Steve Kemp

Picture of Steve Kemp
Steve Kemp worked as a seasonal ranger in multiple national parks and spent 30 years as a writer, editor, and publisher with Great Smoky Mountains Association, now Smokies Life. He is a frequent contributor to Smokies Life Journal and is the author of several books, most recently An Exaltation of Parks: John D. Rockefeller Jr.'s Crusade to Save America's Wonderlands.

Great Smokies

Welcome Center

Hours of Operation

(subject to change)

Open year round (closed December 25)


January - February

Open Daily 9:00 am - 4:30 pm

March - November

Open Daily 9:00 am - 5:00 pm
December

Open Daily 9:00 am - 4:30 pm

The Great Smokies Welcome Center is located on U.S. 321 in Townsend, TN, 2 miles from the west entrance to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Visitors can get information about things to see and do in and around the national park and shop from a wide selection of books, gifts, and other Smokies merchandise. Daily, weekly, and annual parking tags for the national park are also available.

Physical Address

7929 E. Lamar Alexander Parkway Townsend TN 37882

Contact

865.436.7318 Ext 320