Birth of a National Park

Join the Knoxville History Project and partnere as we celebrate the 100th anniversary of when Knoxville leaders and outdoor enthusiasts took an idea by Annie Davis and created a remarkable grassroots movement to establish a new national park in the Great Smoky Mountains.

This event is free but registration is required. There are optional walking tours at 10:15 am each day (limited to 30 people) and an opportuinity to order lunch if you plan to stay all day (or both days).

We’ll tell the stories of the Knoxville civic leaders, conservationists, and trailblazers who led pioneering efforts, against all odds, to make the national park a reality. July 2024 actually marks 100 years exactly since Col. David Chapman, leader of the newly created Great Smoky Mountains Conservation Association, sent Knoxville photographer Jim Thompson on a mission: to present the best of his Smoky Mountains photographs to impress the Southern Appalachian National Park Commissioners who were charged with recommending the location for the second national park in the eastern United States. The rest is history, albeit a complex one.

Host or Publisher The Knoxville History Project