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The Digital Heritage Project is a part of The Mountain Heritage Center at Western Carolina University
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Economy Archive
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Mica Workers
Posted on February 16, 2012 | No CommentsMica, also known as “isinglass”, is a mineral mined primarily in Western North Carolina for its unequaled heat resistant qualities. Men mostly prospected for and mined the mica while women processed it in mica houses. . -
Iron Making
Posted on February 16, 2012 | No CommentsEuropeans introduced the important craft of iron making to Appalachia in the 16th century. Iron ore was discovered all over the region. Large deposits were found in Pennsylvania. Smaller ones were scattered in places like Cherokee. . . -
Craft Revival
Posted on February 16, 2012 | No CommentsFrom the 1880s until World War II, Appalachian crafts were rejuvenated by a cultural revival. It was led by missionaries and social workers who wanted both to preserve Appalachian culture, but also to improve the wellbeing of mountain people. . . -
Butter and Egg Money
Posted on February 16, 2012 | No CommentsAppalachian farm wives contributed to their family’s income through the butter and egg money they earned by taking their extra eggs and butter to the general store. . . -
Asheville Boom
Posted on February 16, 2012 | No CommentsFeverish economic development is not new to Western North Carolina. The arrival of the railroad in Asheville triggered a boom that resulted in the construction of over 65 new commercial buildings in the 1920s. . . -
Nantahala Outdoor Center
Posted on October 22, 2010 | No CommentsThe Nantahala Outdoor Center has quickly become one of the area’s most popular and recognized attractions. -
Apples
Posted on October 22, 2010 | No CommentsApples are a traditional and valuable part of our heritage in North Carolina. The most popular varieties nationwide--Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, and Gala--are grown here. In the western part of the state over 10,000 acres of orchards produce 75,000 tons of apples every year. -
Railroads in Western North Carolina
Posted on August 30, 2010 | No CommentsEarly in the 19th century railroads were being built throughout the expanding United States. Western North Carolina was growing as well. Asheville, a crossroads for agriculture, was also emerging as a magnet for tourists seeking the healing climate, loggers looking to harvest timber, and miners interested in the large deposits of minerals. -
Great Valley Road
Posted on August 30, 2010 | No CommentsThe Great Valley Road was a product of geography and history. It followed the contours of the Appalachian Mountains from southeastern Pennsylvania to the Carolina backcountry. For centuries Native Americans used it and called it the Great Warrior’s path. -
Buncombe Turnpike
Posted on August 30, 2010 | No CommentsThe Buncombe Turnpike was the interstate highway of its day. Completed in 1828, it connected western North Carolina with Tennessee and Kentucky to the west, and the cities of Augusta, Columbia, and Charleston to the east. Drovers paid tolls of 2 to 5 cents per animal to herd hundreds of thousands of cattle, hogs, and even turkeys and ducks to markets outside the mountains. -
Tweetsie Railroad
Posted on August 30, 2010 | No CommentsOne of the most historic railroads in Southern Appalachia, the East Tennessee & Western North Carolina,ran from Johnson City, TN, to Boone, NC, from the late 1800s until 1950. It was born when the Tennessee state legislature granted a charter to construct the railroad in 1866. -
Hot Springs
Posted on August 30, 2010 | No CommentsLocated in Madison County at the confluence of the French Broad River and Spring Creek, Hot Springs has long been a destination for therapeutic relief. First Native Americans, then European settlers “took the cure” in the hot mineral waters. In 1831 James Patton of Asheville built the 35- room Warm Springs Hotel. -
Historical Markers
Posted on August 30, 2010 | No CommentsBelow is the Digital Heritage Moment as broadcast on the radio: -
Grove Park Inn
Posted on August 30, 2010 | No CommentsWe have pure air, common-sense, digestible food, quiet in the bedrooms at night, the finest orchestra outside of New York and Boston, a great organ, and an atmosphere where refined people and busy business men with their families find great cofort and a good time." ~From the 1916 Maps and Road Book of Western North Carolina." -
Blue Ridge Parkway
Posted on August 30, 2010 | No CommentsThe Blue Ridge Parkway, stretching 469 miles between the Shenandoah and Great Smoky Mountains National Parks, has offered visitors breathtaking vistas, wilderness access, and a reprieve from fast-paced commercialism since the mid-1930s. It is positioned atop the rims and contours of the Blue Ridge, a mountain chain that is part of the larger Appalachian Mountains.