Our Southern Highlanders
Encyclopedia
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
(1862–1931), first published in 1913 and revised in 1922. Inspired by the years Kephart spent among the inhabitants of the remote Hazel Creek
region of the Great Smoky Mountains
, the book provides one of the earliest realistic portrayals of life in the rural Appalachian Mountains
and one of the first serious analyses of Appalachia
n culture. While modern historians and writers have criticized Our Southern Highlanders for focusing too much on sensationalistic aspects of mountain culture, the book was an important departure from the previous century's local color writings and their negative distortions of mountain people.
in the Great Smoky Mountains and drops 4000 feet (1,219.2 m) over its 18 miles (29 km) route to the Little Tennessee River
, draining much of the southwestern part of the range along the way. The village of Medlin was located where modern Haw Gap Branch ("Haw Creek" on old maps) empties into Hazel Creek (the townsite is now Campsite 84 at the junction of Jenkins Ridge Trail and the Hazel Creek Trail). Kephart's cabin was located along Little Fork, a tributary of Sugar Fork, the latter in turn being a tributary of Haw Gap Branch. In 1904, the nearest railroad depot was 16 miles (25.7 km) away at Bushnell, a small town at the confluence of the Tuckasegee River and the Little Tennessee (now submerged by Fontana Lake
).
Part of Our Southern Highlanders takes place atop the main crest of the Western Smokies between Gregory Bald
and Silers Bald, which at the time was coated by a series of highland meadows
used as livestock pastures during the growing season when bottomlands were needed for crops. Each pasture had a respective cabin for its summertime herdsman, namely (from west to east) the Russell cabin at what is now Russell Field, the Spencer cabin at what is now Spence Field
, Hall cabin atop what is now Big Chestnut Bald (in the vicinity of the modern Derrick Knob shelter), and a cabin at Siler's Meadow (just off the summit of Silers Bald). The Hall cabin mentioned often by Kephart should not be confused with the Hall cabin presently located at the end of the Bone Valley Trail, although both were built by Jesse "Crate" Hall.
, although his family moved to Iowa
when Kephart was still a child. Iowa was still very sparsely populated at the time, and allowed Kephart to gain a lifelong appreciation for pioneer life. Kephart was trained as a librarian at Cornell University
and in 1890 was named head librarian at the St. Louis Mercantile Library
. Although a successful librarian, Kephart eventually became disenchanted with his homelife and job in the early 1900s, started drinking more often, and began spending more and more time in the nearby Ozark wilderness. In 1903, he separated from his wife, and the following year suffered a nervous breakdown. While recuperating at his father's home in Dayton, Ohio
, Kephart used a map to seek out the nearest substantial wilderness area, which he determined to be the Great Smoky Mountains, a rugged range straddling the border between Tennessee
and North Carolina
. In August 1904, he moved to North Carolina with plans to venture into the Great Smokies, which lay on the western fringe of the state.
After a short stay in Dillsboro
, Kephart secured usage of a cabin at an abandoned copper mine in the Hazel Creek valley in the southwest corner of the Great Smokies. On October 30, 1904, he arrived at Bushnell very ill (suffering from tuberculosis
and possibly alcohol withdrawal). He was met at Bushnell by legendary bear hunter Granville Calhoun (1875–1978), and the two made a 16 miles (25.7 km) muleback trek to Calhoun's house in the hamlet of Medlin, near the middle of the Hazel Creek valley. After recovering, Kephart moved on to his new cabin (just north of Medlin), where he lived until 1907. Kephart then spent several years travelling around Southern Appalachia before permanently settling in Bryson City, North Carolina
(at the edge of the Smokies) in 1910.
in 1913, and sold about 10,000 copies. In 1921, MacMillan
acquired the book's publishing rights, and released a revised edition the following year complete with several new chapters ("The Snake-Stick Man," "A Raid Into the Sugarlands," and "The Killing of Hol Rose"), several new photographs, and a subtitle. MacMillan reprinted the book eight times, the eighth coming in 1967. In the 1970s, the University of Tennessee
Press reissued the book with an introduction (including a brief Kephart biography) by Bryson City writer George Ellison.
