What is it that’s “new-found” about Newfound Gap? Well, for most of history Indian Gap Road served as the route over the Smokies. It was long understood that Indian Gap was the lowest pass over the mountains, but in 1872 surveyor Arnold Guyot determined that there was an lower gap a mile and a half to the east. This “new-found” gap at elevation 5048 feet is forever known as Newfound Gap. Finally in 1932 a new road was completed over the Smoky Mountains from North Carolina to Tennessee, passing through the new route.
Both photos on this page were taken by Jim Thompson. Above shows the Newfound Gap parking area sometime around 1940, and the photo below shows President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicating the Great Smoky Mountains National Park on Sept. 2, 1940.
All photos used with permission of C.M. McClung Historical Collection, Knox County Public Library