The year 1935 was a banner one for national parks in the Southeast. At the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the federal government accepted title to 402,000 acres, giving the park full status and qualifying it for final development.

CHEROKEE, N.C. – When traveling south on the Blue Ridge Parkway, milepost 467 marks the end of the road.

GATLINBURG – They didn’t move far, these children of the mountains. The government took their families’ land to make the Great Smoky Mountains National Park 75 years ago. But their love for the place kept them close, even if their new homes had no mountain views.

CADES COVE – Stewardship of the emerald hills of East Tennessee has been passed down through the generations like a beloved grandfather’s pocket watch.

The hills, valleys and streams of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park have served as a schoolhouse for decades.

A time traveler going back to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in the early 1930s would hardly recognize the landscape we celebrate today.