Other critics take issue with Kephart's notion that radical isolation in Southern Appalachia had created a race of "contemporary ancestors"— relics of the nation's pioneer period who were largely untouched by modernity— a belief popularized by Berea College
president William Goodell Frost in the late 1890s. Historian Durwood Dunn, in his seminal work on the history of Cades Cove
(a region on the Tennessee side of the Smokies culturally related to Hazel Creek), lambasted Kephart's constant emphasis on isolation in Southern Appalachia, and argued that people in typical mountain communities were constantly intermingling with people in nearby cities via mail, travel, and (later) telephones. Dunn also argued that, contrary to popular belief, the populations of mountain communities were in constant flux, and that new migrants would have consistently brought new ideas and customs to these communities, regardless of their isolation.
Kephart's years in the Hazel Creek valley had a profound impact on his life. He abandoned his career as a librarian, and focused solely on writing about outdoor life and studying the people of Southern Appalachia. While he left Hazel Creek in 1907 to tour the Southern Appalachian region, he eventually returned to nearby Bryson City in 1910, where he lived for the rest of his life. He spent much of the 1920s advocating the creation of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park
, which opened shortly after his death. Kephart was also instrumental in mapping the route of the park's Appalachian Trail
segment, which was completed in the 1930s. The trail closely follows the Tennessee-North Carolina border, and traverses many of the highland pastures (most of which have been reclaimed by a young forest) that figured prominently in Our Southern Highlanders. In 2007, park archaeologists uncovered the foundation of Hall cabin during a project to revamp the nearby Derrick Knob shelter.
Horace Kephart
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.-Biography:...
(1862–1931), first published in 1913 and revised in 1922. Inspired by the years Kephart spent among the inhabitants of the remote 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...
region of 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...
, the book provides one of the earliest realistic portrayals of life in the rural Appalachian Mountains
Appalachian Mountains
The Appalachian Mountains #Whether the stressed vowel is or ,#Whether the "ch" is pronounced as a fricative or an affricate , and#Whether the final vowel is the monophthong or the diphthong .), often called the Appalachians, are a system of mountains in eastern North America. The Appalachians...
and one of the first serious analyses of Appalachia
Appalachia
Appalachia is a term used to describe a cultural region in the eastern United States that stretches from the Southern Tier of New York state to northern Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia. While the Appalachian Mountains stretch from Belle Isle in Canada to Cheaha Mountain in the U.S...
n culture. While modern historians and writers have criticized Our Southern Highlanders for focusing too much on sensationalistic aspects of mountain culture, the book was an important departure from the previous century's local color writings and their negative distortions of mountain people.
Setting
Hazel Creek originates on the slopes of Silers BaldSilers Bald
Silers Bald is a mountain in the western Great Smoky Mountains, located in theSoutheastern United States. Its proximity to Clingmans Dome and its location alongthe Appalachian Trail make it a popular hiking destination....
in the Great Smoky Mountains and drops 4000 feet (1,219.2 m) over its 18 miles (29 km) route to the Little Tennessee River
Little Tennessee River
The Little Tennessee River is a tributary of the Tennessee River, approximately 135 miles long, in the Appalachian Mountains in the southeastern United States.-Geography:...
, draining much of the southwestern part of the range along the way. The village of Medlin was located where modern Haw Gap Branch ("Haw Creek" on old maps) empties into Hazel Creek (the townsite is now Campsite 84 at the junction of Jenkins Ridge Trail and the Hazel Creek Trail). Kephart's cabin was located along Little Fork, a tributary of Sugar Fork, the latter in turn being a tributary of Haw Gap Branch. In 1904, the nearest railroad depot was 16 miles (25.7 km) away at Bushnell, a small town at the confluence of the Tuckasegee River and the Little Tennessee (now submerged by Fontana Lake
Fontana Lake
Fontana Lake is a reservoir impounded by Fontana Dam on the Little Tennessee River located in Graham and Swain counties in North Carolina. The lake forms part of the southern border of Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the northern border of part of the Nantahala National Forest. Depending on...
).
Part of Our Southern Highlanders takes place atop the main crest of the Western Smokies between Gregory Bald
Gregory Bald
Gregory Bald is a mountain on the western fringe of the Great Smoky Mountains. It has an elevation of 4,949 feet above sea level. The mountain's majestic summit makes it a popular hiking destination....
and Silers Bald, which at the time was coated by a series of highland meadows
Appalachian balds
In the Appalachian Mountains of the eastern United States, balds are mountain summits or crests covered primarily by thick vegetation of native grasses or shrubs occurring in areas where heavy forest growth would be expected....
used as livestock pastures during the growing season when bottomlands were needed for crops. Each pasture had a respective cabin for its summertime herdsman, namely (from west to east) the Russell cabin at what is now Russell Field, the Spencer cabin at what is now Spence Field
Spence Field
Spence Field is a highland meadow in the Great Smoky Mountains, located inthe Southeastern United States. It has an elevation of 4,920 feet above sea level...
