America’s Favorite National Park Just Got Bigger—Here’s What’s Being Added

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park, already the most visited in the country, is expanding by more than 600 acres thanks to a land transfer set to close this June. The Foothills Land Conservancy (FLC) will purchase the so-called “Oliver Tract” on June 8, then hand it over to the National Park Service for permanent protection.

The property includes forest, ridgelines, and wildlife habitat that once belonged to John Oliver, one of the area’s first permanent settlers. His cabin is among the historic structures preserved in Cades Cove. This addition is the largest single increase to the park’s official acreage since 2009, when 627 acres were added. It’s roughly the size of the historic properties in the Cades Cove loop.

“This is exactly the kind of project Foothills Land Conservancy was created to do,” said Executive Director Mark Stevans. “The Smokies are part of the identity of East Tennessee. Protecting land of this scale, in a location this important, is rare. Opportunities like this do not come around often.”

Great Smoky Mountains National Park Superintendent Charles Sellars praised the effort: “We appreciate Foothills Land Conservancy’s work to protect this landscape for future generations, preserving its rich cultural history as well as the extraordinary biological diversity that makes this area so unique.”

Stevans added, “This is legacy work. One day, people will hike these ridges, experience these forests and never realize how close this land came to becoming something else. That’s the goal. That’s conservation at its best.”

The park already spans more than 522,000 acres across North Carolina and Tennessee. The FLC routinely works with landowners to establish conservation easements that prevent development while allowing certain reserved rights.