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Newfound Gap (el. 5048 ft./1539 m.) is a mountain pass located near the center of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park of the southern Appalachian Mountains in the United States of America. Situated along the border of Tennessee and North Carolina, the state line crosses the gap, as does Newfound Gap Road (which becomes U.S. Highway 441 at the park boundaries near Gatlinburg, Tennessee and Cherokee, North Carolina). The Appalachian Trail also traverses the gap, as do a small number of other hiking trails.
Newfound Gap is also home to the Rockefeller Memorial, a popular destination within the national park and the site from where former U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt formally dedicated the park on September 2, 1940.
According to the National Weather Service, Newfound Gap has around 19 snowy days per year, comparable to 18 at Minneapolis, Minnesota. From 1991 to 2005, annual snowfall ranged from 43.5 inches (110 cm) to 106 inches (270 cm).
With the development of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park came the construction of a newer, more modern highway from Tennessee to North Carolina, completed in 1932 – this time crossing Newfound Gap, replacing the now-defunct Indian Gap Road. North of the park, it is now known as Great Smoky Mountains Parkway. The Gatlinburg Bypass, originally intended to be a part of the Foothills Parkway, extends out from the park to connect Newfound Gap Road south of town to the parkway north of town.
Despite its heavy winter snows, the pass is kept open all year, except during and just after winter storms. When closed, the snow route is a long detour around the east-northeast end of the park, using U.S. 321 and Interstate 40. The Tennessee side typically has heavier snow because of its north and northwestern exposure. Even when valley roads are clear and there is little snow in Gatlinburg (and almost none in Cherokee), Newfound Gap may have far deeper snow, and will be closed for several hours after significant snowfall ends. Additionally, being in a national park, Newfound Gap Road is only treated by snowplows and a gravel/sand mix, as no chemicals can be used for snow removal due to their harm to the environment.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newfound_Gap
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_Creative_Commons_...
沖田総司 (Okita Sōji) is probably the most romanticized member of the elite samurai peacekeeping force, the 新撰組 (Shinsengumi). The unit is usually portrayed as a crack team of lethal swordsmen charged with putting down anti-shōgunate terrorists in the final days of the Tokugawa Shōguns, although in reality they consisted of men of various social ranks and abilities. The samurai of the Shinengumi were known for their ruthlessness and while Sōji is often described as their most skilled swordsman, his youth and tragic early death have imbued his memory with a romance and mystique unparalleled in the 幕末 Bakumatsu (fall of the shōgunate). His depictions in books, movies, dramas, anime, and manga have especially endeared him to women – in particular, 歴女 (rekijo) “history fangirls.”
At any rate, the dude was born in 1842 (possibly 1844) in a 白河藩邸 (Shirakawa hantei) Edo headquarters of Shirakawa Domain (present day Shirakawa City, Fukushima Prefecture). He studied 剣術 swordsmanship underb近藤周助 (Kondō Shūsuke) and 感動勇 (Kondō Isami) at the 試衛館 (Shieikan) Shieikan Fencing Hall in 江戸市谷 (Edo no Ichigaya) Ichigaya in present day Shinjuku Ward. The style of fighting taught at the Shieikan was called 天然理心流 (Tennen Rishin Ryū). Sōji was a prodigy who mastered the style at a young age and became head instructor of the school at the age of 18 or 19. Needless to say, he was born to use a sword.
As a pupil of Kondō Isami, Okita Sōji was a founding member of the Shinsengumi which grew out of the ashes of the spectacularly useless 浪士組 (Rōshigumi). Over the course of his nearly 5 years of service, he served 3 official roles: 副長助勤 (fukuchō jokin) assistant vice-commander, 一番隊組長 (ichiban-taigumichō) captain of the first unit – the group’s elite squad), and, believe it or not, 剣術師範 (kenjutsu shihan) plain old fencing instructor.
Sōji took part in the 池田屋事件 Ikedaya Incident. This was less of an “incident” than a concerted crackdown on a large group of anti-Tokugawa terrorists. Most popular accounts say Sōji spent most of his time fighting on the second floor of the building by himself – presumably because his comrades were confident in his sword skills and none of the terrorists would have been a match for him. But it was at this successful raid – one of the Shinsengumi’s greatest moments – that his story’s tragic arc begins. Towards the end of the 2 hour sword fight, Okita Sōji collapsed.
