Great Smoky Mountains National Park Trivia
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97 free Great Smoky Mountains National Park trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Great Smoky Mountains National Park trivia quiz covers the most visited national park in the United States, straddling the Tennessee-North Carolina line along the crest of the Appalachians. Questions range across the peaks (Kuwohi, Mount Le Conte, Mount Guyot), Cades Cove, Newfound Gap, the Appalachian Trail, the waterfalls and the extraordinary biodiversity: 1,900 black bears, 30-odd salamander species, 1,500 flowering plants and the synchronous fireflies of Elkmont. There is plenty of history too: the Cherokee name for the range, the loggers who took two-thirds of the virgin forest, the Knoxville woman whose Yellowstone trip started the park movement, John D. Rockefeller Jr.'s $5 million, the families evicted from Cades Cove, Franklin Roosevelt's 1940 dedication and the 2016 wildfires. There are also a few practical questions on entrances, roads and the parking tag. Difficulty runs from easy to expert and is marked on every question, so it works for a car game on Newfound Gap Road or a serious park-nerd challenge. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia or National Park Service pages and each question carries its citation. If you enjoy it, try our US National Parks and Yellowstone quizzes next.
30 of 97 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Great Smoky Mountains National Park straddles the border between which two states?
Tennessee and North Carolina
Tennessee and North Carolina share the park almost evenly: the state line runs northeast to southwest along the crest, with Gatlinburg on the Tennessee side and Cherokee on the North Carolina side.
Q 02Among US national parks, the Great Smoky Mountains holds which record?
Most visited
Great Smoky Mountains is the most visited national park, drawing about 12 million visitors in 2024, more than double any other; no entrance fee and a day's drive from much of the eastern US help.
Q 03The park's highest peak officially got its Cherokee name back in which year?
2024
The US Board on Geographic Names approved Kuwohi, meaning mulberry place, in September 2024 after the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians petitioned and the Park Service backed the change.
Q 04The name Clingmans Dome honoured Thomas Clingman, who later became what?
A Confederate general
Thomas Clingman, a US senator when geographer Arnold Guyot named the peak for him in 1859, went on to serve as a Confederate brigadier general in the Civil War.
Q 05Measured from its base at Gatlinburg, Mount Le Conte rises about how many feet?
5,300
Mount Le Conte's summit is 6,593 feet and Gatlinburg sits near 1,300 feet, a rise of about 5,300 feet that makes it the tallest peak east of the Mississippi from base to summit.
Q 06How are supplies carried up to LeConte Lodge, which has no road access?
By llama pack trains and helicopter
Llama pack trains haul fresh supplies up the Trillium Gap Trail several times a week, and a helicopter airlifts the season's bulk goods each spring; llamas replaced horses in the 1980s.
Q 07Which Cherokee word for the range means place of blue smoke?
Shaconage
Shaconage, the Cherokee name for the range, means place of blue smoke; the haze is largely natural, from volatile compounds released by plants that scatter blue light.
Q 08How many of the world's nine salamander families live in the park known as the Salamander Capital of the World?
Five
Up to 31 species live in the park; the red-cheeked salamander is found nowhere else, and the hellbender can reach 29 inches long.
Q 09Roughly how many black bears live in the park?
1,900
The Park Service estimates about 1,900 black bears, roughly two per square mile; most adults weigh 100 to 300 pounds, though bears over 600 pounds have been documented.
Q 10Crowds gather near Elkmont in the Smokies each mid-June to watch which insect put on a natural light display?
Synchronous firefly
The synchronous firefly, Photinus carolinus, flashes in unison for about two weeks each late May to mid-June near Elkmont; waves of light and dark roll across the forest as thousands of males blink together.
Q 11What is the busiest spot in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, a cleared valley ringed by an 11-mile one-way loop road?
Cades Cove
Cades Cove's preserved cabins, barns and churches show old-time Appalachian life; bikes can be rented, and the loop is closed to cars on some mornings.
Q 12The park's busiest valley was named after which figure?
A Cherokee leader called Chief Kade
Abrams Creek in the cove was named for another chief, Abraham of Chilhowee; a theory that Kate, Abraham's wife, gave the cove its name has been discredited.
Q 13Who were the first permanent European settlers in the park's busiest valley, arriving in 1818?
Q 21What was the largest logging operation in the Smokies, working Elkmont and Tremont from 1901 to 1939?
Little River Lumber Company
The Little River Lumber Company cut some 560 million board feet between 1901 and 1939, hauling it out by rail and building the company towns of Townsend, Elkmont and Tremont; its boss later promoted Elkmont as a resort.
