Every year, over nine million hikers and adventure seekers travel to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park making it the most visited national park in the United States. There are abundant reasons for this, but many popular reasons include over 150 hiking trails extending over 850 miles, a large portion of the Appalachian Trail, sightseeing, fishing, horseback riding, and bicycling. The park houses roughly ten thousand species of plants and animals with an estimated 90,000 undocumented species likely possible to be present. It is clear why there was a pressing interest in making all this land into a national park. My research was started by asking the question; how did the transformation of tourism due to the establishment of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park affect surrounding cities such as Gatlinburg and Sevier County, and in return, its effect on the popularity of the park?
Gatlinburg, Tennessee is located in Sevier County, situated on the northern edge of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The city has gotten the suitable nickname “Gateway to the Smokey Mountains” due to the fact that it sits at one of the two main entrances to the park serviced by one main road through the park. Today, Gatlinburg is seen as a scenic, romantic, getaway that is also bustling with tourism and even an amusement park; however, this was not always the case.
Gatlinburg did not start from scratch with what wee see today. From 1870 to 1900, the population of Sevier County grew from roughly 9,000 to 20,000 due to the Industrial Revolution and hit a plateau in 1910, staying for around fifty years (Population Growth Chart of East Tennessee Counties, 1820-1980). In 1960, the population of Sevier County started to skyrocket. In a mere twe...
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...vilian Conservation Corps. Web. 24 March 2010.
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“Population Growth Chart of East Tennessee Counties, 1820-1980”, Marian Moffett and Lawrence Wodehouse Collection of Cantilever Barn Research, MS-2059. University of Tennessee Libraries, Knoxville, Special Collections. 17 March 2010.
Proposed Great Smoky Mountains National Park, North Carolina-Tennessee. Map. S.l., 1926. Mapping the National Parks. Lib. of Congress. 15 March 2010.
“The story of early Gatlinburg: A talk by Rellie Dodgen at the Gatlinburg Rotary Club”, 1959 May 22, 1971 February 3 [Article 2], Carson Brewer Articles, MS-2048. University of Tennessee Libraries, Knoxville, Special Collections. 17 March 2010.
“Yearly Expansions.” Dollywood. Web. 27 March 2010.
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Clay County was created by the Tennessee General Assembly on June 16, 1870. The county was formed from the secluded northern parts of Jackson County and Overton County. The citizens believed that, with this new county, they would have more opportunities to participate in self-government rather than continuing to be a part of larger county with which they were only connected to by a few trails and no roads. The first session of the county court assembled in Mary Robert’s store in the Butler’s Landing Community where the city of Celina was chosen as the county seat by a narrow margin.1 The name Clay County originates from American statesman, member of the United States Senate, and United States Speaker of the House Henry Clay.2
When we see Texas, we remember today mainly for its BBQ, Football and Black Gold, Texas tea. However, there is much more than just the usual itineraries that we find in most other states as well. Molly Ivins in her essay “Is Texas America” categorically states that, “Here's the deal on Texas. It's big. So big there's about five distinct and different places here, separated from one another geologically, topographically, botanically, ethnically, culturally and climatically” (Ivins). This is a true belief from Molly Ivins of how huge Texas was and how the demographics changed in each geographical location in Texas. The population of Texas and the demographics are two essential factors that include many important parameters in deciding the history of any state. The presence of many ethnic groups further adds to the diversification of
National Parks Service. "NATIONAL REGISTER CRITERIA FOR EVALUATION." National Register Publications. http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/publications/bulletins/nrb15/nrb15_2.htm (accessed February 14, 2014).
In the 1800’s into the early 1900’s a man named John Muir began to explore the western American lands. He traveled down South and up North. But, when he reached Yosemite Valley, his life changed. As said in John Muir’s Wild America, written by Tom Melham, “Following the forest-lined mountain trails, Muir climbed higher into the Sierra Nevada: suddenly, a deep valley enclosed by colossal steeps and mighty water falls yawned before him. Spell bound, he entered Yosemite Valley” (79). Muir’s travels and adventures, highlighted in Melham’s book, explain this man’s love of the wilderness. Yosemite Valley was like a wide, open home to Muir, who, lived alone and discovered new landings and important later landmarks that create the aura of Yosemite National Park. Yosemite Valley was given to the state of California in 1864, part of the continuous idea of Manifest Destiny, later, in 1890; Yosemite became one of the first National Parks (“World Book”). Uniquely, the longer Muir stayed the more that he...
The expansion of agriculture and railroads helped form Texas’s present economy. The invention of the steam engine not only allowed people to move across the country in 7 days, instead of 6 months, but it also allowed crops and livestock to be carried to markets and places where they would be sold anywhere in the country. They could be moved to another farm in Texas as well. Since it’s such a large state, railroads were a necessity for travel, and general transportation. The railroad-building boom lasted 40 years. The production of cotton in Texas introduced some of the first slave-based cotton farms, and was the dominant crop for a very long time. After this event, Texas’s economy was forever changed.
