Welcome to the Home Page of the Smoky Mountain
Grotto of the
National Speleological Society !
Please Note: Special meeting time and
place for December 2007 meeting:
The December meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday
Dec. 4th at Cherokee Caverns. This will be a holiday party of sorts so
bring family and friends and all those grotto members and associates we rarely
see anymore. Hotdogs, hamburgers, adult refreshments, and a grill will be
provided. Be sure to bring a portable chair and caving helmet as we'll
probably meet inside the cave where the temperature will be more
bearable.
For directions to Cherokee Caverns, follow this link.
SMG meets at
7:30 p.m. on the first Tuesday of each and every month in the University of Tennessee's
Earth and Planetary Sciences Building
(formerly called the Geology Building) on the UT Knoxville campus. The room we meet in
can vary due to conflicts with classes. We try to get rooms 302 or 307 if
we can, but often they are taken by classes. If you don't find us in
either of these two rooms, please look in other rooms on the first, second, or
third floors.
See UT maps webpage for how to find the Earth
and Planetary Sciences Building.
[Select "UT Knoxville
Building Locator"
(in lower right-hand corner of that web page, then "Ayres Hall" to
show view of Hill)].
Parking on
"The Hill" is technically restricted, but in practice they don't seem
to hassle unregistered cars that late in the evening. If you don't feel
like taking a chance on getting a ticket, there is always street parking on the
other side of Cumberland Avenue
in the Fort Sanders area. (Hey, the walk will
help get you in shape for your next cave trip).
If you're
interested in caving you should check us out.
The Smoky Mountain
Grotto was chartered by the NSS in
1960s. Since then, the grotto has made many contributions to
caving, especially in the areas of exploration, mapping, and
conservation. Membership averages about 20-30 members, and about 75% of the total membership are also NSS
members. Many of our members are also active in other NSS Internal
Organizations, such as the Southeastern
Regional Association, the Tennessee
Cave Survey, the Southeastern Cave
Conservancy, and others. The grotto stays active in conservation
efforts such as cave cleanups, gate installation, bat counts, and working with
landowners. The grotto publishes a newsletter as well as our grotto
publication, the Speleotype.
Membership dues are $10.00 a year for regular members, $5.00 for students, and
$2.00 a year for family members. Please contact the grotto at the e-mail
link below for additional information.
SMG was
host for the 2002 SERA Summer Cave Carnival.
This event has long since past but we've left the web page posted for now in
case anybody's interested in any of the info ...
If questions, e-mail to: Art Cathers or Jeff Bowers
Grotto Officers for the year 2007:
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Chairman:
Matt Lee
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Vice-chairman:
Chris Kerr
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Secretary:
Art Cathers
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Treasurer:
Terri Brown
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