Mount Le Conte is a mountain in Sevier County, Tennessee located in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. At 6,593 ft it is the third highest peak in the national park, behind Clingmans Dome and Mount Guyot, it is the highest peak, within Tennessee. However, from its immediate base to its summit, Mount Le Conte is one of the highest peaks in the Appalachian Mountains rising 5,301 ft from its base, near Gatlinburg, Tennessee. There are four subpeaks above 6,000 ft on the mountain: West Point, High Top, Cliff Tops, Myrtle Point. In addition, Balsam Point serves as the dramatic west end of the massif. Additionally, the mountain is notable for having the highest inn providing lodging for visitors in the Eastern United States. There is considerable controversy over just which member of the Le Conte family the mountain was named for; the United States Geological Survey lists Joseph Le Conte, famous geologist, as the man for whom the mountain was named by Swiss explorer Arnold Guyot. However, in recent years this claim has been challenged by local authorities, who in turn believe that the mountain derives its name from Joseph's older — and less famous — brother John Le Conte, a physicist at South Carolina College.

Their story alleges that the mountain was named by Samuel Buckley in respect to John's help in moving his barometer to Waynesville, North Carolina, at Buckley's request. Although the mountain was measured in the 1850s little activity took place on the mountain until the 1920s, when Paul Adams moved to Knoxville, Tennessee. An enthusiastic hiker and explorer, Adams spent much of his free time creating adventures in the mountains. In 1924 he joined the Great Smoky Mountain Conservation Association, a group dedicated to making the region into a national park; as part of this push that year he led an expedition up the mountain with dignitaries from Washington, in order to show the group what rugged beauty those mountains held. The group spent the night in a large tent which would become a cabin, the LeConte Lodge, a popular resort near the top of the peak; the trip was a great success and about a decade Mount Le Conte, the surrounding region, was protected as part of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Mount Le Conte lies in the Appalachian Blue Ridge physiographic province. It is made up of Late Proterozoic rocks. Millions of years of weathering has caused significant erosion, giving the mountains in the region, including Le Conte, a distinctive, gentle sloping feature. A dense stand of Southern Appalachian spruce-fir forest, a remnant of the last Ice Age, coats the mountain's peaks and upper slopes. Mount Le Conte has a highland climate due to its elevation, giving it cool summers, cold winters. Annual snowfall averages 39.43 inches near the base to 71.82 inches on the highest peak. The climate is somewhat wetter than the lower elevations; the lowest temperature recorded was -32F, on January 13, 1986. The highest temperature recorded was 82F on July 1, 2012 Mount Le Conte is notable for having the highest inn providing lodging for visitors in the Eastern United States; the LeConte Lodge is a small resort, established in 1925. First, it was a tent a single cabin, now it is a series of small personal log cabins and a central lodge/dining hall situated along the top of a mountain.

It can accommodate about 50 guests a night, is open from March–November. There is no transportation to the lodge and all guests must hike in on one of the five trails that access the mountain. Due to this lack of access, supplies must be brought in via llama pack trains; the climate at the lodge is similar to that found in southern Canada, with cool summers and cold, snowy winters. The lodge is maintained under a lease with the National Park Service. Le Conte's location in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park has spurred the creation of five trails that lead to the LeConte Lodge, with spur trails to each of the individual peaks. In addition to the scenic overlooks and peaceful woodlands endemic to each path, every trail offers its own unique attractions along the way to the summit, they are listed with their distances one-way. The Boulevard Trail — 5.4 mi. Bullhead Trail — 6.9 mi. Rainbow Falls Trail — 6.6 mi. Trillium Gap Trail — 8.9 mi. Starting the Trillium Gap Trail at the Trillium Gap parking lot shortens the climb by 2.4 mi, making this a 6.5 mi trail.

The combined traffic of these five trails makes Mount Le Conte one of the most heavily

The second USS Newton was a training ship in the United States Navy. Newton was built in 1919 by Inc.. Portsmouth, New Hampshire, acquired by the U. S. Navy from the United States Shipping Board on 2 October 1922. Prepared for service with the New Jersey Naval Militia, she served as a training ship in the Jersey City area into World War II. Carried on the Navy List as an unclassified ship for most of that period, she was designated IX–33 on 17 February 1941. On 13 May 1943 she was transferred to the Armed Guard Center, New York. Placed in service on 22 November 1944, she was assigned to the New York Navy Yard until placed out of service on 14 November 1945. Struck from the Navy List on 8 January 1946, she sank in the Hudson River the same month and her hulk was sold on 12 September 1946; this article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here. Photo gallery at Navsource.org

Philip John Gardner was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. He was educated at Dulwich College between 1928 and 1932. Gardner was 26 years old, an acting Captain in the 4th Royal Tank Regiment, attached to the 70th Infantry Division during the Second World War's Siege of Tobruk. During Operation Crusader, an attempt by the Eighth Army to lift the siege, the following deed took place for which Gardner was the Victoria Cross. On 23 November 1941 at Tobruk, Captain Gardner was ordered to take two tanks to the rescue of two armoured cars of the King's Dragoon Guards, which were out of action and under heavy attack. While one of his tanks gave covering fire the captain dismounted from the other in the face of heavy fire, hitched a tow rope to one of the cars lifted into it an officer, both of whose legs had been blown off; the tow rope broke, so Captain Gardner returned to the armoured car, but was wounded in the neck and leg.

Despite this he managed to transfer the wounded man to the second tank and returned to British lines through intense shell-fire. He became a POW for the rest of the war, his VC is on display at the Imperial War Museum in London. Harvey, David. Monuments to Courage Laffin, John. British VCs of World War 2 Woods, Rex. One man's desert: the story of Captain Pip Gardner, VC, MC Kimber, 1986 ISBN 0-7183-0612-0 ISBN 978-0718306120 obituary in The Times The Register of the Victoria Cross Captain P. J. Gardner in The Art of War exhibition at the UK National Archives Gardner Philip Gardner