Oconaluftee Visitor Center

GENERAL INFORMATION

The Oconaluftee Visitor Center is located in the Smokemont Region of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It is your source for park information if you arrive from the Cherokee, North Carolina, area. See the Smokemont Region web page for directions.

OPERATING HOURS

The Oconaluftee Visitor Center is open every day except for Christmas. Hours vary per season.

January – June	9 AM – 5 PM
July – August	9 AM – 7 PM
September – October	9 AM – 6 PM
November	9 AM – 5 PM
December	9 AM – 4:30 PM

Times can always change, so before making travel plans be sure to get the latest schedule on the National Park Service’s official Visitor Centers web page for Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

 AMENITIES

• Ranger-staffed information desk where you can ask questions and pick up a free park brochure
• Purchase trail maps and other park brochures
• Meeting place for Ranger-guided programs
• Large book and souvenir store
• Museum
• Restrooms

Visitor Center book and gift store

MUSEUM

The museum at the Oconaluftee Visitor Center focuses on the human habitation of the Smokies. It is an attractive presentation of both information panels and actual artifacts from the era, and covers topics such as mountain agriculture and industry, logging, grist mills, moon-shining, and the adaptation to the modern way of life. Of particular interest is the Voice of the Smokies exhibit where you can listen to eight oral histories told by some of the Ol’ Timers of the area.

Voices of the Smokies exhibit

Moonshine exhibit

The story of the Smokies is also the story of forced migration, both of the Indian and the white settlers. The Indian Removal Act of 1830 led to the removal of nearly all Indians in southeastern United States. Receiving the most attention over the years is what has become known as the Trail of Tears, the plight of the Cherokee. Most of the tribes signed treaties, took their money and left, as did many Cherokee, but about 20,000 of them refused to leave and were eventually rounded up at gun point by the U. S. Army and sent packing in 1838. However, the group known as the Quallatown Cherokee had signed a treaty in 1819 that gave them land grants along the Oconaluftee River, and this allowed them to stay. The Quallatown Cherokee and others who avoided moving west for a variety of reasons became today’s Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians, and they now own the land just outside the park boundary in Cherokee. An exhibit in the museum tells their story.

As mentioned, it wasn’t only the Indians who were expelled from of the area. Great Smoky Mountains National Park was created by the forced removal of the white settlers who began arriving in the early 1800s. It is the only National Park not created with land already owned by the government or donated by private individuals. Starting in the late 1920s, the state governments began buying up the land that would eventually become the park. Some residents were more than happy to take the government’s financial offer and leave, while others refused and were eventually forced out (with payment). Only the very old people were allowed to stay on until their death, at which time their property would become part of the park. I met one member of the Husky family whose grandparents were some of those who did not want to leave. He told me they only got a few hundred dollars for their land. Exhibits on the park’s creation and the opposition to the park are included in the museum.

Creation of the park

SCHEDULING YOUR TIME

As is the case with most museums, people will browse through a few exhibits that catch their interest and then be on their way. However, if you want to read everything and listen to the eight oral histories, plan to spend one hour at the Oconaluftee Visitor Center.

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