News

Commission Tours Townsend

From Nieya Wallace Murray, Assistant to the Executive Director –

The Commission’s fall quarterly meeting was held September 19 in Townsend, a town of just 350 in the heart of the Smoky Mountains and home to Commissioner Hank Dye. The Commissioners and staff had an opportunity to explore Townsend arts and culture while visiting and we are extremely grateful to those who welcomed us and showed us around.

Susan Cooper, Joe Kilgore, Kathy Dittmaierat and Steve Bailey at the Townsend Arts Guild

Our first stop was to the Townsend Arts Guild. The mission of the Guild is to connect fine arts and fine crafts and the people of East Tennessee through education of youth and adults, professional development of local artisans, and community development. They work to promote an active interest in the arts through exhibits, demonstrations, lectures, and education as well as raising standards of professional performance among its working artisans. We enjoyed looking at the wonderful work on exhibit and chatting with local artists about their mediums. Thank you to Susan Cooper and Kathy Dittmaier for hosting us.

Next stop was to the Great Smoky Mountains Heritage Center, who also hosted the quarterly meeting. The Center features gallery exhibits, educational programs, demonstrations and festivals to guide

Commission Hank Dye introduces Bob Patterson and Beth Sutton at the Heritage Center.

visitors on a historic journey through time, visiting the diverse cultures of Townsend and Tuckaleechee Cove. The mission of the Great Smoky Mountain Heritage Center is to preserve, protect, and promote the unique history and rich culture of the residents and Native Americans who inhabited the East Tennessee Mountain communities that were incorporated into the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and its surroundings. We were given a guided tour of the Native Americans of East Tennessee exhibit, the Transportation Station exhibit and the Historic Village exhibit. We would like to thank Executive Director Bob Patterson, Curator of Education Beth Sutton and all of the staff for such a warm welcome. A special shout out to Logan Hull for helping coordinate our meeting, setting up the meeting room and managing our audio/visual needs.

Last stop on our tour was to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park Collections Preservation Center, which houses cultural-related museum collections for Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The Center keeps and protects the Park’s archives such as genealogical information, historic photographs, park management reports and maps-information pertaining to the history of the Park and the people who have called the Park area home. Additional materials stored in the center include archeological artifacts, textiles, furnishings, and other historic items relating to the park’s history. A big thank you to Mike Aday and Baird Todd who introduced us to the work they do and showed us a portion of the huge collection they maintain.

Parks Archivist Mike Day with Commissioner Mary Johnson
Parks Curator Baird Todd

Photos by Bradley Hanson.