The Campground Location database contains information about physical and cultural geographic features of all types with Great Smoky Mountains National Park,current and historical, but not including roads and highways. The database holds the Federally recognized name of each feature and defines the feature location by state, county, USGS topographic map, and geographic coordinates. Other attributes include feature designations, feature classification, historical and descriptive information, and for some categories the geometric boundaries.

Perhaps in response to often harsh and demanding working conditions, overcrowded city life, or a pervasive desire for a simpler existence, camping became a popular pastime in the late 19th century. Several publications from that period describe in enthusiastic detail the particular advantages of various styles of tents, stoves and clothing, as well as tips for successful outings. Bringing just what they needed to set up a temporary home in the natural shelter of the woods, early campers arrived to the national forests on foot, horseback, or wagon. Attracted by the adventure of living out of doors and experiencing nature at close quarters, they were there to go "gypsying," to experience the renewed sense of freedom one finds in the natural world. While it was informal and unsupervised in the early years, camping was recognized as a significant use of Great Smoky Mountains National Park.1902 regulations issued by General Land Office, Department of the Interior, required that "specially desirable camping grounds or place[s] of resort" be considered for protection from the private development of hotels or sanitariums on national land. There is a satisfying immediacy about the prospect of establishing an encampment for the night — clearing the site, erecting the tent, chopping wood, building a fire and cooking over the live flame — that in turn suggests a meaningful connection to landscape, place and the rugged life of backwoods adventurers. In essence camping is an act of faith and survival, a way to buttress a modest, isolated human settlement against the forces of nature. Situated “somewhere between challenging new circumstances and the safe reassurances of familiarity,” the camp is a temporary substitute for the home — a place to dwell, to sleep, to interact socially, to prepare and eat food. Stripped of any but the most vital conveniences, the camp is literally and figuratively open to the stimuli of its natural surroundings. This summer millions of Americans will take to the road in search of this powerful experience of nature. And that parcel of land upon which most will elect to drive their car, set up their tent, park their trailer or RV is the campsite — which is thus not only an imagined ideal but also the fundamental unit of management of the modern campground. There are 113,000 federally managed campsites in the United States, 166,000 campsites dispersed across state parks, and untold numbers in private facilities. This feature service depicts the location of such "Front-Country" camping facilities within Great Smoky Mountains National Park.