Heading south out of Knoxville Monday morning, a smoky haze engulfed “The Marble City,” only to lose more visibility as one pushed closer to Gatlinburg. Passing through Pigeon Forge, the lifelike replica of Titanic alongside U.S. 441 eerie resembled the doomed vessel as the smoke swirled around the structure in the distance like a cold North Atlantic fog.

Entering the Great Smoky Mountains National Park via Gatlinburg, multitudes of out-of-state tourists stopped at seemingly every overlook in hopes of at least one successful candidate for a Christmas card selfie. But, alas, each background of the Smokies was awash with thick smoke, as if someone came and wiped the canvas clean of Mother Nature’s beauty.

“This is our first time in the Smokies — do these usually look, well, this ‘smoky’?” asked New Jersey resident Nick Vislocky, who stood at an overlook with his daughter. “We knew about the fires coming down here, but I didn’t know they’d be this bad. And if they are arson, I can’t understand why someone would ever do this — what is the purpose, the motivation?”

Frustrations only mounted for tourists when pulling into the large parking lot at Newfound Gap (the Tennessee/North Carolina state line in the park). All up and down the vantage points, folks from across the country and around the globe found themselves without a view of these ancient mountains they were excited to see for themselves.

Related Items

Opinion Latest

We’ll get through this, but we’ll need help

We’ve had more than a week of picture-perfect fall days, usually a part of the recipe for…

Opinion Latest

We can support WNC, albeit in different ways

When you’re a columnist for a newspaper, you don’t take the space for granted. It is a…

A&E Columns

This must be the place: The long road home

Putting the truck into park, my girlfriend, Sarah, and I finally returned to our quaint…

Latest

One life lost in Macon flooding

While Macon County may have been spared the catastrophic flooding experienced by so many…

“It’s kind of sad to not be able to see the beautiful mountains and the colors of the leaves,” said Wisconsin resident Linda Woods. “But, we’ve been lucky to see many other beautiful things here in the park — it is what it is.”

Swinging into Bryson City, the smoky haze only intensified with nearby fires raging in the Nantahala Gorge. Watery eyes and coughing could be seen and heard in downtown. 

“There are a lot of questions now about people close to these fires, and how they will be notified of possible evacuations,” said Joe Rowland, co-owner of Nantahala Brewing. “Are these fires contained? For what we’ve heard, it appears so. But, the question remains — when is it going to end?”

Rowland and hundreds of other local residents attended a community awareness meeting earlier this week. Amid the concerns of the general public, officials also made sure everyone was on the same page with where these fires are, where they’re going, and what residents need to do in the meantime. 

“Late last week, the fire jumped the Little Tennessee River — and that’s a scary thought,” Rowland said. “The wind caught the embers and blew them across, starting another fire. If these embers can jump the river, which we didn’t think would happen, then that means they can jump Highway 74.”

But, Rowland will be the first to point out, that besides the geographical dangers, there are also deep economical problems emerging, especially when the tourism-based town is still within the midst of the fall season. 

“We’ve absolutely taken a financial hit. This past week, we did roughly half the business we did at this same time last year,” Rowland said. “A lot of the businesses in this town — this region — depend on tourism. Folks are either not able to get up here, or won’t come here due to health concerns from the smoke. This lack of tourism is going to cost this area a lot.”

Jumping onto U.S. 19/74, two state trooper vehicles held court at the intersection with N.C. 28. The Nantahala Gorge was closed due to the wildfires along the road, and also landslides occurring on the main thoroughfare as a result (the route has reopened as of press time). 

Being allowed access into the gorge, it was eerie being the only vehicle on this normally busy road. Parking at the Nantahala Outdoor Center, the enormously popular multi-million dollar paddling Mecca was silent, with not a soul in sight. Sitting in his squad car, North Carolina State Trooper Sergeant Tracy Greene was the only person within sight.

“This is day six for me here,” he said. “Right now, we’re working with law enforcement from the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Park Service to identify people in the area and assist with evacuations.”

As the squad car sat in the middle of U.S. 19/74, one could notice and smell the smoldering brush on the nearby roadside. The Ferebee Fire rolled down the road, ultimately coming within mere yards of the beloved NOC. The fire was contained and eliminated, but other parts of the Ferebee combined with the massive Tellico Fire (which stood at 14,000 acres on Monday morning).

“We’re all heading up the investigations, and right now, we’re looking into these fires being manmade,” Greene said. “Whether it’s copycat arson or not, residents want it to stop — it’s disturbing to say the least.”