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The Digital Heritage Project is a part of The Mountain Heritage Center at Western Carolina University
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People Archive
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Gertrude Dills McKee
Posted on February 21, 2012 | No CommentsGertrude Dills McKee, daughter of the founder of Dillsboro, North Carolina, married local businessman Ernest Lyndon McKee. She worked actively for various civic causes. . . -
Junior Johnson
Posted on March 14, 2011 | No CommentsBack in the 1930s and 1940s, when moonshining was a means of survival in the mountains of Western North Carolina, a young man emerged who would go on to become one of NASCAR’s founding fathers. Like many Scotch-Irish descendants living in rural Appalachia, he was described as brave, simple, and independent. He reinforced the romanticized, cultural stereotype of a “noble rogue.” His name was Junior Johnson. -
Dr. John Brinkley
Posted on August 30, 2010 | No CommentsAt the turn of the 20th century, most areas of Appalachia remained rural and isolated. In North Carolina, the county of Jackson fit that description. It seemed unlikely the county would produce an individual who would go down in local and national history as one of the most colorful characters of the 1920s and 1930s. -
Bayard Wootten
Posted on August 30, 2010 | No CommentsBayard Wootten was a photographer of Southern Appalachia and its people. In the 1920s she came to western North Carolina to record everyday life. She is best known for her portrait photography, especially of working people living in rural agricultural communities. -
Francis Asbury
Posted on August 30, 2010 | No CommentsFrancis Asbury was the circuit-riding founder of the Methodist Church in America. From his arrival in America in 1771, he tirelessly rode on horseback throughout the Eastern United States, concentrating on frontier communities that lacked churches. -
Bill Monroe
Posted on August 30, 2010 | No CommentsWhen people are asked to name words that they associate with the Appalachian region, one of the first words off the tongue is bluegrass. The country credits one man, Bill Monroe, with the creation of bluegrass. Bill Monroe had been influenced by music from a very early age. A few years after his birth on September 13, 1911, William “Bill” Smith Monroe began learning how to sing shape notes from hymnals used in the singing schools he attended. -
Bascom Lamar Lunsford
Posted on August 30, 2010 | No CommentsOne voice seized me more than the rest. Over a simply picked banjo, the voice sang mournfully about a mole in the ground. Elsewhere, the same voice preached, over that same simple banjo, about dry bones. Like so many folk tunes, these told strange, elliptical stories, dense with images, exploding with emotion. -
Doc Watson
Posted on August 30, 2010 | No CommentsArthel Lane “Doc” Watson is a living legend. Born in Deep Gap, North Carolina, in 1923, into a family with a rich musical tradition, Young Arthel lost his vision to an eye infection prior to his first birthday. He learned ballads and sacred songs from his mother and from the radio. -
Etta Baker
Posted on August 30, 2010 | No CommentsEtta Baker was an important Appalachian blues guitarist. Born in North Carolina’s Piedmont in 1913, she spent her adult life in the mountain town of Morganton. Her mixed African-American, Irish, and Native American heritage gave her important insights into many different musical styles. -
Thomas Wolfe
Posted on August 30, 2010 | No CommentsThomas Wolfe was born to Julia and W.O. Wolfe in 1900. The youngest of eight children, he grew up living in the boardinghouse operated by his mother in Asheville, North Carolina. His childhood experiences influenced him greatly and aided the development of his future literary topics. -
Horace Kephart
Posted on August 30, 2010 | No CommentsIn 1934, the United States Congress officially established what is today the most popular National Park in the country, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. As a result, over 500,000 acres of scenic. . . -
Wilma Dykeman
Posted on August 30, 2010 | No CommentsWilma Dykeman of Asheville, North Carolina, was a major Appalachian author. Her novels “The Tall Woman,” “The Far Family,” and “Return the Innocent Earth” vividly evoke life in the region as it experienced rapid change between the Civil War and the 20th century. -
Carl Sandburg
Posted on August 30, 2010 | No CommentsNestled deep in Appalachia, in Flat Rock, North Carolina, is Connemara, a beautiful 245-acre farm. It is world-renowned for producing prized dairy goats. It is famous for another reason, as well. . . -
Cratis Williams
Posted on August 30, 2010 | No CommentsCratis Williams gained international fame for documenting and interpreting Appalachian culture and language. Born in eastern Kentucky in1911, he spent most of his professional life as a teacher and administrator at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina. -
Cecil Sharp
Posted on August 30, 2010 | No CommentsIn 1915 Cecil Sharp, an important collector of traditional English ballads, was informed that many Appalachian singers were singing old English songs. Between 1916 and 1918 he toured western North Carolina and other Appalachian states, recording over 500 ballads with English roots.