Great Smoky Mountains National Park dedication ceremony

Great Smoky Mountains National Park dedication ceremony

Crowds

Dedication to public use

Great Smoky Mountains National Park (N.C. and Tenn.)

Mountains

Gathering at Newfound Gap for the dedication of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt dedicated the Park on Labor Day, September 2, 1940, to a crowd of 10,000. The photographer, “Doc” Kelly Bennett (1890-1974), was a prominent pharmacist in Swain County, NC. Owner of the Bryson City Drug Company, Bennett served as alderman and mayor of Bryson City, on the Swain County Board of Education, as well as several terms as NC State Senator and NC State Representative. He participated in numerous other initiatives and organizations. Known as the “Apostle of the Smokies,” Bennett was an instrumental figure in the movement to create the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. He was also an avid photographer, skillfully documenting a wide variety of people, places, and events in Swain County and the surrounding area.

Bennett, Kelly, 1890-1974

Kelly Bennett Collection

1940-09-02

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/CNE/1.0/

jpg

negatives (photographs)

eng

StillImage

64550

https://southernappalachiandigitalcollections.org/object/64550

Great Smoky Mountains National Park (N.C. and Tenn.)

Newfound Gap (N.C. and Tenn.)

Sevier County (Tenn.)

Swain County (N.C.)

3.5" x 5.75"(dimension)

Picturing Appalachia