This Land, Your Land

Great Smoky Mountains National Park will close Newfound Gap Road (U.S. 441) between Cherokee, N.C., and Gatlinburg, Tenn., on September 1 and 2 for the 75th Anniversary Park Rededication on September 2, the park announced Monday.

The rededication is to take place at the Newfound Gap parking area on the state line. On September 2, 1940, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt stood at the same location to dedicate the new national park.

The 32-mile road will close at sunset on Tuesday and should reopen late in the afternoon on Wednesday.

Park officials expect 2,000 invited guests to attend the rededication event, the culmination of the park's 75th anniversary celebration.