Newfound Gap
Rockefeller Memorial at Newfound Gap
Elevation	5,048 ft (1,539 m)[1]
Traversed by	Newfound Gap Road Appalachian Trail
Location	North Carolina Tennessee United States
Range	Great Smoky Mountains
Coordinates	35°36′40″N 83°25′30″W / 35.6112063°N 83.4248814°W / 35.6112063; -83.4248814
Topo map	USGS Clingmans Dome
Newfound Gap Road Route information Maintained by NPS Length 31.6 mi[2] (50.9 km) Major junctions South end US 441 in Cherokee North end US 441 in Gatlinburg Location Country United States States North Carolina, Tennessee Counties Swain, NC; Sevier, TN Highway system Scenic Byways National National Forest BLM NPS Tennessee State Routes Interstate US State North Carolina Highway System Interstate US State Scenic

Newfound Gap (el. 5,048 feet (1,539 m)) is a mountain pass located near the center of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park of the southern Appalachian Mountains in the United States. Situated along the border of Tennessee and North Carolina, the state line crosses the gap, as does Newfound Gap Road (which overlaps U.S. Route 441 through the park and ends at the park's boundaries near Gatlinburg, Tennessee, and Cherokee, North Carolina). The Appalachian Trail also traverses the gap, as do a few other hiking trails.

Newfound Gap is home to the Rockefeller Memorial, a popular destination within the national park and the site from where President Franklin D. Roosevelt formally dedicated the park on September 2, 1940.^[3] According to the National Weather Service, Newfound Gap has around 19 snowy days per year. From 1991 to 2005, annual snowfall ranged from 43.5 inches (110 cm) to 106 inches (270 cm).^[4]

History

Prior to the development of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Newfound Gap was an undiscovered pass two miles east of what was long thought to be the lowest mountain pass over the Great Smoky Mountains, Indian Gap.^[5] Indian Gap Road, an unpaved, arduous trail frequented by traders, farmers, and even by the Confederate Army during the American Civil War, was completed in 1839 and named after the old Cherokee Indian trail that the road paralleled. Newfound Gap was not recognized as the lowest gap over the mountains until 1872, when Arnold Guyot measured many of the mountains in the area and determined the "Newfound Gap" to be a lower, more accessible mountain pass.

Climate

Newfound Gap Road

With the development of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park came the construction of a highway from Tennessee to North Carolina, completed in 1932—this time crossing Newfound Gap, replacing the defunct Indian Gap Road. North of the park, it is known as Great Smoky Mountains Parkway. The Gatlinburg Bypass, originally intended to be a part of the Foothills Parkway, extends out from the park to connect Newfound Gap Road south of town to the parkway north of town.

Despite its heavy winter snows, the pass is kept open all year, except during and just after winter storms. When closed, the snow route is a long detour around the east-northeast end of the park, using U.S. 321 and Interstate 40. The Tennessee side typically has heavier snow because of its north and northwestern exposure. Even when valley roads are clear and there is little snow in Gatlinburg (and almost none in Cherokee), Newfound Gap may have far deeper snow and will be closed for several hours after significant snowfall ends. Additionally, being in a national park, Newfound Gap Road is only treated by snowplows and a gravel-sand mix, as no chemicals can be used for snow removal due to their harm to the environment.

The road was closed for days after the Great Blizzard of 1993, when 5 feet (1.5 m) of snow fell, and snowdrifts piled up to twice that.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Newfound Gap.

• Great Smoky Mountains National Park
• Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) No. TN-35-A, "Great Smoky Mountains National Park Roads & Bridges, Newfound Gap Road, Gatlinburg, Sevier County, TN", 38 photos, 2 color transparencies, 1 measured drawing, 88 data pages, 3 photo caption pages