After visiting Yellowstone National Park in 1923, Knoxville businessman Willis Davis, a director of the Knoxville Automobile Club, envisioned the Smoky Mountains as a national park. Davis’ fellow board members believed that, in addition to protecting the area’s natural resources, the establishment of a national park might also stimulate tourism and economic growth, particularly through the development of safe auto roads over the impassable mountain mass dividing North Carolina and Tennessee. On the club’s behalf, Davis approached the Department of the Interior in Washington, D.C., and the seed of a movement was planted.
With bids for several eastern parks already being considered, the government needed convincing of the Smokies’ worthiness. Through promotional campaigns, the automobile club raised support at local, state and national levels. When the movement gained momentum, supporters formed the Great Smoky Mountains Conservation Association, a separate committee devoted solely to the cause. In North Carolina, park advocates formed a counterpart organization to further the state’s interests in a national park.
Congress approved the creation of the new national park in 1926, stipulating, however, that good-faith deeds for at least 150,000 acres be secured before the park could be placed under the protection of the National Park Service. Raising funds for land acquisitions proved to be the movement’s greatest challenge. Seed money came from individual donors and through the sale of subscriptions. No amount was considered too small, not even $1,391.72 raised by more than 4,000 school children. Through legislation, Tennessee and North Carolina set aside $2 million each. But by the time the majority of money had been raised, appreciating land values threatened to deplete the acquisition fund. In 1928, the Rockefeller family saved the movement with a $5 million donation.
The first deeds were turned over to the government in 1930. Four years later, the movement realized its goal with the official establishment of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Formal dedication of the park took place in 1940.
If Willis Davis is the father of the park movement, the creation of Great Smoky Mountains National Park was indeed a family affair. Members of the Knoxville Automobile Club, now AAA East Tennessee, played pivotal and ongoing roles in the park campaign, one that could not have succeeded without the support of countless volunteers, naturalists, civic leaders, state legislators and private benefactors. Mountains and other geographical features bear the names of those who made a difference.