At the point when the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was opened in 1934, the Tennessee Valley Authority reported that there were no tourism-situated organizations in Pigeon Forge. By the 1950s, upgrades to US-441 prompted the station of a couple of campgrounds and cabins, however little that might produce real income. Throughout this period, then again, two variables in adjacent Gatlinburg might prompt the business blast Pigeon Forge might encounter in the last 50% of the twentieth century. Initially, Gatlinburg, itself encompassed by high mountain edges, had constrained area assets. Second, the area assets it did have were to a great extent controlled by a couple of neighborhood families who defeated endeavors by outside organizations to exploit the town's prime area. Subsequently, outside business visionaries were compelled to look somewhere else. Pigeon Forge, being only north of Gatlinburg along US-441, was the evident target.
During the Civil War the economy plummeted and there was a population decrease. The population went from 6,000 to 1,000 in a five year period. The famous cattle drive that ran through the town and the first railroad attracted new residents in 1876. With al the growth going on the courts could not keep up with the increasing criminal cases. In 1876
Yellowstone National Park lies mostly in Wyoming, but three of the park’s entrances are located in southern Montana. People go to Yellowstone National park to see the view and the glaciers, some people go there to just go on a vacation to see the wildlife (Av2 books).
As the population grows in this country we are developing and expanding area's that have never seen the population like we are seeing these days. There are almost 1200 people who live in the small community of West Yellowstone that thrives on tourism. There is good turnout in the summer and in the winter snowmobiling keeps the small town going. Over the past five years the Government and multiple environmental agencies have tried to shut down snowmobiles in the National Park for pollution reasons. How would this affect the environment? How would this affect the local industry? I will go through each side of this debate that has been taking place.
The 205-thousand-square-mile Appalachian Mountain range, which spans from Eastern Canada to northern Alabama, boasts North America’s oldest mountains (formed approximately 400 million years ago), the highest peak of the eastern United States (Mount Mitchell), industrial production opportunities and leisurely recreation. The range includes the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Great Smoky mountains (NCSU, n.d.). A range of recreational activities such as fishing in freshwater streams, camping, biking the Blue Ridge Parkway, skiing and hiking are available in the region. One popular hiking location is the 2,184-mile Appalachian Natural Scenic Trail, which is the longest walking trail in the eastern United States (United States. National Park Service, 2014). Its rich natural capital offers a plethora of resources, allowing production to range from small-scale agricultural establishments to larger industrial outputs of metal and timber. Approximately 80 percent of land has been used for the coal and logging industry since the 90’s (Little, 1995). Though the commercial utilization of the mountains has boosted the economy of Appalachian towns and cities, it has also degraded the range aesthetically and commercially.
One of the reasons for this increase was the fact that three of the main ingredients used to make iron; coal, iron ore, and limestone, are found in abundance in north Alabama, according to a report made by John Gilmore, an experienced surveyor (Duncan). “This lucky geological arrangement resulted in the lowest raw-material assembly costs in the United States and allowed the district to grow as rapidly, in the last two decades of the nineteenth century, as Pittsburgh and Chicago” (Bergstresser).
The Great Smoky Mountains National Park in total encompasses 522,419 acres of land. Therefore, it is one of the largest protected areas in the United States. This national park has over 200,000 visitors every year due to its unique attractions and natural features. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is home to sixteen mountains that all reach higher than 6,000
...erospace and transportation. Also important are high-technology researches and development, communications and service industries. Since the 1920s and 1930s the importance of the tourist industry began to grow and it is still one of the most important sources of income of Arizona. The mountains in the northern and central regions of the state have 1,286,900 hectares of commercial forests. These forests are owned by the U.S. government for 95% and are used for lumber and building-materials industries. The state forests and the national forests attract millions of tourists each year. Other famous tourist spots are the Grand Canyon, the Painted Desert, the Petrified Forest, meteor craters, ancient Native American ruins, the Spanish colonial ruins and the Navajo and Hopi reservations. Golf courses and other leisure facilities attract a large amount of tourists as well.
At this National Park you may find miles and miles of hiking trails through volcanic craters, hot deserts and rainforests. They have Drive Chain of Craters Roads, Ranger Programs, A Walk Into The Past, and After Dark in the Park.
Yellowstone National Park, a national park mostly located in Wyoming, on March 1, 1872 U.S. President You Lixi Simpson Grant Adams signed the bill passed by Congress after the establishment of the world's first national park. Yellowstone National Park, its abundant wildlife species and geothermal resources famous Old Faithful geyser is one of the most famous attractions. “Half of the world's geothermal features are in Yellowstone, fueled by this ongoing volcanism.”(Geothermal Features and How They Work. National Park Service, February 17, 2007 retrieved). Especially Old Faithful Geyser, one of the most famous landscapes in the park. It also has many types of ecosystems.