Great Smoky Mountains National Park

North Carolina and Tennessee

Place of Blue Smoke was the name given by the Cherokee Indians to the Appalachian Highlands on the border between North carolina and Tennessee. The forest here exudes water vapor and oily residues which create a smoke-like haze that surrounds the peaks and fills the valleys. Great Smoky Mountains National Park, encompassing more than 800 square miles, protects one of the world's finest temperate deciduous forests and is a remeinder of the tree-rich landscape of pre-Columbian America. Due to the fertile soil and abundant rain, this area boasts 1,520 flower species, 130 varieties of trees, 50 mammal species and 27 different kind of salamanders. The plants are related to those found across the Pacific, testifying to the ancient migration of trees and flowers from Asia by way of the Bering land bridge. The Smokies also represent an important period in the earth's development when 300 million years ago, supercontinents collided and the earth's crust pushed upward forming high, jagged mountains. Over the course of time these mountains have been smoothed and softened by erosian. The geographical evidence, biological evolution and diversity make this park a superlative natural preserve. (Inscribed in 1983)