Great Smoky Mountains National Park is a United States national park and also a UNESCO heritage site that runs along the Great Smoky Mountains, a part of the Blue Mountains.
It is the most visited park in the United States of America and has a area of 522,419 acres. The park is also the largest protected area of the United States. It was chartered by the US government in 1934 and was inaugurated by the then president Franklin Roosevelt in 1940.
This park is also the first of its kind that was fully funded by the federal funds. Previous parks of America have been funded by either state or private money.
It has around 200 different species of birds, 66 various species of mammals, 50 species of fish, 39 different species of reptiles and 43 species of amphibians.
The park also has around 1,500 black bears roaming around it.
There are 100 species of trees growing in the park, around 1,400 species of flowering plant species and 4000 non flowering plants.
The park is a tourist hub and is visited by around nine million tourists from around the world, which are more than twice the number of people that visit Grand Canyon.
Surrounding towns of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park including Townsend, Tennessee, North Carolina and many others receive majority of the income through tourism.
The park is bisected by Highway 441 also known as the new found Gap, which provides access for automobiles.
The park also features historical attractions including the Cades Cove, a preserved site that includes historical buildings including churches, log cabins and barns.
The park has around 850 miles of unpaved roads for hiking. Apart from hiking and sightseeing, fishing is the most popular activity in the park.
