[57], Native Americans have likely been hunting in the Great Smoky Mountains for 14,000 years. About 10,600 acres (43km2) of the spruce-fir forest are old-growth. Cherokee chief William Holland Thomas formed a Confederate legion made up mostly of Cherokee soldiers. The park contains five historic districts and nine individual listings on the National Register of Historic Places. Plan Your Visit. Born and raised in town, Wamsley was only five years old when the Mothman showed up and began terrorizing his neighbors. The glorious sunrises are a great way to start the day in the Smokies KenCanning / Getty Images, First-timer's guide to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Michael Rivers, lead investigator of the Smoky Mountain Ghost Trackers and an author who has written extensively about Appalachian folklore, says that the Appalachian Mountains are ripe with paranormal activity. Read our Privacy Policy. Be sure to let a non-hiking partner know where youre going and when you plan to be back. There are a number of stories that supposedly explain the origins of the name Boogertown. If you drop a knife, a man is coming to visit. [49], Two other speciesthe southern gray-cheeked salamander and the Southern Appalachian salamanderoccur only in the general region. Sporadic or seasonal settlements were located in Cades Cove and the Hazel Creek valley. Early Precambrian rocks, which include the oldest rocks in the Smokies, comprise the dominant rock type in the Raven Fork Valley (in the Oconaluftee valley) and lower Tuckasegee River between Cherokee and Bryson City. Strangely, there were no thunderstorms in Cades Cove that night, just the stray bolt of lightning that took Basil Esteps life. An episode of the X Files reasons that the lights are caused by UFOs. Two couples Roger and Linda Scarberry, and Steve and Mary Mallette reported seeing a large flying humanoid with a 10-foot wingspan and glowing red eyes following their car. Three days later, two young couples were driving together near an abandoned World War II TNT plant about five miles north of Point Pleasant when they saw a large flying man with 10-foot wings, and eyes that glowed red. They tried to flee the unidentified animal, speeding down the road at a reported 100 miles per hour, but the creature followed them back to Point Pleasant city limits. Best places to visit in the Smoky Mountains - Lonely Planet If you want to find out for yourself, the best time to see the Brown Mountain Lights is September through early November. Its just that your imagination and your emotions can fool you.. Some scholars believe that the danger and isolation of early mountain life gave birth to many of the legends that still exist today, banging around in our brains and compelling us to take an extra look over our shoulder should we find ourselves alone in a dusky forest or a creaky old cabin. [The statue depicts] twins, but theyre short like the Moon-Eyed People with little round flat faces. Some believe that the statue represents the two rivers and others believe it is a man and a woman. [38], The Smokies are home to over two dozen species of rodents, including the endangered northern flying squirrel, and 10 species of bats, including the endangered Indiana bat. Legend tells of a brutal battle betweenCherokee and Catawba warriorson Brown Mountain,which left many dead on the battlefield. But it was rocked by an unidentifiable visitor on November 12, 1966, when gravediggers at a cemetery in Clendenin, West Virginia, about 80 miles from Point Pleasant, claimed to see a man with wings lift off from a tree and fly over their heads. He was out of breath and anxious, remembers Smith. If you see a white horse, youll have good luck. They modernly reside in Alaska, portions of the Great Lakes region, all northwestern American states and Canada. Watch. TN [33], Other mammals in the Great Smokies include the white-tailed deer, the population of which drastically expanded with the creation of the national park. Read on to find three of our favorite Smoky Mountain ghost stories. [78], While no major engagements took place in the Smokies, minor skirmishes were fairly common. The name "Smoky" comes from the natural fog that often hangs over the range and presents as large smoke plumes from a distance. We may never discover the truth behind Boogertowns backstory, but listening to all of the theories and tall tales sure is a lot of fun! Spread across 500,000 acres in the Southern Appalachian range, the park is a four-season wonderland, famous for both its colorful spring wildflowers and the fiery blazes of autumn. [18], The Precambrian gneiss and schiststhe oldest rocks in the Smokiesformed over a billion years ago from the accumulation of marine sediments and igneous rock in a primordial ocean. It made national headlines, says Smith. Dying giants - Great Smoky Mountains National Park (U.S. National Park Service)", "Why 'Knoxville' will be part of the team name when Smokies baseball moves downtown", "Best Smoky Mountain Views and Lift Ride", National Weather Service Southern Appalachian Precipitation study, Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont, Cornell University study on invasive balsam woolly adelgid control, Geologic Map of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park Region, Tennessee and North Carolina, The Great Smoky Mountains Regional Project, Southern Appalachian English: Transcripts, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Great_Smoky_Mountains&oldid=1150997748, Intersection of Balsam crest and Great Smokies crest, Jesse Siler, who used the mountain for grazing, The cove hardwood forests in the stream valleys, coves, and lower mountain slopes, The northern hardwood forests on the higher mountain slopes, The spruce-fir or boreal forest at the very highest elevations, This page was last edited on 21 April 2023, at 08:24. Lonely Planets Great Smoky Mountains National Park is your passport to the most relevant, up-to-date advice on what to see and skip, and what hidden discoveries await you. Top 5 Smoky Mountain Tours Where You Can Explore the Smokies with a Guide READ MORE: Visiting Expedition Bigfoot Museum (AKA Sasquatch Museum) in Cherry Log, GA. Found in the Blue Ridge Mountains ofNorth Carolina, the Brown Mountain Lights are a true Appalachian mountain mystery. Mason County Sheriff George Johnson believed it to be a large bird, because the stories fit the description of a Sandhill Crane, which has a red forehead and wingspans recorded up to 7 feet, 7 inches. The closely related mountain laurel blooms in between the two, and all of the blooms progress from lower to higher elevations. Explore. Perry used the forge at his blacksmith shop to melt gold nuggets into authentic looking money that he could spend in town. Reports of UFOs and suspicious men in black began streaming in to the Point Pleasant authorities. Wilma Dykeman, The French Broad (New York: Rinehart, 1955), 167-174. The Smoky Mountain region is steeped in strange and unexplainable occurrences that some say are supernatural. Along with the Biosphere reserve, the Great Smokies have been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. (See Also: 8 Shocking Secrets of Cades Cove You Wont Believe). In large part due to the highly varied elevations in the park, there is a wide range of plant and animal species. Below is our list of the top offbeat attractions in the Great Smoky Mountains: 1. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. From the expected (panoramic trails and viewpoints) to the unexpected, these are the top 10 things to do at Grand Canyon National Park. It covers a section of Tennessee and North Carolina in the Southern USA that was once home to the Cherokee, and later by Scotch-Irish settlers. While the rise in temperatures between 12,500 and 6,000 years ago allowed the hardwoods to return, the spruce-fir forest has managed to survive on the harsh mountain tops, typically above 5,500 feet (1,700m).