Smokies visitor numbers in Townsend tracking closer to 2024 than 2025 as overall park visits rise
TOWNSEND – Visitor traffic through Townsend has slipped thus far this year, but experts say the decline may say more about an unusually strong 2025 than a weakening local tourism market. Data collected by the National Park Service shows about 860,000 visits to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park through Townsend thus far in 2026, […]
RT Lodge owners commit $1.5 million to Maryville College conservation institute
MARYVILLE — David and Annie Haslam Colquitt, the family that owns RT Lodge, have committed $1.5 million to Maryville College’s campaign to build the Alexander Institute for Conservation Leadership and the Sciences, the college announced this week. The gift will support the Natalie Leach Haslam Center for Environmental Education, a planned public-facing component of the […]