Horace Kephart
Encyclopedia
Horace Kephart was an American travel writer and librarian
, best known as the author of Our Southern Highlanders
, about his life in the Great Smoky Mountains
of western North Carolina
.
and raised in Iowa
. He was the director of the St. Louis Mercantile Library
in St. Louis, Missouri
from 1890 to 1903. In these years Kephart also wrote about camping
and hunting
trips. Earlier, Kephart had also worked as a librarian at Yale University
and spent significant time in Italy as an employee of a wealthy American book collector.
In 1904, Kephart's family (wife Laura and their six children) moved to Ithaca, New York
, but Laura and Horace never divorced or legally separated. Horace Kephart found his way to western North Carolina, where he lived in the Hazel Creek
section of what would later become the Great Smoky Mountains National Park
:
Later in life Kephart campaigned for the establishment of a national park in the Great Smoky Mountains with photographer and friend George Masa
, and lived long enough to know that the park would be created. He was later named one of the fathers of the national park. He also helped plot the route of the Appalachian Trail
through the Smokies. Kephart died in a car accident
in 1931, and was buried near Bryson City, North Carolina
, a small town near the area he wrote about in Our Southern Highlanders. Two months before his death, Mount Kephart
was named in his honor.
The Mountain Heritage Center and Special Collections at Hunter Library
, Western Carolina University
have created a digitized online exhibit called "Revealing an Enigma" that focuses on Horace Kephart's life and works. This exhibit contains documents and artifacts (photos and maps) that can be browsed or searched.
Ken Burns' multi-part documentary "The National Parks: America's Best Idea" features Horace Kephart in the fourth episode (1920–1933), which was initially broadcast on September 30, 2009.
He also published some more books of the same theme such as Camp Cookery(1910) and Sporting Firearms(1912). In addition, he wrote The Hunting Rifle section of Guns, Ammunition and Tackle (New York: Macmillan, 1904), a volume of Caspar Whitney's prestigious American Sportsman's Library
.
Combining his own experience and observations with other written studies, Kephart wrote a study of Appalachian lifestyles and culture called Our Southern Highlanders, published in 1913 and expanded in 1922.
He wrote a short history of the Cherokee
and other books which became standards in the field.
Kephart completed a typescript for a novel in 1929. However, the book was not edited and published until 2009. It is published under the title Smoky Mountain Magic.
Librarian
A librarian is an information professional trained in library and information science, which is the organization and management of information services or materials for those with information needs...
, best known as the author of Our Southern Highlanders
Our Southern Highlanders
Our Southern Highlanders: A Narrative of Adventure In the Southern Appalachians and a Study of Life Among the Mountaineers is a book written by American author Horace Kephart , first published in 1913 and revised in 1922...
, about his life in the Great Smoky Mountains
Great Smoky Mountains
The Great Smoky Mountains are a mountain range rising along the Tennessee–North Carolina border in the southeastern United States. They are a subrange of the Appalachian Mountains, and form part of the Blue Ridge Physiographic Province. The range is sometimes called the Smoky Mountains or the...
of western North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
.
Biography
Kephart was born in PennsylvaniaPennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
and raised in Iowa
Iowa
Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...
. He was the director of the St. Louis Mercantile Library
St. Louis Mercantile Library
The St. Louis Mercantile Library, founded in 1846 in St. Louis, Missouri, was originally established as a subscription library, and is the oldest extant library west of the Mississippi River. Since 1998 the library has been housed at the University of Missouri-St. Louis...
in St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
from 1890 to 1903. In these years Kephart also wrote about camping
Camping
Camping is an outdoor recreational activity. The participants leave urban areas, their home region, or civilization and enjoy nature while spending one or several nights outdoors, usually at a campsite. Camping may involve the use of a tent, caravan, motorhome, cabin, a primitive structure, or no...
and hunting
Hunting
Hunting is the practice of pursuing any living thing, usually wildlife, for food, recreation, or trade. In present-day use, the term refers to lawful hunting, as distinguished from poaching, which is the killing, trapping or capture of the hunted species contrary to applicable law...
trips. Earlier, Kephart had also worked as a librarian at Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
and spent significant time in Italy as an employee of a wealthy American book collector.
In 1904, Kephart's family (wife Laura and their six children) moved to Ithaca, New York
Ithaca, New York
The city of Ithaca, is a city in upstate New York and the county seat of Tompkins County, as well as the largest community in the Ithaca-Tompkins County metropolitan area...
, but Laura and Horace never divorced or legally separated. Horace Kephart found his way to western North Carolina, where he lived in the Hazel Creek
Hazel Creek (Great Smoky Mountains)
Hazel Creek is a tributary stream of the Little Tennessee River in the southwestern Great Smoky Mountains of North Carolina. The creek's bottomlands were home to several pioneer Appalachian communities and logging towns before its incorporation into the Great Smoky Mountains National Park...
section of what would later become the Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Great Smoky Mountains National Park is a United States National Park and UNESCO World Heritage Site that straddles the ridgeline of the Great Smoky Mountains, part of the Blue Ridge Mountains, which are a division of the larger Appalachian Mountain chain. The border between Tennessee and North...
