Townsend

Townsend is home to the Great Smoky Mountains Heritage Center, which preserves various aspects of the region's history, and the Little River Railroad and Lumber Company Museum, which recounts the area's logging history. Next to the heritage center is the new National Park Service Collections Preservation Center, which archives items from all of the national park units in the area. Tuckaleechee Caverns – a mile-long cave system that reaches depths of up to 150 feet (46 m) – is also nearby.

Just to the north and west of Townsend, the Foothills Parkway traverses Mountains and offers multiple scenic overlooks at high elevations, with views of the Smokies to the south and the Tennessee Valley and Cumberland Plateau to the north and west.