Smoky Mountain News has a nice article on their website about the history of the artifacts the park has collected over the years from the families that lived within the park's boundaries before it became a national park.
In fact, the article states that the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is home to one of the most intact and comprehensive collections of early Americana.
Because of the volume of items the park has collected, it's been a challenge to store all of it over the years. At one point the artifacts were stored in the loft of the Mingus Mill.
With the recent announcement and construction of a new visitor center at Oconaluftee, it seems that at least some of those artifacts will be finding a new home. Part of the focus of the new visitor center will be cultural interpretation, which will finally allow the public to see some of these artifacts. The cultural heritage theme will dovetail with the Mountain Farm Museum already in place at the site.
The article also pointed out that the collection was put together in large part because most of the families simply couldn’t take everything with them. Fortunately, the park service was able to scoop many of the items left behind by the homesteaders. However, what I found to be quite cold, at least from the perspective of the 21st century, was that the park provided no moving assistance. For families with several small children or elderly in their ranks, multiple wagon trips over the mountains to cart out possessions was simply not possible.
The
article is a great read.
Jeff
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