This is a land of many waters, with the higher elevations receiving over 90 inches of rainfall in some years.  The effect of this rain is twofold.  The mountainsides are draped in the lush vegetation of a rain forest.  And the wild mountain streams born of this water have carved and eroded these hills for untold centuries, so that today the landscape is characterized by steep ridges and deep ravines that look like a rumpled blanket stretching to the horizon.

For the last thousand years, this has been the homeland of the Cherokee Nation.  In 1540, a Spanish expedition led by Hernando de Soto visited the area, and more white settlers followed over the ensuing years.  In the 1830's, President Andrew Jackson ordered the forced removal of all Cherokee from their homeland to what is now Oklahoma.  This removal - 1,200 miles on foot and by wagon - took place during the winter of 1838, and fully a third of the 13,000 Cherokee who undertook the march perished of starvation, exposure or disease.  History remembers it as the "Trail of Tears."  Today, the descendants of those few Cherokee who remained behind in secret comprise the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians, living on the Qualla Boundary Reservation that borders Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

With the removal of the native Cherokee, the land became settled by white pioneers, developing an isolated and self-sufficient culture that endured into this century.  Around the turn of the century, logging became a dominant force in the area. Railroads were built into the wilderness to facilitate the systematic harvesting of the ancient virgin forests.  Photographs from that era reveal vast mountainsides stripped bare.  Indeed, by the 1930's, 65 percent of what is now the National Park had been logged.

During these years of logging, a movement was underway to establish a National Park in the southern Appalachians, and fund-raising efforts were mounted until the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was established in 1934.  Road and trail building was undertaken by the Civilian Conservation Corps, often using the old logging railroad grades.  Most of the Park's 800 miles of trails follow the original CCC trails, although many more miles of trail have vanished from lack of funds for maintenance.

Many decades after the devastation of logging, these mountains have recovered their dignity, and the ancient slopes are forested once more.  The Park is designated an International Biosphere Reserve, protecting a botanical treasure unrivaled anywhere.  More than 100 species of native trees grow here (as many species as on the entire continent of Europe), as well as 1,300 varieties of flowering plants.