2623) "The Great Smoky Mountains", USA: US Postal Service (USPS) has issued a Priority Mail Express Stamp depicting the legendary Mountains, which are now a National Park: Date of Stamp issue: 22.01.2023:
About the Great Smoky Mountains:
Mists rising like the smoke of innumerable campfires and chimneys give these mountains their name - "The Great Smoky Mountains". They are home to the most visited national park in America, extensive national forests and a vast array of native plants and animals.
Humans have inhabited these mountains for thousands of years.
In the late 18th Century when the first European settlers arrived, the land belonged to the Cherokee Nation.
They called the mountains "Shaconage" ("the place of blue smoke") after the haze that gives a bluish mistiness to the vistas of the range's ridges and peaks.
European settlers hunted, grew food, and raised livestock, clearing the forest to create fields and pastures. They used native timber to build homes, barns, outbuildings and fences.
The rapid decimation of the great primeval forests due to logging in the first decades of the 20th Century led to the creation of the National Park in 1934.
Unlike National Parks in the West, all the land in the East was privately owned and had to be bought bit by bit with money raised by the states of North Carolina and Tennessee and matching donations from a variety of private sources, including school children, working class individuals, and businesspeople. No federal money was originally used to buy land.
America's most visited National Park, with more than 12.00 milon visitors every year, the "Great Smoky Mountains National Park" is a wilderness of more than 800 sq. miles managed by the National Park Service (NPS). It adjoins more than one million acres of lands protected by the US Forest Service.
It is one of the few National Parks that does not charge admission. The Park maintains several historic districts and sites listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
An important part of the Park Service Mission is to celebrate and preserve the rich Southern Appalachian culture that thrived in the mountains before the National Park.
A number of the structures left behind when the states purchased lands - farmhouses, barns, mills, schools, demonstrations and many festivals and events offer a glimpse of daily life of the early Appalachian settlers.
Located about 50 miles from the city of Asheville, the "Qualla Boundary Reservation" is home to the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. Open to the public, the Reservation has a Museum, Festivals and the legendary outdoor drama "Unto These Hills" - the story of the Cherokee people.
Part of the Appalachian Mountains and one of the oldest mountain ranges in the world, the "Smokies" contain some of the largest areas of wilderness in Eastern United States.
They are an important sanctuary for an amazing diversity of flora and fauna, with more than 20,000 species documented in the park alone.
The American Black Bear is the symbol of the Smokies, which contain the largest protected bear habitat in the East.
The Great Smoky Mountains National Park was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983, and in 1988, the Park, along with other areas of Southern Applachia, were designated as an International Biosphere Reverve (IBS). Equally rich in history, folkways and culture, the Great Smoky Mountains are a cultural treasure.
Adds the Book titled "TREASURES OF THE WORLD - a complete guide to UNESCO World Heritage sites" in my personal library -
"Great Smoky Mountains National Park:
is the most important natural area in the Eastern United States and is of world importance as an example of temperate decicuous hardwood forest.
Stretching over more than 2000 sq. km, this exceptionally beautiful park is home to more than 3,500 plant species, including almost as many species of tree, 130, as in all of Europe.
Many endangered animal species are also found there, including probably the greatest variety of salamanders in the world.
The dominant topographic feature of the park is the range of the Great Smoky Mountains with sixteen peaks over 1829 m.
Since the park is relatively untouched, it gives an idea of temperate flora before the influence of humankind.
The Park contains evidence of four pre-Columbian India cultures:
Mississippian, Woodland, Archaic and Paleo-Indian.
The early Woodland culture period is of special archaeological importance because it shows the first evidence of organised horticulture in North America with primitive agriculture on river floodplains".
The Stamp issue:
The "Smokies" are home to extensive national lands and a vast array of native plants and animals.
The Stamp Art captures an iconic mountain scene located near Newfoundland Gap between Gatlinburg, Tennessee and Cherokee, North Carolina.
In the foreground, a red-tailed hawk flies over the landscape.
The First Day Cover (FDC) bears a special Cancellation/Postmark stamp of Gatlinburg, Tennessee. The Cancellation is dated - "22.01.2023".
A FDC bearing a digital Postmark. The Digital Colour Postmark captures the green and vibrant mountain range and contains the date and location of the stamp issuance - "22.01.2023", Gatlinburg, TN 37738.
29) The first ever "No Show" Panda, USA: Minted in Platinum (One Oz.), Gold (One Oz.) and Silver (50.0 grams) Medal Variants: American Numismatic Association cancels the "2020-World's Fair of Money", scheduled to be held in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania on 04-08/08/2020
30) Women's Suffrage, USA: 100th Anniversary of the 19th Amendment's Ratification (1920-2020), that endorsed Women's Right to Vote: Date of Coins/Medals issue: 18.08.2020
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