page_title: Oconaluftee (Great Smoky Mountains)
section_title: Present day
hierarchical_section_title: Oconaluftee (Great Smoky Mountains) / Present day
caption_attribution_description: Bradley Fork at the Smokemont Campground in the Great Smoky Mountains of North Carolina. This stream, part of the Oconaluftee River watershed, flows down its source some 2,000 feet (609 meters) above Smokemont near the crest of the Central Smokies. The stream is named for Isaac Bradley (1772-1855) or one of his descendants.
context_page_description: Oconaluftee is a river valley in the Great Smoky Mountains of North Carolina, located in the Southeastern United States. Formerly the site of a Cherokee village and Appalachian community, the valley's bottomland is now home to the main entrance to the North Carolina side of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
  The Oconaluftee area parallels the Oconaluftee River as its basin gradually broadens from Smokemont in the north to the southern tip of the Qualla Boundary. The Qualla Boundary, commonly known as Cherokee, North Carolina, comprises the bulk of a federal trust that acts a reservation for the Eastern Band of the Cherokee. The national park lands in Oconaluftee are home to the Oconaluftee Visitor Center, Mingus Mill, and the Mountain Farm Museum. Much of the area is part of the Oconaluftee Archaeological District, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
context_section_description: Along with the historic sites in the vicinity of the Oconaluftee Visitor Center, the park service maintains a large campground at the former logging camp of Smokemont. The small mountain hamlet of Tow String is sandwiched between the national park and Qualla Boundary, just above Oconaluftee.  The southern terminus of the Blue Ridge Parkway is at the valley's southern tip, near the river's confluence with Raven Fork.
  A 20-mile (32 km) leg of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail connects Oconaluftee with the Appalachian Trail near the summit of Clingmans Dome.  The Bradley Fork Trail follows Bradley Fork north from Smokemont to the Cabin Flats area between Hughes Ridge and Richland Mountain.  From here, the Dry Sluice Gap Trail continues north to the crest of the Smokies, emerging near Charlies Bunion.
  In 1982, the Oconaluftee area was added to the National Register of Historic Places as the Oconaluftee Archaeological District.
caption: Bradley Fork at Smokemont
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