Q 22How many miles of the Appalachian Trail run through the park?
About 72
About 72 miles (71.6) of the Appalachian Trail cross the park along the crest and the Tennessee-North Carolina line, mostly above 5,000 feet, with 12 trail shelters along the way.
Q 23What is the tallest waterfall in the park, dropping 100 feet near the base of its second-highest peak?
Ramsey Cascades
John and Lucretia Oliver
John and Lucretia Oliver settled Cades Cove in 1818 and survived their first winter on dried pumpkin given to them by Cherokees; their 1820s cabin is the first stop on the loop road.
Q 14Where did Franklin D. Roosevelt formally dedicate the park in September 1940?
Newfound Gap
Roosevelt dedicated the park at Newfound Gap on 2 September 1940, speaking from the Rockefeller Memorial on the state line to a crowd of about 10,000.
Q 15How much did John D. Rockefeller Jr. donate in 1928 to rescue the land-buying campaign for the park?
$5 million
The Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial gave $5 million in 1928, roughly matching what the two states and private donors had raised, so buying out farms and timber companies could go ahead.
Q 16Which Knoxville woman first proposed a Smokies national park in 1923 after a trip to Yellowstone?
Anne May Davis
Anne May Davis, later a Tennessee state legislator, urged a Smokies park after seeing the western parks in 1923; her husband Willis P. Davis and Knoxville boosters founded the Great Smoky Mountains Conservation Association that year.
Q 17Which travel writer, author of Our Southern Highlanders, was a key champion of the park?
Horace Kephart
Horace Kephart, a former St. Louis librarian who reinvented himself in the Hazel Creek backwoods, wrote Our Southern Highlanders (1913) and Camping and Woodcraft; Mount Kephart carries his name.
Q 18In which year did Congress officially establish Great Smoky Mountains National Park?
1934
Congress formally established the park on 15 June 1934; Coolidge's 1926 act had only authorised it once the land was bought from thousands of farmers and timber firms, and FDR dedicated it in 1940.
Q 19The Smokies were the first national park to have what?
Land bought partly with federal money
It was the first national park whose land was bought partly with federal money: after state, citizen and Rockefeller funds ran short, the Roosevelt administration put in about $1.5 million in 1933 to finish the purchases.
Q 20Roughly what fraction of the Smokies' virgin forest had loggers removed by the 1930s?
Two-thirds
Timber companies had cut about two-thirds of the Smokies' virgin forest by the time the park was created; even so, 20 to 25 percent of today's park is old growth, one of the largest such blocks in eastern North America.
Rainbow Falls, at 80 feet, is the tallest single-drop fall; the park has more than 100 notable waterfalls in all.
Q 24Which US highway crosses the park between Gatlinburg and Cherokee via Newfound Gap?
US 441
US 441, the Newfound Gap Road, crosses the crest at Newfound Gap (about 5,046 feet), the park's lowest drivable pass, midway between Gatlinburg and Cherokee; snow often closes it in winter.
Q 25A section of US 129 along the park's western edge is nicknamed what for its extreme curves?
Tail of the Dragon
The Tail of the Dragon packs 318 curves into 11 miles of US 129 at Deals Gap on the park's western edge, a magnet for motorcyclists and sports-car drivers.
Q 26Which Tennessee county, home to Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, anchors tourism around the park?
Sevier
Sevier County holds Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge and Sevierville, plus Dollywood, Ober Gatlinburg and Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies; park visitors spend well over $1 billion a year in its gateway towns.
Q 27Which Pigeon Forge theme park draws about three million visitors a year?
Dollywood
Dollywood, co-owned by Dolly Parton since 1986, draws about three million visitors a year; it opened as Rebel Railroad in 1961 and traded as Silver Dollar City Tennessee before her partnership.
Q 28The park borders the Qualla Boundary, home to which federally recognized tribe?
Eastern Band of Cherokee
The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians descend from Cherokee who stayed behind during the 1838 removal, many with the help of trader William Holland Thomas, who bought the Qualla Boundary land on their behalf.
Q 29What was the only known permanent Cherokee village inside today's park boundaries?
Oconaluftee
Oconaluftee, along the river of the same name near today's visitor center, was the only known permanent Cherokee village inside the park; most Cherokee towns lay in the valleys on the range's fringes.
Q 30Thomas' Legion occupied the town at the Smokies' north entrance to protect mines of what?
Saltpeter
Thomas' Legion, largely Cherokee soldiers, held Gatlinburg in 1863 to guard the saltpeter mined at Alum Cave for Confederate gunpowder; most Tennessee-side communities were Unionist while those over the crest leaned Confederate.