On this day in 1937 it was announced that the new Smoky Mountains National Park broke a record for visitors during the month of July, with 132,539 people entering the park in 38,280 vehicles. Folks from 47 states and Canada came to Smokies that month, with July 4th being the most visited day ever: 14,109 people.
The current year had seen 488,818 visitors from October 1 to August 1.
While that sounds like a lot, and it is, compare those numbers with those from 2021: 14,100,000 from all over the world, which is the current record.
By the way, Gatlinburg itself had more visitors from January to May of last year than the entire park did in 1937, with nearly 500,000 visitors in those five months alone.
