Displaying items by tag: oconaluftee

Public land in the Cumberland region includes Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area, seen here from the Yahoo Falls Trail Overlook. Yaeger Rich via National Park Service

Celebrate our common natural and national heritage this weekend

ONEIDA — Get outdoors and take part in the celebration of National Public Lands Day with Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area on Sept.27.  All  backcountry camping permits are half off for this date.

Elsewhere, Great Smoky Mountains National Park offers several volunteer opportunities and is suspending fees for the day. A Leave-No-Trace popup educational exhibit is planned for 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Sugarlands Visitor Center.

Enjoy a night under the stars in the backcountry of Big South Fork NRRA by obtaining a backcountry camping permit in person at one of our contact stations or online. These permits are good for a stay of up to 14  days.  

National Public Lands Day is the nation’s largest, single-day volunteer event in which federal  agencies as well as other groups partner together to maintain and care for the environment.

Share your experience on social media with the hashtag #NPSVolunteer, #FindYourPark and #NPLD.

CHEROKEE — Great Smoky Mountains National Park will host a free youth fishing clinic and an Old Time Music Jam at the Oconaluftee Visitor Center on Saturday, October 21, 2023. Both events are free and open to the public.

In collaboration with the International Game Fish Association, the park will hold the fishing clinic from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Try your hand casting a line for local trout and earn your Junior Ranger Angler badge. Learn about fish conservation and ethical angling practices at fun, interactive stations. All fishing equipment will be provided. The first 25 families will receive a free fishing pole to keep! A valid Tennessee or North Carolina fishing license is required for participants 16 or older. 

Charles Mingus, the descendant of slaves from the Smokies, is shown chomping a cigar and playing bass at the U.S. Bicentennial celebration in Lower Manhattan, July 4, 1976.  Tom Marcello 

Smokies African American studies trace a great musician with roots in Oconaluftee 

GATLINBURG ­— Black history, let alone jazz history, isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when most people think about the Smokies.

But famed jazz musician Charles Mingus Jr.’s family has roots in what is now Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

At the recent virtual Discover Life in America Colloquium, previously reported on by Hellbender Press, Appalachian Highlands Science Education Coordinator Antoine Fletcher was the sole presenter on social sciences. He went into the Mingus family history and Black history in the Southern Appalachian region.

Fletcher said the Mingus story derives from the African American Experiences in the Smokies Project, which he described as “a project that is focusing on the untold stories of African Americans in the park and the Southern Appalachian region.”

“There’s a huge story to tell,” he said of his research. “There are stories of the human vestiges that we have from 900-plus years.”