Great Smoky Mountains Heritage Center facts for kids
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| Established | 2006 |
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| Location | 123 Cromwell Drive, Townsend, Tennessee, United States |
The Great Smoky Mountains Heritage Center is a special museum in Townsend, Tennessee. It's located right near the entrance to the amazing Great Smoky Mountains National Park. This museum works hard to save and share the history and culture of the people who have lived in the Great Smoky Mountains for a long time. This includes both the Native American tribes and the early settlers and families from the Appalachian mountains. The center first started being planned in the early 2000s and officially opened its doors in February 2006.
The museum has a huge space, with over 17,000 square feet of exhibits both inside and outside. Outside, you can explore several old buildings brought from around the area. These include a cozy log cabin, two unique cantilever barns, an old AME Zion chapel, and a special "setoff" house from a logging town. There's also a sawmill and even a still that a local person once used to make moonshine (an old type of homemade alcohol). Inside, the museum shows off tools, furniture, and musical instruments used in the mountains. It also has a large collection of Cherokee and other Native American items, some of which are super old, dating back to the Archaic period (around 8000–2000 B.C.).
Museum History
The idea for the Great Smoky Mountains Heritage Center came from a local history lover named Richard Way in the early 2000s. Bob Patterson and other groups in Townsend helped get things started. The Great Smoky Mountains Heritage Center Guild held events in 2004 and 2005 to raise money for the new museum. Construction began in the summer of 2004, and the center officially opened on February 12, 2006.
When it first opened, the museum showed off many interesting things. There were Cherokee artifacts and masks representing the seven Cherokee clans. You could also see tools and vehicles used by early pioneers and mountain people. One exhibit focused on mountain medicine, showing bags and equipment used by Dr. Granville Dexter LeQuire, a doctor who worked in the rural areas in the early 1900s. The "Tennessee on the Move" gallery even had a small car with a video screen. It made visitors feel like they were driving on a mountain road in 1925! Outside, the Cardwell Cabin, an old log cabin from the 1890s, was given to the museum by Wilma Maples, a kind supporter from Gatlinburg.
In 2008, a moonshine still built by Charlie Williams (who lived from 1908 to 1992) was given to the museum by his son, Mike. In 2010, the Wilders Cemetery Association donated the 100-year-old meeting house of the Wilders Chapel AME Zion Church. This church had stood in Maryville since 1910.
The museum was very popular, with over 75,000 visitors in its first three years. In 2010, the center announced plans to build a new building to hold even more displays and items. In 2011, the Tennessee Association of Museums gave the center three special Awards of Excellence for its great work.
What You Can See
The Great Smoky Mountains Heritage Center has two indoor galleries: the main gallery and the transportation gallery. Half of the main gallery is all about the history of Native Americans in the region. The other half focuses on the pioneer and mountain people. The transportation gallery shows how people traveled in the area over time, from wagons to trains and cars. The center also has a 100-seat auditorium and a large 500-seat outdoor amphitheater for events.
The outdoor area has almost a dozen buildings from around the region. Many of these buildings are decorated with furniture, tools, and other items from their time period. For example, the Montvale Station shows what a stagecoach stop looked like at the Montvale Springs resort in the late 1800s. The center has two cantilever barns, which were common on farms in East Tennessee. There's also a smokehouse and a granary, which were important buildings on old farms. The "setoff" house is a type of home often found in logging towns from the late 1800s, like nearby Tremont and Elkmont.
The Native American section of the main gallery has items from different time periods. These include the Archaic (8000–2000 B.C.), Woodland (1000 B.C. – 1000 A.D.), and Mississippian (1000–1600 A.D.) periods. You can also see items from the historic Cherokee period. Many of these items were found during the Townsend Archaeological Project, which took place nearby from 1999 to 2001. The pioneer gallery shows items from the late 1800s and early 1900s that were used in rural areas. These include a bedroom set, tools like a horseshoeing box, and even a banjo once played by someone from Cades Cove.
The Proffitt's Gallery, at the end of the main gallery, hosts special temporary exhibits. In the past, these have included displays about items sold by the Alcoa-based department store, Proffitt's. There was also a collection of Civil War items, an exhibit of old toys, and a display honoring Great Smoky Mountains National Park supporters like Horace Kephart and Harvey Broome.
Historical Buildings You Can See
The Great Smoky Mountains Heritage Center has many interesting old buildings that have been moved to the museum grounds. Here are some of them:
- Cardwell Cabin: This log cabin was built between 1892 and 1895 in Sevier County, Tennessee. It was owned by James Andrew Cardwell.
- Smokehouse: This building was used to smoke and preserve meat.
- Cantilever Barn: This is a special type of barn often seen in East Tennessee.
- Williams Moonshine Still: This still was built around 1960 by Charlie Williams in Townsend, Tennessee.
- Wilders Chapel A.M.E Zion Church: This church was built in 1910 in Maryville, Tennessee.
- Montvale Station: This building represents a stagecoach stop that used to be at Montvale Springs, Tennessee.
- Long Granary: This granary, built in the 1890s, came from Loudon County, Tennessee and was owned by Isaac Long.
- Long Cantilever Barn: Another cantilever barn, built around 1886, also from Loudon County, Tennessee and owned by Isaac Long.
- Sawmill: This sawmill, from around 1885, shows how wood was cut.
- Setoff House: This type of house was common in logging towns.
Images for kids
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The Cardwell Cabin, built in the 1890s.
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Inside the smokehouse.
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The moonshine still used by Charlie Williams.
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The Wilders Chapel A.M.E Zion Church.
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The Long family granary.
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The Long cantilever barn.
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A sawmill with a log.
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The "setoff" house.
See also
