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A black and white photo of an artist creating posters
mm

‘Ranger of the Lost Art’ and the search for a vanished Smokies poster

The iconic adage “a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma” coined in 1939 by Winston Churchill, the famous British statesman, has been used to describe all sorts of mysteries over the years. In fact, there’s no shortage of mysteries in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, where long-standing stories of vanished persons or the locations of old cemeteries persist. One unsolved Smokies mystery involves

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Arthur "Butch" McDade December 28, 2025
The front page of the Knoxville Sentinel from January 15, 1919.
Anne Bridges

Mountain moonshine in the era of Prohibition

On January 15, 1919, the Knoxville Sentinel’s headline read “Nation To Be Voted Dry Within Twenty-Four Hours.” Dry was the shorthand term for a ban on alcohol, commonly referred to as Prohibition. For Prohibition to become law, three-quarters of the states first had to pass the 18th Amendment to the Constitution. That threshold was indeed reached the next day. The amendment provided that, one year

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Anne Bridges December 21, 2025
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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