Improved version. Old version: Great Smoky Mts Landscapes – Sherry Felix – port4u
Swinging Bridges Vista Point
North Carolina
Clingman’s Dome
A new edit of this photograph. During the summer i am not spending many hour outdoors in the heat so I will be reposting some enhancements of old work. The original edit: https://port4u.net/2024/05/31/clingmans-dome/#jp-carousel-27108
North Through Virginia
We drove through a small part of North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, and up through part of Pennsylvania back to New York. There was fog early in the mornings. We spread the trip out over three days and stayed overnight at two places. The drive from Gatlinburg is 710 miles and if we drove straight would take over 11 hours. I took these with a Samsung Galaxy S22.
Nantahala Gorge GMS RR
The word “Nantahala” is a Cherokee word, meaning “Sun between them.” In some spots, the sun reaches the floors of the deep gorges of the forest only when it is high overhead at midday.
To give Marc most of a day off from driving I booked a day long trip on the Premium Open-Air Gondola with dining for the Nantahala Gorge Excursion | Great Smoky Mountains Railroad in NC. Visit their site Great Smoky Mountains Railroad for history and details. The tour guide was excellent and entertaining. The lunch was boring. And I underestimated the weather, so we were cold. Overall, it was great fun.
Farm Museum
The Mountain Farm Museum is a collection of farm buildings assembled from locations throughout the Great Smoky Mountains Park. Visitors can explore a log farmhouse, barn, apple house, springhouse, and a working blacksmith shop to get a sense of how families may have lived one hundred years ago. Most of the structures were built in the late 19th century and were moved here in the 1950s. The Davis House offers a rare chance to view a log house built from chestnut wood before the chestnut blight decimated the American Chestnut in our forests during the 1930s and early 1940s. The museum is adjacent to the Oconaluftee Visitor Center.
For Thursday Doors https://nofacilities.com/2024/06/06/carnegie-science-center/
Great Smokey Mts Nature
An small assortment of wildlife and plants that we found in the Blue Ridge Mountains and Gatlinburg.
Mingus Mill
Half a mile north of the Oconaluftee Visitor Center is Mingus Mill. Built in 1886, this historic gristmill uses a water-powered turbine instead of a water wheel to power all of the machinery in the building. Water flows down a millrace to the mill. There is a working cast iron turbine. When it is open a miller demonstrates the process of grinding corn into cornmeal. Mingus Mill is temporarily closed for preservation and rehabilitation work.
7 Facts About Mingus Mill – Grist Mill in the Smoky Mountains Also read the fascinating history of Charles Mingus – Wikipedia.
Clingman’s Dome
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.
