Cades Cove Visitor Center reopens

The Great Smoky Mountains Association is ensuring that the Cades Cove Visitor Center, which is located halfway around Loop Road near Townsend, Tennessee, has reopened to visitors. The Great Smoky Mountains Association is providing staffing for the visitor center, where park information and educational products and services can be found. Restroom facilities are also available.

In a statement, Great Smoky Mountains Association said staffers will be available to assist visitors at four of the six locations that would normally be available. Partnerships with the gateway communities in Gatlinburg and Townsend, Tennessee, and Bryson City, North Carolina, have made it possible to continue to offer vital information and services during the government shutdown.

The park’s primary visitor centers at Sugarlands and Oconaluftee are closed, as are the restrooms located adjacent to each.

In an effort to address troubling sanitation concerns occurring at Newfound Gap and in Cades Cove, the restrooms in these areas are currently being maintained. However, it is unclear how long funding will remain available for this effort.