Birth of a National Park in the Great Smoky Mountains

Annually millions of people admire the Great Smoky Mountains National Park’s primeval beauty--towering peaks, sparkling cascades, virgin forests, and remarkable varieties of wildflowers and shrubs. One of the nation’s most popular national parks did not just ＂come to be＂ a logical and natural development on federally-owned land. Instead, it was the first national park to be acquired from private owners and given by the people to the federal government. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park was established only after an unprecedented crusade that is a story of almost fanatic dedication to a cause, as well as one of frustration, despair, political bias, and even physical violence.

Carlos Clinton Campbell (1892-1978) is a name synonymous with the history of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. As the manager of the Knoxville Chamber of Commerce in the 1920s, Campbell was in a position to be vocal about the park movement, but at the same time he was also a prodigious hiker and trail blazer.

He was a longstanding member of the Great Smoky Mountains Conservation Association, which he served as Secretary from 1940 until his death in 1978. He was a charter member of the Smoky Mountains Hiking Club, and a keen writer and photographer.

In the late 1950s, Campbell researched the Park’s story, published in 1960 as Birth of a National Park in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in 1960. In 1963, he co-authored Great Smoky Mountain Wildflowers: When and Where to Find Them. His memoir, Memories of Old Smoky, although written in the 1960s, wasn’t published until 2005.

In 1981, Campbell was honored by the Great Smoky Mountains National Park with the ＂Carlos Campbell Overlook＂ on US Highway 441 south of Sugarlands Visitor Center, with a view looking up to majestic Mt Le Conte, one of the peaks that he hiked so many times.