Tenn. just wasn’t that into preserving mountains

“Tourism was a primary justification for this environmental preservation movement [circa 1900]. Thus Asheville, the most important resort of the Blue Ridge region, was the birthplace of municipal sanitation campaigns, modern forestry conservation and the movement to create a national park in southern Appalachia….

“On the Tennessee side of the mountains, however, there was much less interest…. Logging and mining were far more important elements of East Tennessee’s economy than tourism.”

— From Tourism in the Mountain South: A Double-edged Swordby C. Brenden Martin (2007)