern and northern lady fern, and over 280 species of mosses.
The orange- to sometimes red-flowered and deciduous flame azalea closely follows along with the catawbas. The closely related Kalmia latifolia blooms in between the two, and all of the blooms progress from lower to higher elevations. The reverse is true in autumn, when nearly bare mountaintops covered in rime ice (frozen fog) can be separated from green valleys by very bright and varied leaf colors. The rhododendrons are Broadleaf tree, whose leaves droop in order to shed wet and heavy snows that come through the region during winter.
Other mammals include the white-tailed deer, the population of which drastically expanded with the creation of the national park. The bobcat is the only remaining wild cat species, although sightings of cougars, which once thrived in the area, are still occasionally reported. The coyote is not believed to be native to the range but has moved into the area in recent years and is treated as a native species. Two species of fox (red fox and the gray fox) are found within the Smokies, with red foxes being documented at all elevations.
European wild boar, introduced as game animals in the early 20th century, thrive in southern Appalachia but are considered a nuisance because of their tendency to root up and destroy plants. The boars are seen as taking food resources away from bears as well, and the park service has sponsored a program that pays individuals to hunt and kill boars and leave their bodies in locations frequented by bears.
The Smokies are home to over two dozen species of rodents, including the endangered northern flying squirrel and 10 species of bats, including the endangered Indiana bat. The National Park Service has successfully reintroduced river otters and elk. An attempt to reintroduce the red wolf in the early 1990s ultimately failed. These wolves were removed from the park and relocated to the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge in North Carolina.
The Smokies are home to a diverse bird population due to the presence of multiple forest types. Species that thrive in southern hardwood forests, such as the red-eyed vireo, wood thrush, wild turkey, northern parula, ruby-throated hummingbird, and tufted titmouse, are found throughout the lower elevations and cove hardwood forests. Species more typical of cooler climates, such as the common raven, winter wren, black-capped chickadee, yellow-bellied sapsucker, dark-eyed junco, and Blackburnian, chestnut-sided, and , are found in the spruce-fir and northern hardwood zones.
, , and live in the drier pine-oak forests and heath balds. and have been spotted at all elevations in the park. Peregrine falcon sightings are also not uncommon, and a peregrine falcon eyrie is known to have existed near Alum Cave Bluffs throughout the 1930s. , the most common hawk species, have been sighted at all elevations. Owl species include the barred owl, eastern screech owl, and northern saw-whet owl.
The timber rattlesnake, one of two venomous snake species in the Smokies, is found at all elevations. The other venomous snake, the copperhead, is typically found at lower elevations. Other reptiles include the eastern box turtle, the eastern fence lizard, the black rat snake, and the northern water snake.
The Smokies are home to one of the world's most diverse salamander populations. Five of the world's nine families of salamanders are found in the range, consisting of up to 31 species. The red-cheeked salamander is found only in the Smokies. The imitator salamander is found only in the Smokies and the nearby Plott Balsams and Great Balsam Mountains. Two other species—the southern gray-cheeked salamander and the southern Appalachian salamander—occur only in the general region. Other species include the shovelnose salamander, blackbelly salamander, Eastern newt, and Desmognathus. The hellbender inhabits swift streams. Other amphibians include the American toad and the American bullfrog, wood frog, upland chorus frog, northern green frog, and spring peeper.
Fish include trout, lamprey, Etheostomatinae, shiner, bass, and Catostomidae. The brook trout is the only trout species native to the range, although northwestern rainbow trout and European brown trout were introduced in the first half of the 20th century. The larger rainbow and brown trout outcompete the native brook trout for food and habitat at lower elevations. As such, most of the brook trout found in the park today are in streams above 3,000 feet in elevation. Trout generally smaller than in different locales. Protected fish species include the smoky madtom and yellowfin madtom, the spotfin chub, and the duskytail darter.
The firefly Photinus carolinus, whose synchronized flashing light displays occur in mid-June, is native to the Smoky Mountains with a population epicenter near Elkmont, Tennessee.
Visibility is dramatically reduced by smog from both the Southeastern United States and the Midwest, and smog forecasts are prepared daily by the Environmental Protection Agency for both nearby Knoxville, Tennessee and Asheville, North Carolina.
Environmental threats are the concern of many non-profit environmental stewardship groups, especially The Friends of the Smokies. Formed in 1993, the group assists the National Park Service in its mission to preserve and protect the Great Smoky Mountains National Park by raising funds and public awareness, and providing volunteers for needed projects.
The increasing reliance upon agriculture during the Mississippian period (–1600 A.D.) lured Native Americans away from the game-rich forests of the Smokies and into the fertile river valleys on the outer fringe of the range. Substantial Mississippian-period villages were uncovered at Citico and Toqua (named after the Cherokee villages that later thrived at these sites) along the Little Tennessee River in the 1960s. Fortified Mississippian-period villages have been excavated at the McMahan Indian Mounds in Sevierville and as well as mounds in Townsend.
Most of these villages were part of a minor chiefdom centered on a large village known as Chiaha, which was located on an island now submerged by Douglas Lake. The 1540 expedition of Hernando de Soto and the 1567 expedition of Juan Pardo passed through the French Broad River valley north of the Smokies, both spending a considerable amount of time at Chiaha. The Pardo expedition followed a trail across the flanks of Chilhowee Mountain to the Mississippian-period villages at Chilhowee and Citico (Pardo's notary called them by their Muskogean names, "Chalahume" and "Satapo").
