Tremont Timeline
Pre- Tremont
- 1859 Will and Nancy Walker settle in the valley
- 1919 Will Walker dies
- 1924 Railroad tracks laid by Little River Lumber Company, Logging begins
- 1925-1959 Girls Scout Camp Margaret Townsend in operation
- 1926 Tremont logging town officially established (at confluence of Lynn Camp and Thunderhead prongs)
- 1934 Great Smoky Mountains National Park established
- 1938 Last load of logs removed from GSMNP are taken out of Walker Valley
- 1940 Park dedicated by Franklin D. Roosevelt
- 1964-1969 Job Corp facility constructed and in operation
- 1968 NEED (National Environmental Education Development) program establishes Environmental Study Areas in the Smokies through partnership with NPS, Maryville College and local schools
Tremont forward
- 1969-1979 Mayville College operates the Tremont Environmental Education Center in cooperation with the National Park Service. Lloyd Foster, first Director.
- 1970 Retired school supervisor, Elsie Burrell begins volunteering to assist school groups at Tremont
- 1971 Youth Conservation Corps begins at Tremont in the summers
- 1974 Dr. Randolph Shields, Chair of Maryville College Biology department, assumes Tremont Director position.
- 1977 Tom DeVaney hired as Director.
- 1978-1980 Old dormitories are removed, entrance bridge repaired.
- 1980 Tremont re-opened by the Great Smoky Mountains Natural History Association after vocational building is converted to a dormitory & classrooms added to upstairs of gym
- 1982 Center and roads closed to rebuild Tremont entry road bridges
- 1984 Re-opened after bridge repairs, and conversion of gym to dining hall, old dining hall removed. Ken Voorhis hired as Director
- 1986 Name change to Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont (GSMIT)
- 1993 Blizzard brought two feet of snow and subzero temps.
- 1994 Flood closed portions of Tremont road for nearly 2 years to all but Tremont groups.
- 2001 GSMIT separates from GSMNHA established as an independent non-profit organization.
- 2003 Conceptual site master plan completed
- 2005-2009 Environmental Assessment (E.A.) for improved site and facilities
- 2009 Tremont’s 40th & GSMNP’s 75th anniversaries