Great Smoky Mountains Heritage Center

The Great Smoky Mountains Heritage Center is a museum that features the cultural heritage of the Smoky Mountains and East Tennessee. You will see period buildings, exhibitions, live demonstrations, and activities. There are also opportunities to participate in educational programs. There are scheduled music performances and music festivals throughout the year, along with other special events.

heritage center

The Main Gallery features Native Americans of East Tennessee and East Tennessee Mountain Culture.

The Native American exhibit focuses on pre-historic life in Tuckaleechee Cove, including pottery, stone tools, and other artifacts found in one of the largest archaeological dig projects in Tennessee history.

The East Tennessee Mountain Culture exhibit features a log cabin made of hand-hewn logs. You will learn about one-room schoolhouses and grist mills and about the resilience and ingenuity of pioneer people of the Smokey Mountains.

The Transportation Gallery features Tennessee on the Move. From mules to Model T’s find out about the hardships and joys many people experienced in traveling to East Tennessee before modern highways and conveniences.

There are 13 historic buildings at the Museum that have been furnished according to the period in which they were built. You will see a wheelwright shop, a set-off house, cantilever barns, log cabins, a smokehouse, and an outhouse. Items in several of these buildings are touchable, making them the ultimate experiential classrooms. Village pathways are wheelchair accessible.
www.gsmheritagecenter.org