If you were to build a road on the North Shore of the park, I think you will lose a lot of the people who do visit the park area. They're not really going to get to see how our ancestors and grandparents lived. They had a hard time surviving and living in that area. They had a hard time transporting and getting back into that area, and that's important for people to realize when they do get into the park and see how hard it is to access and to realize that our ancestors lived there and they grew crops and farmed that area, and they had a really hard time doing that. You couldn't just drive a car right up to the front of their house. I think that's an important fact to state.

Road construction through this portion of the Great Smoky Mountains would, according to the NPS's DEIS, result in impacts to up to six historical structures, which are potentially eligible for listing in the National Register of Historical Places. There are additional areas of potential historical and archaeological significance within the footprint of the construction corridor that would also be disturbed.

North Shore Road proponents sometimes use the slogan "My heritage is not for sale." I agree with this slogan. Those who lived in what is now the north shore area have a heritage of quiet, calm, and isolation…Most of those interred in the mountain cemeteries died before 1922, so they got around by foot and by horse, and had never seen or heard a car or motorcycle. If the road is built, this heritage will vanish. The slogan "My heritage is not for sale" is correct, and if we honor it, we will not build the road.

Our Government owes it to the landowners and descen dan ts of the North Shore to fulfill the agreement and in the process declare the home sites taken as historical sites. Preserve them and protect them and give all of us a road to the area so we can enjoy our history. This road would solve the cemetery access problem.