This article appeared in the Volume 5, Issue 1 Spring/Summer 2025 issue of the Appalachian Curator. Click here to view a PDF of the full issue.
Michael Aday, Librarian-Archivist at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park Collections Preservation Center, recently published Letters from the Smokies, a carefully culled selection of 19 documents from the Collection Preservation Center’s extensive holdings. Written with Denise Aday, the 160-page book was published by the Great Smoky Mountains Association. The book recently received a Project Excellence Award from the East Tennessee Historical Society.
Aday selected documents in the hope that “these letters and their stories will give readers a deeper appreciation of the Smokies.” There’s an 1879 tax license issued to a “retailer of spirits,” a telegram describing the sale of 78,000 acres of land for what would become the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, a letter describing Jewell Manor’s grief hearing of then untimely death of her cousin, who worked with the Civilian Conservation Corps. Many other tales describe the lives and experiences of people who lived in Smokies.
“I wrote this book with more than one reader in mind,” Aday said. “I think the first-time visitor to the Smokies who wants to know more about the history of the park and the region will find some great stories to engage them, while the seasoned visitor will hopefully learn some things they didn’t know before.”
The book is available in the park’s visitor center bookstores and online from the Great Smoky Mountains Association: Smokiesinformation.org