Recent historians point at heat stroke as a possible cause of his collapse. After all, he was young and this was Kyōto in July when the temperature can be 31℃ (about 88℉) but with extreme humidity which makes the heat really oppressive. Add to that wearing a multilayered kimono, hakama, armor, uniform, and possibly a helmet of some kind, you’re bound to become exhausted after 2 hours of not exercise – actual sword fighting. Oh, and swords aren’t light either. That may be what happened, but the standard narrative that has been told for years since the Bakumatsu is that Sōji coughed up blood at the Ikedaya Incident.
The Shinsengumi gave it a good run. They became 旗本 (hatamoto) direct retainers of the shōgun for their various deeds. But the winds of change were blowing and the Tokugawa Shōgunate and the Shinsengumi who were laying down their lives to defend it were to be swept away.
Whether Okita Sōji passed out from a heat stroke, anemia, exhaustion, or actually coughing up blood, he was too sick to fight any more in autumn 1867. He died of tuberculosis in Edo, July 1868. His grave is at 専称寺 (Senshō-ji) near present day Roppongi Hills. The cemetery was apparently open to the public for years until the 2004 Taiga Drama, Shinsengumi!, which brought hordes of visitors to the tiny temple to see his grave.
Before the 2004 drama, the Shinsengumi had a pretty bad reputation in Japan and so visitors to tiny Senshō-ji were limited to local families who had relatives buried there. Okita’s grave was just one of many. But due to the newfound interest in his grave, the temple has built a small roof over the it and regularly places flowers as an offering. Unless you have a family member buried in the cemetery, you probably won’t be admitted. On June 5th, the day he died, the temple opens the cemetery gate and allows fans to enter to make funerary offerings to the legendary captain of the Shinsengumi’s first unit.
Newfound Gap straddles the border between Tennessee and North Carolina at a height of 5,046 feet in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Newfound Gap is a mountain pass located on the Great Smoky Mountain Parkway, situated right on the state line between North Carolina and Tennessee.
Beautiful spot but very crowded!
More from wikipedia... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newfound_Gap
Great Smoky Mountains National Park, view from Newfound Gap Road.
To take a look at it large and on black, press your L key.
Newfound Gap (el. 5048 ft./1539 m.) is a mountain pass located near the center of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park of the southern Appalachian Mountains in the United States of America. Situated along the border of Tennessee and North Carolina, the state line crosses the gap, as does Newfound Gap Road (which becomes U.S. Highway 441 at the park boundaries near Gatlinburg, Tennessee and Cherokee, North Carolina). The Appalachian Trail also traverses the gap, as do a small number of other hiking trails.
Newfound Gap is also home to the Rockefeller Memorial, a popular destination within the national park and the site from where former U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt formally dedicated the park on September 2, 1940.
According to the National Weather Service, Newfound Gap has around 19 snowy days per year, comparable to 18 at Minneapolis, Minnesota. From 1991 to 2005, annual snowfall ranged from 43.5 inches (110 cm) to 106 inches (270 cm).
With the development of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park came the construction of a newer, more modern highway from Tennessee to North Carolina, completed in 1932 – this time crossing Newfound Gap, replacing the now-defunct Indian Gap Road. North of the park, it is now known as Great Smoky Mountains Parkway. The Gatlinburg Bypass, originally intended to be a part of the Foothills Parkway, extends out from the park to connect Newfound Gap Road south of town to the parkway north of town.
Despite its heavy winter snows, the pass is kept open all year, except during and just after winter storms. When closed, the snow route is a long detour around the east-northeast end of the park, using U.S. 321 and Interstate 40. The Tennessee side typically has heavier snow because of its north and northwestern exposure. Even when valley roads are clear and there is little snow in Gatlinburg (and almost none in Cherokee), Newfound Gap may have far deeper snow, and will be closed for several hours after significant snowfall ends. Additionally, being in a national park, Newfound Gap Road is only treated by snowplows and a gravel/sand mix, as no chemicals can be used for snow removal due to their harm to the environment.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newfound_Gap
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_Creative_Commons_...