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Although the first thoughts of a national park in the southeastern Appalachians are difficult to trace, the responsibility for the movement towards Great Smoky Mountains National Park is generally given to a small group of people. Each state had advocates for the national park idea, but it was not until the early 1920s that a successful campaign for the Smokies really began.

The park movement in Tennessee began to develop after a visit to some western parks by Mr. and Mrs. Willis P. Davis, of Knoxville in 1923. The Davis’ were impressed by the mountain scenery of the western ranges, but decided that they were no more beautiful than the mountains in their own region. The Davis’, both active members of the community in Knoxville, had spent time in the Elkmont area of the park, riding in on the railroad, prior to their trip westward. They became convinced that others in the community would be interested in the prospect of a national park in the Smokies, and upon returning from vacation they began promoting the idea to anyone who would listen, although it seemed that the interest may have not been there initially as they had thought.

According to author and early park authority in his book Birth of a National Park, Carlos Campbell, for a while at least “Mr. and Mrs. Davis were the only two people who really believed that a national park was a possibility.” The idea of a national park in the Smokies would soon gain much more support, from both sides of the mountain.

Unlike many of today’s park supporters whose interest often lie in maintaining the wild and serene nature of this area through conservation, those that supported the park movement at first were often those interested in being able to drive their brand new cars through the area. These important contributors soon gained the interest of supporters of all kinds though and in 1926 President Calvin Coolidge signed a bill that would eventually provide for the establishment of Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Shenandoah National Park in Virginia.

This great accomplishment, however, only serves to mark as a small stepping-stone towards a national park in the Smokies. The Smokies would need support of a monetary sort in order to reach dedication day, a process made very difficult because of the nation’s fall into the Great Depression. In order to gain even the first real park staff members the parks commissions in NC and TN would have to turn over at least 150,000 acres worth of deeds to the US government to prove that the land could be purchased.

The land that would become the Smokies was different than that of many parks in the west in a very significant way. The land was not owned by the government, it was owned by multiple timber companies and hundreds of families who made a living on the land.

Although the ownership of large parcels of land by logging companies made purchasing land very expensive it was the dynamic of buying land from individual land owners that proved the most difficult and time consuming. With roughly 6000 small farms, large tracts and other miscellaneous pieces to purchase it was realized fairly early on that the process would be a difficult one for both the park commissions and especially for those inhabitants that would eventually have no choice but to leave their land.

Throughout all of the problems facing the parks commissions, members of the movement on both sides of the mountain made it clear that they had no intention of quitting before they had a national park to enjoy in their backyards. Though the trials and tribulations of fundraising and land buying dragged on for almost 8 years, with the help of the states of North Carolina and Tennessee, people from both states, the US Congress and very notably the Rockefeller Foundation, the idea of a national park in the Smokies eventually came to fruition. On June 15, 1934 Congress passes legislation announcing that Great Smoky Mountains National Park, “be established as a completed national park for administration, protection and maintenance”, realizing the dream of the many who had supported the idea so vehemently.