What is now U.S. 129 has been used as a path for travel and trade since before the United States came into being.
A brief history of the highway, found on the Web site operated by motorcyclists Ron and Nancy Johnson, describes how Native Americans once used the road before it became a path for settlers going to Cades Cove from the Parsons Branch Road. The path for the road was likely chosen because it followed Deal’s Gap, a natural break in the mountains between North Carolina and Tennessee.
In 1934, the road was paved the first time and was designated as U.S. 129. Like many early highways, U.S. 129 curves to and fro, following the natural contours of the land like the foot and horse paths that preceded it. It still maintains that character, with more than 300 curves in just over 11 miles.
But from its first paving until the last decade of the 20th century, it was a sleepy road for locals, little known to the outside world.
That all changed when motorcycle enthusiasts discovered the road in the 1990s.
“Each year since then, the number of motorcycles and sports cars has seemingly doubled,” the Johnsons’ Web site reports. “Today, riders and drivers from across the U.S. and Canada come to run the Dragon.”
The road is still remote — it borders the Great Smoky Mountains National Park on one side, and is mostly surrounded by national forests. The Johnsons note that in 14 miles, only one road — North Carolina Highway 28 — crosses it, and only one building, the Deal’s Gap Motorcycle Resort, also known as the Crossroads of Time, sits along the section through Deal’s Gap.
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