:
- "I took a topographic map and picked out on it, by means of the contour lines and the blank space showing no settlement, what seemed to be the wildest part of these regions; and there I went."
Later in life Kephart campaigned for the establishment of a national park in the Great Smoky Mountains with photographer and friend George Masa
George Masa
George Masa , born Masahara Izuka, in Osaka, Japan, was a businessman and professional large format photographer.-Creating a new life in America:Masa arrived in the United States in 1901....
, and lived long enough to know that the park would be created. He was later named one of the fathers of the national park. He also helped plot the route of the Appalachian Trail
Appalachian Trail
The Appalachian National Scenic Trail, generally known as the Appalachian Trail or simply the AT, is a marked hiking trail in the eastern United States extending between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine. It is approximately long...
through the Smokies. Kephart died in a car accident
Car accident
A traffic collision, also known as a traffic accident, motor vehicle collision, motor vehicle accident, car accident, automobile accident, Road Traffic Collision or car crash, occurs when a vehicle collides with another vehicle, pedestrian, animal, road debris, or other stationary obstruction,...
in 1931, and was buried near Bryson City, North Carolina
Bryson City, North Carolina
Bryson City is a town in Swain County, North Carolina in the United States. The population was 1,353 as of 2009, a decrease of 4.1% since the 2000 census...
, a small town near the area he wrote about in Our Southern Highlanders. Two months before his death, Mount Kephart
Mount Kephart
Mount Kephart is a mountain in the central Great Smoky Mountains, located in the Southeastern United States. The Appalachian Trail crosses the mountain's south slope, making it a key destination for thru-hikers. The Jumpoff, a cliff on the northeast side of the mountain, allows for spectacular...
was named in his honor.
The Mountain Heritage Center and Special Collections at Hunter Library
Hunter Library
Hunter Library is the university library at Western Carolina University and is located in Cullowhee, North Carolina. The library, which is a medium-sized facility, was built in 1953 on the former football field and was enlarged in 1967 and again in 1983. The building is named after Hiram Tyram...
, Western Carolina University
Western Carolina University
Western Carolina University is a coeducational public university located in Cullowhee, North Carolina, United States. The university is a constituent campus of the University of North Carolina system....
have created a digitized online exhibit called "Revealing an Enigma" that focuses on Horace Kephart's life and works. This exhibit contains documents and artifacts (photos and maps) that can be browsed or searched.
Ken Burns' multi-part documentary "The National Parks: America's Best Idea" features Horace Kephart in the fourth episode (1920–1933), which was initially broadcast on September 30, 2009.
Writings
He wrote of his experiences in a series of articles in the magazine Field and Stream. These articles were collected into his first book, Camping and Woodcraft, which was first published in 1906. While mostly a manual of living outdoors, Kephart interspersed his philosophy:- “Your thoroughbred camper likes not the attentions of a landlord, nor will he suffer himself to be rooted to the soil by cares of ownership or lease. It is not possession of the land, but of the landscape, that enjoys; and as for that, all the wild parts of the earth are his, by a title that carries with it no obligation but that he shall not desecrate nor lay them waste.
- Houses, to such a one, in summer are little better than cages; fences and walls are his abomination; plowed fields are only so many patches of torn and tormented earth. The sleek comeliness of pasture it too prim and artificial, domestic cattle have a meek and ignoble bearing, fields of grain are monotonous to his eyes, which turn for relief to abandoned old-field, overgrown with thicket, that still harbors some the shy children of the wild. It is not the clearing but the unfenced wilderness that is the camper’s real home. He is brother to that good old friend of mine who in gentle satire of our formal gardens and close- cropped lawns, was wont to say, ‘I love the unimproved works of God.’”
He also published some more books of the same theme such as Camp Cookery(1910) and Sporting Firearms(1912). In addition, he wrote The Hunting Rifle section of Guns, Ammunition and Tackle (New York: Macmillan, 1904), a volume of Caspar Whitney's prestigious American Sportsman's Library
American Sportsman's Library
The American Sportsman's Library is an early and important series of 16 uniformly-bound volumes on sporting subjects, from an American perspective, published by the Macmillan Company in the period 1902-1905. Caspar Whitney, the owner/editor of Outing and a well-known outdoorsman and sporting...
.
Combining his own experience and observations with other written studies, Kephart wrote a study of Appalachian lifestyles and culture called Our Southern Highlanders, published in 1913 and expanded in 1922.
He wrote a short history of the Cherokee
Cherokee
The Cherokee are a Native American people historically settled in the Southeastern United States . Linguistically, they are part of the Iroquoian language family...
and other books which became standards in the field.
Kephart completed a typescript for a novel in 1929. However, the book was not edited and published until 2009. It is published under the title Smoky Mountain Magic.
External links
- Horace Kephart: Revealing an Enigma (from Hunter Library Special Collections, Western Carolina University)
- Camping and woodcraft; a handbook for vacation campers and for travelers in the wilderness (1921)
- Camping And Woodcraft(1917) | by Horace Kephart, The Macmillan Company
- Sporting Firearms(1912)| by Horace Kephart, Outing Publishing Company
- Camp Cookery(1910) | by Horace Kephart, Outing Publishing Company