Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Great Smoky Mountains National Park is a national park in the eastern United States, spanning the states of Tennessee and North Carolina. It got the name “Smoky” because a thin mist always rises over the mountains like smoke, and it is well known as the most visited national park in the United States.

The reverse of the coin depicts a log cabin nestled in the forest with a hawk flying above it. The humble cabin set among the trees and the single bird cutting across the sky come together to capture the atmosphere of this mountain, where human life and nature dwell side by side.

The log cabin recalls the traces of people who long ago settled and lived on these mountain slopes. Even today old log cabins remain within the park, telling the stories of those who lived leaning on nature in the rugged mountains. The hawk flying above shows the wild vitality still alive in this forest.

This park was approved for establishment as a national park on May 22, 1926. Because it is a place preserved as a park after long effort on land where people were already living, it holds not only nature but also human history.

This coin in the America the Beautiful series shows, in a single scene, how nature and human life have come together in the misty mountains.