Appalachian heritage thrives in the Smokies

There's music in these mountains — beyond the crash of waterfalls and the early morning choruses of the hundreds of bird species that dwell in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

The nation's most visited national park drew more than 10 million people last year and is best known for majestic views from some of the tallest peaks in the Eastern USA, the wild elk and bears that roam the land, and the miles of hiking trails crisscrossing half a million acres straddling the North Carolina-Tennessee border.

But the park is dedicated to more than preserving and protecting its vast natural resources. A key component of the park's mission is preserving the rich and distinctively American heritage of the southern Appalachian people who lived in the mountains before it became a national park.

The park has one of the largest collections of log homes, barns, churches and schools in the East, with more than 90 buildings that have been preserved or rehabilitated. Visitors can catch a glimpse of daily life for early Appalachian settlers by strolling through mountain farm exhibits or attending one of the numerous festivals that celebrate mountain culture.

At the annual Cosby in the Park festival, visitors can experience southern Appalachian culture in music, quilting displays, corn-shuck dolls and crafts lessons, old- time toys, folk art and natural foods and medicinal plants at the park's Cosby Campground.

Junior ranger programs, offered year-round throughout the park, give children lessons in blacksmithing and milling.

A Women's Work Festival at the Mountain Farm Museum honors the often arduous daily lives led by southern Appalachian women in maintaining a household, with demonstrations of folkways and homemaking chores, including open-hearth cooking, spinning and sewing at the Oconaluftee Visitor Center each June.

The Mountain Life Festival each fall at the Mountain Farm Museum gives visitors a peek into the past, when soap, apple cider, sorghum molasses and hominy were made by hand.

Music serves as the touchstone for many of the park's cultural heritage events. One of the biggest celebrations of Appalachian musical events in the country takes place each September at the Sugarlands Visitors Center.

The Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont offers living history workshops and programs for children and adults on mountain music and the rich traditions of the southern Appalachian people. The University of Tennessee offers visitors classes in the park on history and culture, too.

The park also has ongoing efforts to ensure that descendants of families that settled the area have the ability to visit old home places and cemeteries, and hold annual reunions, says park spokeswoman Dana Soehn.

On a recent day at the Oconaluftee Visitor Center, nestled in the foothills of the mountains on the North Carolina side of the park, 66-year-old Randy Jones sat on the porch with a dozen other amateur musicians and struck up the twangy sounds of songs such as Home Sweet Home and Red River Valley.

As hikers, mountain bikers and others gathered to listen to the old-time mountain music — music with roots in the hardscrabble daily lives of the park's early settlers — Jones invited them to get carried away. "Clap, hoot and holler," he said, "whatever the spirit leads you to do."

Wadhwani also reports for The Tennessean of Nashville.

About the park

Size: 521,086 acres

Visitors: 10,099,276 in 2014

Established: 1934

History: The park was established in part because loggers were rapidly cutting the primeval forests that remained. More than 1,200 residents had to leave their land once the park opened.

When visiting: The park has four visitor centers: the Cades Cove center near Townsend, Tenn.; the Oconaluftee center on U.S. 441, 2 miles north of Cherokee, N.C.; the Sugarland center 2 miles south of Gatlinburg, Tenn. on U.S. 441; and the Clingmans Dome center 7 miles off U.S. 441 in Tennessee. Visitor information: 865-436-1200.

Of note: The park is among the most biologically diverse areas in the eastern USA, with more than 17,000 species of plants, animals and invertebrates, but scientists believe an additional 30,000 to 80,000 species may live there.