We were walking through the Mountain Farm Village at the Oconaluftee Visitor Center at Great Smoky Mountains National Park at just before closing when we suddenly had a herd of elk visit us. The elk passed through the village sampling the grass along the way. At dusk they routinely travel from the forest out into the lawn of the visitor center, and on this day right through the village itself. There were several cows with their yearlings in the herd; about ten elk.