Sherry Felix – port4u

The parking lot was full and it took several drive throughs to find parking at Clingmans Dome – Wikipedia. We didn’t bother with the long hike to the observation tower. The views from the parking lot were grand enough. Link to NPS page: Clingmans Dome – Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

The mountain was dubbed “Smoky Dome” by American settlers moving in from other areas. In 1859, the mountain was renamed by Arnold Guyot who named the mountain for Clingman because of an argument between Clingman and a professor at the University of North Carolina, Elisha Mitchell, over which mountain was actually the highest in the region. Mitchell contended that a peak by the name of Black Dome (now known as Mount Mitchell) was the highest, while Clingman asserted that Smoky Dome was the true highest peak. Guyot determined that Black Dome was 39 feet (12 m) higher than Smoky Dome.

In 2022, members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, drafted legislation for the Tribe to support changing the name of Clingman’s Dome to Kuwahi (‘mulberry place’)—the original name given to the area by Cherokees.