Tag: Great Smoky Mountains

Great Smoky Mountains National Park: Oconaluftee

On By nationalparkswithtIn North Carolina3 Comments
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NPTC Southeast Convention Road Trip➤

My friend Patty and I travelled to Asheville, North Carolina for the 2023 National Park Travelers Club Convention. The convention rotates to a different region each year. For 2023, it was in the Southeast region. On the way down, during the convention and on the way home we visited nine National Park Service units and some other parks. On the third day of our road trip we took the club’s Great Smoky Mountains Bus Tour. The tour stopped at the Oconaluftee Center and Mountain Farm Museum.

Oconaluftee➤

The Oconaluftee River Trail runs through the forest alongside the Oconaluftee River in the Great Smoky Mountains of North Carolina. It stretches 1.5 miles one-way from the Oconaluftee Visitor Center to Cherokee, NC. The trail also holds historical significance, once being the site of a Cherokee village and Appalachian community. The trail ends on Cherokee Tribal lands a short distance from Great Smoky Mountains National Park boundaries.

The original visitor center, built in 1940, was replaced in 2011 through donations from the Great Smoky Mountains Association and Friends of the Smokies. We stopped at the new visitor center first and perused the museum exhibits. Then we walked part of the Oconaluftee Trail along the river.

Southeast ConventionNational Monument ➤

Location: 1194 Newfound Gap Rd, Cherokee, North Carolina
Designation: National Park
Date designated/established: June 15, 1934
Date of my visit: August 3, 2023