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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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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. -
Allen Eaton
Posted on August 30, 2010 | No CommentsFor over forty years Allen Eaton was an important figure in the arts and crafts movement in Appalachia. In 1919 the Oregon native met Olive Campbell who was beginning her work as founder of the John C. Campbell Folk School. -
Melungeons
Posted on August 30, 2010 | No CommentsMelungeon identity is one of the intriguing, unsolved mysteries of Appalachia. The term has been in use since the early 19th century. In general it has referred to dark-skinned, mixed race families of the central and southern Appalachians. -
Affrilachians
Posted on August 30, 2010 | No CommentsThe term Affrilachian, coined in the early 1990s by Kentucky poet Frank X Walker, has claimed a place in our understanding of the Appalachian past. Walker sought to recognize people who are both African American and Appalachian and to recover the multiracial identify of the region. -
Thomas Legion
Posted on August 30, 2010 | No CommentsWilliam Holland Thomas, state legislator and “white chief” of the Cherokee, was 56 years old when the Civil War began. From the beginning of the war, he openly promoted the idea of North Carolina Cherokee fighting for the Confederacy. In 1862 he convinced Confederate authorities to allow him to raise a regiment of Cherokee and white soldiers to act as a guerrilla force for local defense. -
The Shelton Laurel Massacre
Posted on August 30, 2010 | No CommentsThe Civil War took a tremendous toll on the South. Though somewhat isolated, the Appalachian region was no exception. More so than other areas of North Carolina, mountain citizens visibly split their allegiance between the Union and the Confederacy. One area where the divide was especially problematic was the border counties of Yancey and Madison. -
The Battle of Asheville
Posted on August 30, 2010 | No CommentsOn April 6, 1865, the Battle of Asheville was fought in the closing days of the Civil War. Only three days before Lee surrendered to Grant at the Appomattox Courthouse, Union Colonel Issac Curby, based in Greenville, Tennessee joined up with Stoneman’s Raiders to secure the Confederate town of Asheville. -
Outlaws
Posted on August 30, 2010 | No CommentsOutlaw heroes in the tradition of Robin Hood have been an expression of Appalachian folklore since the pioneer period. Illegal actions to avenge a wrong or defend the honor of family or community have long been celebrated in songs and stories. -
Kirk’s Raiders
Posted on August 30, 2010 | No CommentsIn late 1862, a rag-tag group of Union sympathizers and Confederate deserters spent several days terrorizing the citizens of Madison County, NC. They stole provisions and created such chaos that eventually several deaths were blamed on their activities. In response, Confederate officers James Keith and Lawrence Allen led their troops in search of the men. -
Long Hunters
Posted on August 30, 2010 | No CommentsThe long hunters were the legendary woodsmen of the 17th and 18th century who were among the first white people to see the vast American wilderness. The term refers to the men who undertook extended hunting trips across the Blue Ridge. -
Zeb Vance
Posted on August 30, 2010 | No CommentsPerhaps the most influential figure to emerge out of the mountains of Western North Carolina was Zebulon Baird Vance. Vance would become known to history as “North Carolina’s Civil War Governor.” His life represented the challenges, struggles, and accomplishments that defined both a divided nation and a growing southern state in the nineteenth century.