Kelly E. Bennett papers

Kelly Bennett (1890-1974) was an active civic leader in the Great Smoky Mountains during the mid-Twentieth Century. With his friend author Horace Kephart, Bennett was a major force behind the creation of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Bennett was born to Dr. Aurelious McDonald Bennett (1861-1941) and Mary Charlotte Hyatt Bennett (1866-1940). He, his father, and his daughter Mary Alice Bennett Greyer were registered pharmicists and his paternal grandfather administered first aid. After obtaining his bachelor's degree and his Ph.G.P. from the University of North Carolina, Bennett returned to Bryson City to work at the Bryson City Drug Store, at which his father had worked since 1903. Due to his profession, he was nicknamed "Doc Kelly." In 1913, he married Ola Tela Zachary (1890-1983), a descendant of Jackson County's earliest settlers and raised their daughters, Mary Alice, Gwendolyn Marie, and Jean Zachary Swan (1921-1997).

By the 1910s, Bennett delved into politics. Bennett served as the mayor of Bryson City during the 1920s and then again from 1947 to 1955 for a total of fourteen years. He served on the Swain County Board of Education for twenty years as well as the Swain County Democratic Chairperson for three years, state senator for five terms and state representative for two terms.

Bennett's civic work centered on the economic and environmental development of western North Carolina. He co-founded the Cherokee Historical Association, Inc. as well as served as its trustee and treasurer during the 1950s and 1960s. He was heavily involved in the North Carolina National Park, Parkway and Forests Development Commission since its 1947 formation and in the Western North Carolina Associated Communities from its establishment in 1947. He also worked with the Tennessee Valley Authority in the 1950s and 1960s and the Western North Carolina Tourist Association in the 1950s. He served in leadership capacities in many other organizations, such as the Rotary Club and Swain County Chamber of Commerce. After his death in 1974, a peak north of his home town of Bryson City was named "Kelly Bennett Peak" in his honor.

Early 1880s

Rev. Drayton Canario Smith, of Franklin, North Caroilna, advocated establishing a national park in the southern Appalachian Mountains

29 October 1885

Dr. Henry O. Marcy, of Boston, Massachusetts, read a paper to the American Academy of Medicine stating the government should secure land in Western North Carolina

19 December 1899

"Memorial to the Congress of the United States from the Appalachian National Park Association adopted December 19, 1899" submitted to the U.S. Congress

6 March 1899

Good Roads Association of Asheville and Buncombe County organized

7 October 1899

Asheville Board of Trade adopted a petition calling for the establishment of a Southern National Park

23 November 1899

Appalachian National Park Association was officially organized

2 January 1900

"Memorial of the Appalachian National Park Association" was referred to the Committee of Agriculture

21 April 1900

Senator Jeter Pritchard of Madison County, North Carolina introduced a bill to fund a preliminary investigation. It became law on 26 April 1900

1901

Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia passed bills to give the federal government the right to acquire lands for a forest reserve and exempt it from taxation

1903

House Speaker David Henson obstructed any measures for a national park or reserve

1 March 1911

The National Forest Reserve Commission was established and the Weeks Law, which permitted the government to purchase forest lands from individuals, passed

1912

First tract of land purchased in Curtis Creek, near Old Fort, North Carolina

1916

The National Park Service and the National Parks Association were established

1923

The second movement to establish a national park begins

1924

The National Park Service appointed the Southern Appalachian National Park Committee to investigate potential sites

22 May 1926

Congress passed a bill to establish national parks in the Great Smoky Mountains and the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia (Shenandoah National Park)

2 September 1940

President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicated the Great Smoky Mountains National Park