page_title: Wears Valley, Tennessee
section_title: The national park
hierarchical_section_title: Wears Valley, Tennessee / History / The national park
caption_attribution_description: The Wear Cove entrance to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park on Lyon Springs Road, between Wears Valley, Tennessee and the Metcalfe Bottoms Campground, near Elkmont.
context_page_description: Wears Valley is an unincorporated community in Sevier County, Tennessee, treated by the U.S. Census Bureau as a census county division. As of the 2000 Census, the population of Wears Valley was 6,486.
  Wears Valley is situated in a valley known as Wear Cove, which runs parallel to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Like other park border communities, the history and economy of the valley are intertwined with that of the Smokies.
  Both are named after Samuel Wear, a Revolutionary War veteran who erected a fort near the entrance to Wear Cove in what is now Pigeon Forge.
context_section_description: In 1934, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was established.  The park's border paralleled Wears Valley to the south, following the crest of Roundtop and Cove Mountain.  With improvements to US-321 in the 1950s, tourist outlets began to trickle into Wears Valley.  Cabin rentals and outdoor supply stores are among the more common tourism-oriented venues in the valley today.
  In 2005, a group of developers led by Ron Ogle and Jerry Miller sought to build 400 houses on the slopes of Cove Mountain.  This raised concern among many Wears Valley residents over the impact such development might have on Cove Mountain's scenic value.  In 2007, Friends of Wears Valley— a group opposed to the development— unsuccessfully petitioned the Sevier County Regional Planning Commission to block the housing expansion on Cove Mountain.  The group has posted "Save Our Mountains" signs throughout the valley, although the developers insist their plans will not harm the mountain's natural qualities.
caption: The Wear Cove entrance to the GSMNP on Lyon Spring Road
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