The Great Smoky Mountain Journal
Staff Reports
Posted: Sunday, January 21, 2018 11:23 AM
Clingman's Dome Observation Tower Rehabilitation Work Begins Wednesday August 23; Tower Will Close Through 2017 Season While Ongoing Work
The rehabilitation work comes after the Friends of the Smokies received a Partners in Preservation grant of $250,000 last summer.
The park was one of the top nine voted for parks in the Partners in Preservation: National Parks Campaign 2016.
Park representatives told Local 8 News the rehabilitation work will include repairing deteriorated areas of the concrete columns and walls, stabilizing support walls at the base of the ramp, and repointing stone masonry.
Visitors may not be able to climb the tower to take in the views over the treetops, but other parts of the Clingmans Dome attraction will remain open. The Clingmans Dome parking overlook, the visitor contact station and store, the trail to the tower, and all access to the trailheads in the area will stay open during the rehabilitation project.
The landmark towering the North Carolina and Tennessee state line at 6,643 feet tall is the highest point in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Since 1959, millions of visitors have spiraled to the top of the tower to experience birds-eye views of surrounding valleys and mountains.
