Sugarlands Visitor Center in Great Smoky Mountains National Park

GENERAL INFORMATION

The Sugarlands Visitor Center is one of four visitor centers in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, though it and the Oconaluftee Visitor Center near Cherokee, North Carolina, are the two main ones. This is your source for park information if you arrive from Gatlinburg, Tennessee, which is located only a few miles outside the park boundary. See the Gatlinburg Region web page for an interactive location map.

Sugarlands Visitor Center information desk, Great Smoky Mountains National Park

OPERATING HOURS

The Sugarlands Visitor Center is open every day except for Christmas Day. Hours vary per season. 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, bird and plant identification charts, and other park brochures
• Meeting place for Ranger-guided programs
• Large book and souvenir store
• Park film
• Large exhibit area
• Drink vending machines
• Restrooms

Souvenir and gift store at the Sugarlands Visitor Center in Great Smoky Mountains National Park

PARK FILM

A 20-minute documentary suitable for all ages is shown every half hour in the 150-seat auditorium. This film is not shown at the Oconaluftee Visitor Center. It covers both the natural and human history of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, as well as information on how the park came to be. It is a typical documentary, nothing ground breaking, but it does present plenty of interesting facts about nature in the Smoky Mountains.

EXHIBITS

The Sugarlands Visitor Center exhibit area focuses almost exclusively on the nature of the park, whereas the Oconaluftee Visitor Center exhibits are on the human history of the Smokies. Here you will find dozens of information panels filled back and front with sketches of plants and animals, or in many cases, preserved, taxidermic specimens both large and small. Most of the information is fascinating to anyone who likes nature, and particularly to those who have been out on the trails and have seen many of these plants and animals but had no idea what they were. I can’t imagine that any of the larger animals in the park were left out of the displays, and many of the smaller ones, including insects, birds, lizards, and flowers are also included.

Nature exhibits at Sugarlands Visitor Center in Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Exhibit at Sugarlands Visitor Center in Great Smoky Mountains National Park

One of many information panels on plants in the Smoky Mountains on display at the Sugarlands Visitor Center in Great Smoky Mountains National Park

The information is presented in the first person, as if you are reading excerpts from the journal written back in the mid-1800s by a naturalist like John Muir, but none of the Rangers had any idea where the information came from. There are plenty of modern references, so the information must come from a modern source. What struck me as extremely interesting is that all of these plants and animals are outside on the trails and in the lakes and streams, and this “naturalist” has spotted them all. When I am hiking I don’t see a thing, other than trees, unless it is trying to eat me. I did become more observant after my visit to the Sugarlands Visitor Center, which was about midway through my travels in the park.

SCHEDULING YOUR TIME

I spent two hours reading through the nature exhibits. Factor in the movie and getting general information from a park Ranger and you could easily spend 2-3 hours here. However, I’m probably one of the few who attempts to read everything, so the typical person should allow around an hour to spend at Sugarlands Visitor Center.

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