After completing its 70th year supporting preservation in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the Great Smoky Mountains Association has adopted a new name. The nonprofit will now be known as Smokies Life. 

In 2023, the Blue Ridge Parkway saw its highest visitation since 2007, according to preliminary figures from the National Park Service, representing a 6.1% increase over 2022.

Red-necked phalarope, Bonaparte’s gull, band-rumped storm-petrel and harlequin duck. If you are thinking these don’t sound like names that should be included in a story about the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, you’re right.

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. 

Tribal Council members stood to show their unanimous support Thursday, Jan. 4, for a resolution they hope will result in a name change for Clingmans Dome, the highest point in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. 

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park has earned this one for its decision to begin charging for parking, effective March 1 this year. 

Million-dollar mountaintop vacation homes, phony moonshine from corporate mega-distilleries, dime-a-dozen seedy strip malls — none of these things are Appalachian things, and if one of the hardy old Mountaineers of yore was magically transported through time to the present day, they’d hardly recognize the place. 

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park  has lifted a burn ban that’s been in effect for weeks amid drought conditions and an active wildfire season. 

Arsonists were responsible for some of the wildfires first responders have battled over the past month, with one arrest made and multiple investigations ongoing. 

“I’m just a backwoods guy,” Bill Gober says. “I try to stay out of the limelight.”