Great Smokies Mountain National Park has seen new changes in recent years, from soaring record attendance placing it head and shoulders above the field for the most visited national park to a first-of-its-kind parking tag program designed to generate revenue while also protecting visitors and natural resources that has generated the ire of some surrounding communities. 

The National Park Service (NPS) will close Ramsey Cascades Trail on weekdays while trail crews finish the full-scale rehabilitation work started in 2022.

To the Editor:

Last week, we were informed that one of our Macon County commissioners is planning to eliminate the floodplain (development) ordinance. My small eco-tours business will be negatively impacted by this. 

Seeking to balance the economic benefits of short-term vacation rentals with the negative effects they have on housing affordability in a tourist-driven, service-based economy, Waynesville’s planning board has taken up deliberations on new regulations that could eventually be presented for consideration by Town Council. 

The Nantahala Outdoor Center unveiled its newest lodging, The Hemlocks by NOC. 

It’s been a little under a year since Corrina Ruffieux took over for longtime Haywood County Tourism Development Authority Executive Director Lynn Collins, but Ruffieux’s wasted little time bolstering the TDA’s destination marketing strategy with robust and insightful data meant to show the county’s relative strengths and weaknesses while also hedging against uncertainty with new initiatives designed to keep the money flowing into Western North Carolina’s tourism-based economy — especially in post-mill Canton. 

After deciding that the time is finally right, the owners of the Waynesville Inn and Golf Club are making good on a promise by asking the town for permission to develop 25 custom-built single-family homes on the outskirts of the revitalized course — continuing the rebirth of a storied local landmark — but Waynesville’s planning board has now put half the units in doubt. 

The Downtown Waynesville Commission has had two years to get on its feet since its predecessor organization imploded.

The Town of Sylva is once again considering a solicitation ordinance for the streets and sidewalks section of its code of ordinances, and now the public will have a chance to weigh in. 

In 2023, visitation to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park grew 2.2% to reach its second-highest number ever — but the number of visits starting in the North Carolina side of the park fell 5.1% compared to 2022.