Supporting Great Smoky Mountains
National Park since 1953

Photo courtesy of Paul Driessche

The latest from Smokies Live.

After baffling the specialists for its stubborn nonconformity to ID keys, this fly was identified as Lepidodexia hirculus, a species previously reported only in Texas, with help from the worldwide community of fly specialists. Photo provided by Will Kuhn/DLiA.

Fly specialists converge to name hundreds of Smokies specimens

Two decades ago, thousands of flies, bugs, and beetles met their end in insect traps set up at 11 sites around Great Smoky Mountains National Park, part of a still-young effort to catalogue every species found within the park’s 800 square miles. From there, the insects were taken to the

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Great Smokies

Welcome Center

Hours of Operation

(subject to change)

Open year round (closed December 25)


January - February

Open Daily 9:00 am - 4:30 pm

March - November

Open Daily 9:00 am - 5:00 pm
December

Open Daily 9:00 am - 4:30 pm

The Great Smokies Welcome Center is located on U.S. 321 in Townsend, TN, 2 miles from the west entrance to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Visitors can get information about things to see and do in and around the national park and shop from a wide selection of books, gifts, and other Smokies merchandise. Daily, weekly, and annual parking tags for the national park are also available.

Physical Address

7929 E. Lamar Alexander Parkway Townsend TN 37882

Contact

865.436.7318 Ext 320