Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial at Newfound Gap - Citizen Memorials on Waymarking.com

The Rockefeller Memorial at Newfound Gap inside the Great Smoky Mountains National Park stands as a tribute to the 5 million dollars donated by the wealthy business tycoon to help ensure the establishment of the national park.

It consists of a two-tier platform made from stacked granite blocks with granite stairs leading from the parking lot to each level. The memorial was constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) during the late 1930's. There is a plaque comemerating Rockefeller's genrous donation. The inscription reads, "For the permanent enjoyment of the people. This park was given one-half by the peoples and states of North Carolina and Tennessee and by the United States of America, and one-half in memory of Laura Spelman Rockefeller by the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial, founded by her husband John D. Rockefeller."

In 1940, Franlin D. Roosevelt, standing atop the memprial at Newfound Gap, officially dedicated the 400,000 acre GSMNP for the "permanent enjoyment of the people" , over 6 years after its creation.

Laura Celestia Spelman Rockefeller, (September 9, 1839 – March 12, 1915), (known as Cettie), was a philanthropist, the namesake of Spelman College, founded to educate black women in the South, and the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial, and the wife of John D. Rockefeller, the founder of Standard Oil. Together they created the Rockefeller family dynasty.

Laura Spelman was born in Wadsworth, Ohio in 1839 to Harvey Buell Spelman and Lucy (Henry) Spelman, Yankees who had moved to Ohio from Massachusetts. Harvey was an abolitionist who was active in the Congregationalist Church, the Underground Railroad, and in politics. The Spelmans eventually moved to Cleveland, Ohio. In Cleveland, Cettie met John D. Rockefeller; they attended accounting classes together. She later returned to New England to attend Oread Institute, with plans to become a schoolteacher.

After returning to Ohio to teach, Spelman married Rockefeller in 1864. Following her wedding, Cettie remained active in the church (she joined Rockefeller's congregation, the Northern Baptists) and with her family. Once the family business, Standard Oil, began to take off, she further devoted her time to philanthropy and her children.

Throughout their lives, the Rockefeller family continued to donate ten percent of their income to charity, including substantial donations to Spelman College and the Great Smoky Mountain National Park.

Laura Spelman Rockefeller died at age 75 of a heart attack, at the family estate Kykuit in Pocantico Hills, NY.

Website with more information on either the memorial or the person(s) it is dedicated to: [Web Link] Location: Newfound Gap, The Great Smoky Mountains National Park

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