---
kind: "section"
citation: "16 U.S.C. § 403k–3"
title: "16"
title_heading: "Conservation"
number: "403k–3"
heading: "Palmer’s Chapel in Cataloochee Valley of Great Smoky Mountains National Park; protection and continued use; communication of Chapel history to visitors"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/16/403k-3"
units:
  - "Chapter 1 — National Parks, Military Parks, Monuments, and Seashores"
  - "Subchapter XLVI — Shenandoah National Park and Great Smoky Mountains National Park"
---

# §403k–3. Palmer’s Chapel in Cataloochee Valley of Great Smoky Mountains National Park; protection and continued use; communication of Chapel history to visitors


The [Secretary](/usc/16/410r–5.md?p=c-1) of the Interior is authorized and directed to [take](/usc/16/3102.md?p=18) such measures as may be necessary to provide for the continued protection of the historic Palmer’s Chapel in the Cataloochee Valley of the Great Smoky Mountains National [Park](/usc/16/410r–5.md?p=c-3). The importance of the chapel in memorializing the early settlement of the valley and in providing an opportunity for interpreting the cultural traditions of the former residents of the valley is hereby recognized, and the [Secretary](/usc/16/410r–5.md?p=c-1) is authorized to make suitable arrangements for the history of the chapel to be communicated to [park](/usc/16/410r–5.md?p=c-3) visitors and for the chapel to continue to be used for [memorial](/usc/16/450ss–1.md?p=2) purposes by former residents and their descendants.


## Source credit

(Pub. L. 96–199, title I, § 106, Mar. 5, 1980, 94 Stat. 69.)