GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK – On this day in 1940, President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicated Great Smoky Mountains National Park at Newfound Gap across the Tennessee/North Carolina state line. Today, it’s by far the most visited national park in the United States with more than 12 million visitors in 2024 alone. By comparison, the second-most visited park is Zion, with 4.95 million visitors.
While the park was established by Congress on June 15, 1934, it wasn’t until Sept. 2, 1940 when President Roosevelt formally dedicated it.
Creating Great Smoky Mountains National Park wasn’t easy. Unlike western parks carved from federal land, the Smokies had to be purchased—piece by piece—from farmers, timber, and paper companies. It took years of fundraising, with help from the North Carolina and Tennessee legislatures, schoolchildren donating pennies, and a $5 million gift from the Rockefeller Memorial Fund. Interestingly, early auto clubs, eager for scenic roads to explore in their shiny new cars, played a big role in pushing the idea of a park forward.
Today, the 522,427-acre park is split almost evenly between Tennessee and North Carolina with:
↟ 150 trails
↟ 348 miles of road
↟ 1,000 campsites
↟ 123 historic structures
↟ 22,744 species of life (plants and animals)
↟ $2.2 billion economic impact
↟ 275 permanent employees
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