Subscribe | What is RSS

Date: June 9, 2009
Contact: Nancy Gray, (865) 436-1208

On June 15, Great Smoky Mountains National Park will celebrate the actual 75th Anniversary date of the Park's creation during a public event featuring traditional Appalachian music, storytelling, and Cherokee dancers. The highlight of the occasion will be the groundbreaking for the new visitor center planned at Oconaluftee. The celebration, the last of a series of events during the Park's Anniversary Weekend, will take place from 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. at the Mountain Farm Museum, adjacent to the existing visitor center, 2 miles north of Cherokee.

The planned state-of-the-art visitor center will house a museum that will spotlight Southern Appalachian culture, the history and traditions of the Cherokee people, and the Park's establishment and development. "Complete with energy efficient technologies, the 7,000 square-foot facility, new restrooms and information kiosk will serve visitors well over the next 75 years," said Park Superintendent Dale Ditmanson. About 2 million people a year enter the Park through Cherokee with nearly 350,000 visitors stopping at the Oconaluftee Visitor Center. The current 1,100-square-foot facility, built in the 1940s by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) as a ranger station, is inadequate to host todayís increased visitation.

"We are excited about the opportunity to hold the visitor center groundbreaking during our anniversary year and are especially honored to have several CCC men who assisted with the construction of the existing visitor center over 65 years ago. This project will represent a symbolic bridge between the past and the future of the national park," Ditmanson commented.  "The Park would like to extend a special invitation to all former CCC members who served at Great Smoky Mountains National Park to attend the groundbreaking," he said.

The Park's two primary partners have committed to fund the entire project. The Great Smoky Mountains Association has pledged $2.5 million for the construction of the facility. The Friends of Great Smoky Mountains National Park has committed $500,000 for the interior exhibits with donations from contributors such as the Cherokee Preservation Foundation.

The program schedule includes:     

• 10 a.m. - Music performed by Boogertown Gap  
  
• 11 a.m. - Warriors of AniKituhwa - official Cherokee cultural ambassadors performing traditional dances including the War Dance and Eagle Tail Dance    
• 11:30 a.m. - Storytelling by Charles Maynard   
  
• 12 p.m. - Groundbreaking Ceremony with Park Superintendent Dale Ditmanson, Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Principal Chief Michell Hicks, Civilian Conservation Corpsmen, and Cherokee Elder Jerry Wolfe giving the "Blessing of the Ground"  
• 1 p.m. -  Music played by Earl and the Boys

The Anniversary Weekend begins on Saturday, June 13, with a concert performance by the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra in Cades Cove, followed by an Open House at Park Headquarters to provide a behind-the-scenes view of Park operations on Sunday, June 14.