{Great Smoky Mountains National Park originally posted by @greatsmokynps} The story told at Great Smokey Mountains National Park is one of removal, but it isn’t Cherokee removal, it is the removal of white settlers who were displaced in the creation of the park. Barely mentioned is how these settlers got there in the first place as a result of the Indian Removal Act that forced most of the Cherokee off of there land to Oklahoma on the infamous Trail of Tears. Like much “public” land across the country, Great Smoky Mountains National Park was created out of violent and coercive colonial action. Only a single line on the website acknowledges that Cherokee people still live in the area, having resisted hundreds of years of attempted removal and assimilation. Their reservation is open, so if you visit the national park, also visit the reservation and learn the indigenous story of the land. #publiclandisnativeland