More than 6,600 separate tracts of land, purchased by the citizens of Tennessee and North Carolina and given to the people of the United States in 1934, comprise the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The history of the Great Smokies is, therefore, a story of people and their home. This volume presents historical vignettes of the groups who founded the region: the Cherokees who built a way of life in harmony with nature; the pioneers who cleared the land of trees and stones to cultivate crops; the trailblazers who constructed roads that challenged rough terrain and mountain ranges; the mountaineers who developed proud individualism and fierce clan loyalties; the loggers who brought manpower, sophisticated equipment, railroads, and fires. Among the many individuals featured are: Sequoyah (known to whites as George Gist), developer of the Cherokee alphabet; Yonahguskah, counselor chief of the Cherokees; Arnold Gryot, Swiss geographer and mapper of the Smokies; Edward Clarence Conner, settler and diarist; Horace Kephart, initiator of the movement for a national park; and Major J. Ross Eakin, first park superintendent. Detailed are distinctive regional features: rail fences, sourwood, ginseng, rifle making, spinning and weaving, mountain music, folk beliefs, handicrafts, and cemeteries. Included are historic photographs, many taken in the 1930's, from the files of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. (NEC)