The Great Smoky Mountains Heritage Center is Taking Shape!

Construction has begun and already the finished structure can be seen in the bones of the timber frame building in Townsend, TN, that will house the new Great Smoky Mountains Heritage Center. The two story, 17,000 square-foot building sits on the main road through town, and the building will feature a center glass section enclosing a chandelier, that center director, Bob Patterson calls “dynamic”.

A Veterans Memorial Garden will provide green space outside the center and will include a flag and a circle of gray Tennessee marble from the Staley Marble Company in Rockford, TN. “People can purchase space on the marble and honor a loved one,” Patterson said.

The exterior will be faced with 12 inches of dry-stacked stone, topped with wood from old barns from the area. A porch will run the width of the building and green shingles will top the roof of the building.

Inside, the ground floor will be devoted to the public with a store containing local art and historical items. An auditorium will seat 100 people. The second floor will house a library, two classrooms, climate controlled storage space for artifacts and office space.

A Native American Gallery of 5000 square feet will feature items from the archeological dig that occurred during the 5-lane Parkway widening project down the center of Townsend. The items range from 5000 years old to artifacts made in the 1800s.

In another section of the Center, a 1500 square foot space will be devoted to horse drawn vehicles from the Richard Way collection that include buggies, a mail wagon, road equipment and a freight wagon.

Elsewhere on the 3 acres parcel of land, two pioneer cabins, a cantilevered barn and the original Montvale Station Stage Stop building will draw curious eyes. Yet another area on the site will hold a wheelwright shop, saw mill, grist mill and a Little River Lumber Company “set off” house (small, pre-constructed buildings that were delivered via flatbed trains and literally “set off” the trains about 4 feet from the rails), used by Lumber workers and their families.

The outbuildings will be used as part of the educational programs that are being designed by local educators from Maryville and Alcoa for kindergarteners to 8th graders. Classes will include churning butter, jack talks (storytelling0, rug braiding, birch bark canoes, corn husk dolls, pinch pots of clay, basket making, quilting, rag rugs, Appalachian music and dance.

We look forward to visiting the Great Smoky Mountains Heritage Center when it opens this fall in the Smoky Mountains.