Free Admission At Great Smoky Mountains National Park On MLK Day

NORTH CAROLINA — All national parks will be open, and free, on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 2021, including North Carolina's own Great Smoky National Park.

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park, along the border of North Carolina and Tennessee, is among America's most visited. In 2019, the park recorded about 12.5 million visitors, according to the NPS, ranking it behind the Golden Gate National Recreation Area's 15 million visitors and the Blue Ridge Parkway, with 14.9 million visitors.

Observed on Jan. 18 this year, Martin Luther King Jr. Day marks the first free-admission day of the year at all 63 national parks in the United States and its territories, according to the National Park Service.

Most areas of national parks are open regularly during the coronavirus pandemic, but some services or facilities might not be available, the NPS has said in its most recent health update. Visitors are urged to check with the park they plan to visit for specific details.

Free days at national parks are planned on various dates throughout the year.
After MLK Day, National Parks will offer free admission on five dates later in the year: April 17, the first day of National Park Week; Aug. 4, the one-year anniversary of the Great American Outdoors Act; Aug. 25, the National Park Service's birthday; Sept. 25, National Public Lands Day and Nov. 11, Veterans Day.

National parks are federally reserved open lands across 30 states and two territories, according to National Park Trips, a media service that focuses on the nation's national parks. California has the most, with nine, followed by Alaska with eight, Utah with five and Colorado with four.
Interestingly, there are no national parks in two of the country's most populated states, New York and Illinois.

Yellowstone National Park, which covers a three-state territory in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, was the first national park. New River Gorge National Park, in West Virginia, is the newest after a declaration made on Dec. 27, 2020.

Chris Woodman, Patch staff, contributed