Did you notice that? 698 pages! Yes, this is an amazing book. It is just beautiful. A gorgeous color photograph and a map and commentary introduces each of the eight former neighborhoods in North Carolina now within the Park Boundary and the ten former Tennessee neighborhoods. Overall there are 67 cemeteries on the North Carolina side of the Park and 86 on the Tennessee side. For each cemetery this book tells when it was opened, what its GPS coordinates are, how many graves there are and what the family names are. And then it features pictures of some of the graves and then has a chart which gives all of the names of the buried, their birth and death dates, and comments on most of the graves. The final section enumerates the 2,005 graves and 649 monuments from the 39 cemeteries inundated by Fontana Lake. Some of these graves were relocated before the dam was completed and some remained where they were buried at the request of descendents. This book is an invaluable primary source for historians and a meaningful and beautiful keepsake for the descendents of all those displaced by the establishment of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, an International Biosphere Reserve - true martyrs for the cause of environmental protection, research, and enjoyment. The author, Gail Palmer, is a descendent of residents of the Cades Cove neighborhood now within the Park Boundary. A native of Blount County, she lives in Townsend, Tennessee, near the Park. This is her third book about the Smokies along with two DVDs. She holds a masters in journalism and a doctorate in cultural studies.
Gatlinburg, Tennessee: Great Smoky Mountains Association, 2017. 698 pages with an Index, Reference Sources and many color photographs. Trade paperback