The past comes to life at new visitor center
Know what a sidehill plow is? Want to hear a first-hand account of a panther run-in? Curious how much tobacco a basket of eggs could buy? Step in to the new visitor center at the North Carolina entrance to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and take a step back in time among the early settlers and Cherokee who called these mountains home.
The new visitor center chronicles the culture and history of the Smokies, from exhibits on the Civil War in the Smokies to moonshine making.
“There seems to be a natural attraction to the lifestyles and the trials and tribulations of trying to scratch out a living in the mountains by the early people,” said Terry Maddox, director of the Great Smoky Mountains Association, a nonprofit partner that helped make the visitor center possible.
The cultural heritage focus of the new Smokies’ visitor center in North Carolina compliments the one on the Tennessee side of the park, which focuses on nature and wildlife.
The exhibits do an excellent job telling the story of what early life was like, such as the barter system used by agrarian communities in an exhibit called “Let’s Trade.” It even includes a replica of 1856 ledger from a Cherokee trading post, detailing how many fur pelts were traded for a plow blade.
Early Appalachian people were industrious and clever, witnessed by an exhibit called “Working the Land,” displaying highly specific tools invented by settlers to make their life easier. It’s a fun guessing game, trying to figure out what the old farm implements are, some of them so obscure today only a few might remember their use. Luckily a key tells you what they are, and for those with the time, a book of historic photos shows people using the items.
The most popular exhibit may be the listening station, where visitors can hear first-person oral histories, from the park’s early trail builders to a Cataloochee man who once traded fish in exchange for getting a sore tooth pulled.
More exhibits detail old one-room schoolhouses, early travel in the mountains, wild hogs, and CCC workers who helped build the park’s first trails and campgrounds.
Two interwoven stories are that of the logging boom in the Smokies, and subsequent creation of the national park — a story of tragedy followed by one of triumph.
The new visitor center opened this spring after 76-years in the making. A visitor center at the North Carolina entrance had been on the national park’s to-do list since the 1930s, but the government never seemed to have the money to get it done. The park service and Smokies supporters couldn’t seem to get the political stars aligned to secure federal funding, Maddox said.
“Every time it seemed they might be getting a little closer, something would happen and it would fall off the radar,” Maddox said. “It wasn’t going to happen. There wasn’t a glimmer of hope of when there would be any funding for that visitor center, so we decided enough was enough.”
Two nonprofit park supporters anted up to fund the visitor center entirely from private funds.
The nonprofit Great Smoky Mountains Association donated $3 million for the construction of the visitor center, while Friends of the Smokies provided $550,000 to fund the exhibits.
“I think this signifies the role private funding can play,” said Holly Demuth, North Carolina director of the Friends of the Smokies. “This has been part of the park’s plan for all those years, but the funding just wasn’t there. We are proud to be a part of this process.”
The timing seemed especially salient. News that the two nonprofits would work together to build a visitor center for the North Carolina entrance came in the run up to the Smokies 75th anniversary. It was the perfect legacy project to honor that milestone, Maddox said.
The Great Smoky Mountains Association raises money by selling books, maps and souvenirs in park gift shops. It will take the nonprofit seven to eight years to pay off the loan from the construction of the visitor center.
“Ultimately this will be paid for by the people who actually use it when they stop in and buy a postcard or book,” Maddox said.
Since the Smokies has no entrance fee, visitors can justify a little spending in the visitor center’s gift shop or a donation, Maddox suggested.
The Appalachian-style architecture of the new visitor center invites lingering. A porch with rocking chairs overlooks the Oconaluftee River Valley, and a meandering creek side trail leads from the visitor center’s front door to the Mountain Farm Museum, a collection of historic farm buildings in a neighboring meadow.
The new visitor center is sure to become the crowning jewel of America’s most-visited national park.
“Visitor centers are all about educating the public and improving their experience when they are here — helping them have a better time, helping them learn something about the park, why it is here and why it should be preserved and protected. This center certainly tells that,” Maddox said.
Take a visit
The Oconaluftee Visitor Center is a must see in the Smokies. It is on U.S. 441 at the North Carolina Entrance to the park, north of Cherokee and near the terminus of the Blue Ridge Parkway. 828.497.1904.
