The idea was born as a result of planning for the National Park Service’s centennial celebration, which is this year. The 100 people named in the Smokies Life Magazine article, where the list was published, mirrors the 100 years the Park Service has been in business. 

“We thought the list of Smokies’ heroes would be a good springboard for discussions about the significance of the park and the people who gave their time, energy and money to make it happen,” said Steve Kemp, editor of magazine. 

This list’s honorees range from contemporary people like Bryson City historian and naturalist George Ellison, who is also a columnist for The Smoky Mountain News, to early champions of the yet-to-be-formed park like Horace Kephart. It goes beyond the names to include stories, such as that of Charlie Conner, who was born near the Oconaluftee River in 1891 and assisted with early surveys of park boundaries. 

“He accompanied Horace Kephart on many hikes, famously the one in which they discovered part of a mountain denuded by a storm,” the piece reads. “The rocky protrusion was compared to the guide’s gnarled foot, resulting in the now-famous landmark, Charlies Bunion.”

It’s likely that future years will see additions to the park’s top-tier of protectors. 

“It took thousands and thousands of people to get this place protected as a national park in the 1920s and 1930s, and it takes ten times that many to keep them pristine,” Kemp wrote. 

The magazine is available at the online store at www.smokiesinformation.org.