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Great Smoky Mountains National Park superintendent unleashes nature’s healing power with new diversity-fueled hikes

Photo contributed by the National Park Service / Great Smoky Mountains National Park Superintendent Cassius Cash, far left, leads a Smokies Hike for Healing trip in the park last year. The hikes were designed to help people unpack the heavy events of 2020. Photo contributed by the National Park Service / Great Smoky Mountains National Park Superintendent Cassius Cash, far left, leads a Smokies Hike for Healing trip in the park last year. The hikes were designed to help people unpack the heavy events of 2020.

By Mark Kennedy March 1, 2021 5 min read

Name: Cassius Cash

Age: 52

Occupation: Superintendent of Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Hometown: Memphis, Tenn.

Cassius Cash knew about the healing power of the Great Smoky Mountains long before the upheavals of 2020 – a pandemic that led to mass quarantines and a season of social unrest after the killing of George Floyd Jr. by police last spring in Minneapolis.