About Smokemont Baptist Church
At the edge of Smokemont Campground, where the Bradley Fork meets the Oconaluftee, stands a white frame church that outlasted the community around it. The Smokemont Baptist Church is easy to miss from the road, and the campground is the reason most people pass it.
The community
Smokemont began as a lumber town in the early 1900s, when a timber company cleared the surrounding forest and built a mill. Families who worked the mills and camps needed a place of worship, and the Baptists built this church. When the park came, the town was dismantled, and the church remained. It is a small, plain building with a gable roof and a front door, white boards and a modest steeple.
Visiting
- Where: near Smokemont Campground, on Newfound Gap Road about 3 miles north of the Oconaluftee Visitor Center on the North Carolina side.
- Access: viewed from outside; read the signs for any open hours.
- Time to allow: 10 to 15 minutes.
- Parking: the campground area has pull-offs. A parking tag is required for stops over 15 minutes.
- Facilities: restrooms at the campground; see the Smokemont Campground page.
Context
Smokemont is also the trailhead for the Bradley Fork and Smokemont Loop trails. Some Helene-damaged trails in the Oconaluftee area are listed as closed, so check the park conditions page. The Mountain Farm Museum and Oconaluftee Visitor Center are farther down the road toward Cherokee, and the Smokemont Overlook is a short drive up the mountain.
In late October the campground is quiet and the church stands in a mix of bare trees and fallen leaves, which makes a good photo on a gray morning.
Good to know
- Do I need a parking tag?
- A Park It Forward parking tag ($5 a day, $15 a week or $40 a year) is required for any vehicle parked more than 15 minutes inside Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Entry is free, and federal passes such as America the Beautiful do not replace the tag.
