Carson Springs, southwest of Newport, developed around William Wilson's tavern and stagecoach terminal in the early 19th century. Later in the century, C.P. Peterson and wife built and operated the Peterson Hotel. As the mineral-rich mountain springs of Appalachia were thought to have health-restoring qualities, Carson Springs developed into an early tourist resort. The establishment of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in 1934 brought a still greater influx of tourists to Newport, but nothing like the tourism explosion that occurred in neighboring Sevier County.