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Economy Archive
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Tanning
Posted on August 30, 2010 | No CommentsTanning is the ancient craft of transforming animal skins into durable leather. It was widely practiced in the southern mountains. . . -
Logging
Posted on August 30, 2010 | No CommentsIndustrial logging came to Appalachia with the railroad in the late 19th century. As timber supplies in the Northeast and the Great Lakes regions dwindled, National Lumber Corporation shifted to the vast hardwood forests of the Southern mountains. -
Blacksmithing
Posted on August 30, 2010 | No CommentsLong before Western North Carolina was celebrated by visitors for its majestic Blue Ridge Parkway views; even before it was recognized by the ailing for its beneficial climate and therapeutic mountain air, our region was famous for something else: its seemingly-infinite amounts of mineral wealth. . . -
Fontana Dam
Posted on August 30, 2010 | No CommentsIn order to develop atomic weapons during World War II, the Federal Government needed a source of energy to power the top-secret Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Out of that need the Fontana Dam, Fontana Lake, and Fontana Village were born. . . -
Champion Fibre Company
Posted on August 30, 2010 | No CommentsIn 1906 Peter Thompson arrived in Haywood County, North Carolina, looking for a source of pulp for his growing Ohio paper mill. He settled on a village on the Pigeon River. Within a year Champion Fiber Company employed over eight hundred people. Its history over the next ninety years was a complex one of persistence environmental problems and remarkable prosperity for the people of Haywood County. . . -
Making Do
Posted on August 30, 2010 | No CommentsNearly 100 years ago, Horace Kephart, in his classic study Our Southern Highlanders, called the mountain region “the Land of Do-Without.” He admiringly describing the resilience of mountain people coping with the poverty in more remote communities. . . -
Bartering
Posted on August 30, 2010 | No CommentsBarter was a vital element in the subsistence economy of early Appalachia. In its purest form, it was the moneyless exchange of goods and services. Barter allowed farm families to supplement the goods they produced on their farms with things that they could not provide for themselves. . . -
Subsistence Farming
Posted on August 30, 2010 | No CommentsSubsistence farming is the practice of families producing most of the necessities of life from their own land and labor. Until well into the 20th century, most mountain farmers raised animals for food, grew vegetable gardens and orchards, and gathered from surrounding woodlands to provide what they needed for food, shelter and clothing. . . -
Moonshine
Posted on August 30, 2010 | No CommentsImmigrants from Scotland and Ireland brought with them their preference and talent for making whiskey. Indian corn proved an acceptable grain substitute for Old World barley, and carrying whiskey to market on horseback over rough mountain roads was easier and more cost-effective than hauling bulky grain in wagons. . . -
Making Sorghum
Posted on August 30, 2010 | No CommentsSorghum, or molasses as it is sometimes called, was along with honey, a main sweetener in the mountains. Sorghum cane was brought to America from Africa in the 19th century. Most communities had a sorghum mill. . . -
Heirloom Fruits and Vegetables
Posted on August 30, 2010 | No CommentsHeirloom fruits and vegetables are those that have been preserved in families and communities over long periods of time. They different from modern varieties in two ways. They are open-pollinated rather than hybridized. That is, the same plant will be grown from seed each season, which is not the case with hybrid varieties. . . -
Ginseng
Posted on August 30, 2010 | No CommentsThe pleasurable activity of “ sanging” or digging ginseng was also one of the most profitable for frontier families. The hardwood forests of Appalachia were the ideal environment for this hardy perennial. Through most of the 19th century tons of ginseng were shipped annually to Asia where it was highly valued for its medicinal properties. . . -
Fruit Orchards
Posted on August 30, 2010 | No CommentsFruit has long been an important staple of the Appalachian diet. Early pioneers found wild crabapples, black cherries, plums, persimmons, paw paws, as well as peaches that had been introduced in the 16th century by Spanish explorers. . . -
Fish Farming
Posted on August 30, 2010 | No CommentsFish farming is a rapidly growing and profitable industry nationwide as demands grows for fish and other aquatic foods. In recent decades fish farming has grown in many Appalachian states including North Carolina. Spring-fed mountain springs provide an ideal environment for production of trout, both native and non-native. . . -
Fence Laws
Posted on August 30, 2010 | No CommentsUntil the late 19th century Appalachian agriculture relied heavily on the traditional English practice of common rights to unenclosed law. Individuals had a right to hunt, fish, and graze their livestock on unfenced land regardless of ownership. . .