Great Smoky Mountains

The words

1. Alum Cave

   Despite its name, Alum Cave is an inward-curving cliff rather than a true cave. The 80-foot (24-m) bluff is a landmark on the forested route to Mount Le Conte.

   Park Service: Alum Cave and Le Conte (opens a new tab)

2. Cades Cove

   Cherokee people hunted in this mountain-ringed valley before European settlement. Preserved barns, log houses, churches and a gristmill trace the farming community that followed.

   Park Service: Cades Cove (opens a new tab)

3. Cataloochee

   The Park Service records that families “had to leave” when the park was created; Cataloochee’s churches, school and houses preserve traces of a mountain farming community.

   Did you know?

   Elk returned to Cataloochee in 2001, when the park released 25 animals brought from Land Between the Lakes on the Tennessee–Kentucky border.

   Park Service: Creating the park (opens a new tab) · Park Service: Cataloochee history (opens a new tab) · Park Service: Elk return (opens a new tab)

4. Cherokee

   The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians maintains plant-gathering traditions in this homeland. The Park Service describes the 1830s Trail of Tears as the “forced removal of indigenous people.”

   Park Service: Cherokee gathering (opens a new tab)

5. Chimney Tops

   The Chimney Tops expose a knife-edged backbone of rock above the forest. The surrounding Smokies are built largely from sedimentary rocks later changed by mountain-building heat and pressure.

   Park Service: Smokies geology (opens a new tab)

6. Clingmans Dome

   Clingmans Dome was the name given in 1859 to honor Thomas Clingman, a US senator who later became a Confederate general. The peak’s Cherokee name, Kuwohi, was restored in September 2024.

   Smokies Life: Kuwohi history (opens a new tab)

7. Elkmont

   Logging brought a railroad and a working community to Elkmont in the early 20th century. Summer resort communities followed, leaving cabins and other traces of a changing mountain economy.

   Did you know?

   Elkmont’s synchronous fireflies use flashes to attract mates. Males flash together, while much dimmer females can answer during the pauses in their light display.

   Park Service: Elkmont history (opens a new tab) · Park Service: Synchronous fireflies (opens a new tab)

8. Flame Azalea

   Flame azalea is one of the Smokies’ native rhododendrons. Its flowers range through white, peach, yellow, orange and red, with blooming later on mountain tops than lower slopes.

   Park Service: Flowering shrubs (opens a new tab)

9. Horace Kephart

   Kephart wrote about Smokies residents after living among them at Hazel Creek. His book Our Southern Highlanders appeared in 1913, and his later writings helped promote the national park.

   Did you know?

   Photographer George Masa supplied images for many of Kephart’s articles; photographs and prose worked together to build public support for protecting the Smokies.

   Park Service: Park founders (opens a new tab)

10. Kuwohi

    The Cherokee name means “mulberry place.”

    Cherokee people regard this mountain, the park’s highest, as sacred. An effort led by Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians members restored its name on September 18, 2024.

    Park Service: 2024 name restoration (opens a new tab) · Smokies Life: Kuwohi history (opens a new tab)

11. Mingus Mill

    Built in 1886, Mingus Mill stands on its original site near Oconaluftee. A water-powered turbine, rather than a water wheel, drove its milling machinery.

    Park Service: Mingus Mill (opens a new tab)

12. Mount Le Conte

    Spruce-fir forest lines the approach above Alum Cave Bluffs on Mount Le Conte. Near the summit, Cliff Top and Myrtle Point provide viewpoints over the surrounding mountains.

    Park Service: Alum Cave and Le Conte (opens a new tab)

13. Newfound Gap

    Newfound Gap is a high pass connecting Tennessee and North Carolina. President Franklin D. Roosevelt formally dedicated the park here, at the Rockefeller Memorial, on September 2, 1940.

    Park Service: High mountain pass (opens a new tab) · Park Service: Creating the park (opens a new tab)

14. Oconaluftee

    This broad river valley forms the park’s southern gateway beside Cherokee and the Qualla Boundary. It also provides habitat for elk on the North Carolina side of the Smokies.

    Park Service: Oconaluftee (opens a new tab) · Park Service: Elk return (opens a new tab)

15. Salamander

    Many Smokies salamanders lack lungs, exchanging gases through their skin and the linings of their mouths and throats. Streams, leaf litter and shelter beneath rocks and logs provide habitats.

    Did you know?

    The Park Service’s amphibian page listed 31 salamander species when checked on October 25, 2026; the printed note gives 30.

    Park Service: Salamanders (opens a new tab)