Most Cherokee settlements were located in the river valleys on the outer fringe of the Smokies, which along with the Unicoi Mountains provided the main bulwark dividing the Overhill Cherokee villages in modern Tennessee from the Cherokee Middle towns in modern North Carolina. The Overhill town of Chilhowee was situated at the confluence of Abrams Creek and the Little Tennessee, and the Overhill town of Tallassee was located just a few miles upstream near modern Calderwood (both village sites are now under Chilhowee Lake). A string of Overhill villages, including Chota and Tanasi, dotted the Little Tennessee valley north of Chilhowee.
The Cherokee Middle towns included the village of Keetoowah (which the Cherokee believed to be their oldest village) along the Tuckasegee River near Bryson City. The village of Oconaluftee, which was situated along the Oconaluftee River near the modern Oconaluftee Visitor Center, was the only known permanent Cherokee village located within the national park's boundaries. Sporadic or seasonal settlements were located in Cades Cove and the Hazel Creek valley.
The Middle towns, including Kittuwa, were burned by General Griffith Rutherford, and several of the Overhill towns were burned by John Sevier. By 1805, the Cherokee had ceded control of the Smokies to the U.S. government. Although much of the tribe was forced west along the Trail of Tears in 1838, a few—largely through the efforts of William Holland Thomas—managed to retain their land on the Qualla Boundary and today comprise the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.
In the 1780s, several frontier outposts had been established along the outskirts of the Smokies, namely Whitson's Fort in what is now Cosby and Wear's Fort in what is now Pigeon Forge. Permanent settlers began arriving in these areas in the 1790s. In 1801, the Whaley brothers, William and John, moved from North Carolina to become the first settlers in what is now the Greenbrier section of the park.
In 1802, Edgefield, South Carolina resident William Ogle arrived in White Oak Flats where he cut and prepared logs for cabin construction. Although Ogle died shortly after returning to Edgefield, his wife, Martha Jane Huskey, eventually returned with her family and several other families to White Oak Flats, becoming the first permanent settlers in what would eventually become Gatlinburg. Their children and grandchildren spread out southward into the Sugarlands and Roaring Fork areas.
Cades Cove was settled largely by families who had purchased lots from land speculator William "Fighting Billy" Tipton. The first of these settlers, John and Lucretia Oliver, arrived in 1818. Two Cades Cove settlers, Moses and Patience Proctor, crossed over to the North Carolina side of the Smokies in 1836 to become the first Euro-American settlers in the Hazel Creek area. The Cataloochee area was first settled by the Caldwell family, who migrated to the valley in 1834.
Like most of southern Appalachia, the early 19th-century economy of the Smokies relied on subsistence agriculture. The average farm consisted of roughly , part of which was cultivated and part of which was woodland. Early settlers lived in log cabins, although these were replaced by more elaborate log houses and eventually, as lumber became available, by modern frame houses. Most farms included at least one barn, a springhouse (used for refrigeration), a smokehouse (used for curing meat), a chicken coop (protected chickens from predators), and a corn crib (kept corn dry and protected it from rodents). Some of the more industrious farmers operated , , and sorghum presses. Religion was a central theme in the lives of the early residents of the Smokies, and community life was typically centered on churches. Christian Protestantism—especially Primitive Baptists, Missionary Baptists, Methodists, and Presbyterians; dominated the religious culture of the region.
While no major engagements took place in the Smokies, minor skirmishes were fairly common. Cherokee chief William Holland Thomas formed a Confederate legion made up mostly of Cherokee soldiers. Thomas' Legion crossed the Smokies in 1862 and occupied Gatlinburg for several months to protect saltpeter mines atop Mount Le Conte. Residents of predominantly Union Cades Cove and predominantly Confederate Hazel Creek routinely crossed the mountains to steal one another's livestock. Residents of Cosby and Cataloochee did likewise. One notable Civil War incident was the murder of long-time Cades Cove resident Russell Gregory (for whom Gregory Bald is named), which was carried out by in 1864 shortly after Gregory had led an ambush that routed a band of Confederates seeking to wreak havoc in the cove. Another incident was George Kirk's raid on Cataloochee, in which Kirk killed or wounded 15 Union soldiers recovering at a makeshift hospital.
Innovations in logging railroads and band saw technology in the late 19th century made large-scale logging possible in the mountainous areas of southern Appalachia. The largest logging operation in the Smokies was the Little River Lumber Company, which logged the Little River watershed between 1901 and 1939. The company also established company towns at Townsend (named for the company's chief owner and manager, Wilson B. Townsend), Elkmont, and Tremont.
The second-largest operation was the Ritter Lumber Company, which logged the Hazel Creek watershed between 1907 and 1928. Ruins of Ritter's lumbering operations are still visible along the Hazel Creek Trail. Other lumbering operations included Three M Lumber and Champion Fibre, both of which logged the Oconaluftee watershed. By the time all operations ceased in the 1930s, logging firms had removed two-thirds of the virgin forests from the Smokies. According to the National Park Service, 80% of the Smokies was clear cut in the early 20th century.
The creation of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park proved much more complex than the creation of its predecessors, such as Yellowstone and Yosemite, which were already federally owned. Along with convincing logging firms to sell lucrative lumber rights, the Park Commission had to negotiate the purchase of thousands of small farms and remove entire communities. The commission also had to deal with the Tennessee and North Carolina legislatures, which at times were opposed to spending taxpayer money on park efforts. In spite of these difficulties, the Park Commission had completed most major land purchases by 1932. The national park officially opened in 1934, with President Franklin D. Roosevelt presiding over the opening ceremony at Newfound Gap.
The Great Smoky Mountains are home to The Gatlinburg SkyLift and SkyBridge. The SkyBridge is the longest skybridge in the United States, at about 680 feet long.
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