, Hall cabin atop what is now Big Chestnut Bald (in the vicinity of the modern Derrick Knob shelter), and a cabin at Siler's Meadow (just off the summit of Silers Bald). The Hall cabin mentioned often by Kephart should not be confused with the Hall cabin presently located at the end of the Bone Valley Trail, although both were built by Jesse "Crate" Hall.
Background
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...
, although his family moved to 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...
when Kephart was still a child. Iowa was still very sparsely populated at the time, and allowed Kephart to gain a lifelong appreciation for pioneer life. Kephart was trained as a librarian at Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
and in 1890 was named head librarian at 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...
. Although a successful librarian, Kephart eventually became disenchanted with his homelife and job in the early 1900s, started drinking more often, and began spending more and more time in the nearby Ozark wilderness. In 1903, he separated from his wife, and the following year suffered a nervous breakdown. While recuperating at his father's home in Dayton, Ohio
Dayton, Ohio
Dayton is the 6th largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County, the fifth most populous county in the state. The population was 141,527 at the 2010 census. The Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 841,502 in the 2010 census...
, Kephart used a map to seek out the nearest substantial wilderness area, which he determined to be the Great Smoky Mountains, a rugged range straddling the border between Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
and 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...
. In August 1904, he moved to North Carolina with plans to venture into the Great Smokies, which lay on the western fringe of the state.
After a short stay in Dillsboro
Dillsboro, North Carolina
Dillsboro is a town in Jackson County, North Carolina, United States. The town is a popular tourist location, at which visitors tend to stop on their way into the Great Smoky Mountains. The town of Sylva is located just one mile east of Dillsboro and is the county seat...
, Kephart secured usage of a cabin at an abandoned copper mine in the Hazel Creek valley in the southwest corner of the Great Smokies. On October 30, 1904, he arrived at Bushnell very ill (suffering from tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
and possibly alcohol withdrawal). He was met at Bushnell by legendary bear hunter Granville Calhoun (1875–1978), and the two made a 16 miles (25.7 km) muleback trek to Calhoun's house in the hamlet of Medlin, near the middle of the Hazel Creek valley. After recovering, Kephart moved on to his new cabin (just north of Medlin), where he lived until 1907. Kephart then spent several years travelling around Southern Appalachia before permanently settling in 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...
(at the edge of the Smokies) in 1910.
Publication
The first edition of Our Southern Highlanders was published by the Outing Publishing Company of New YorkNew York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
in 1913, and sold about 10,000 copies. In 1921, MacMillan
Macmillan Publishers (United States)
Macmillan Publishers USA, also known as Macmillan Publishing, is a privately held American publishing company owned by the Georg von Holtzbrinck Publishing Group. It has offices in 41 countries worldwide and operates in more than 30 others....
acquired the book's publishing rights, and released a revised edition the following year complete with several new chapters ("The Snake-Stick Man," "A Raid Into the Sugarlands," and "The Killing of Hol Rose"), several new photographs, and a subtitle. MacMillan reprinted the book eight times, the eighth coming in 1967. In the 1970s, the University of Tennessee
University of Tennessee
The University of Tennessee is a public land-grant university headquartered at Knoxville, Tennessee, United States...
Press reissued the book with an introduction (including a brief Kephart biography) by Bryson City writer George Ellison.
Summary
The bulk of Our Southern Highlanders is based on observations Kephart made while at Hazel Creek (1904–1907), although several chapters added in 1922 were based on events that occurred later when Kephart lived in Bryson City. Chapters 9 ("The Snake-Stick Man") and 10 ("A Raid Into the Sugarlands") were based on events that occurred in 1919. Chapter 11 ("The Killing of Hol Rose") was based on events that occurred in late 1920.- Chapter I, "Something Hidden; Go and Find It," discusses the remoteness and ruggedness of the Southern Appalachian Mountains, the lack of realistic literature regarding its inhabitants, and gives a brief history of the region.
- Chapter II, "The Back of Beyond," gives a description of Medlin and discusses how the mountaineers have adapted to their environment, the difficulties in farming the rugged terrain, and grazing in the highland meadows.
- Chapter III, "The Great Smoky Mountains," discusses the topography, geology, wildlife and plantlife of the Great Smokies range. Kephart also relates a story by a "Mr. and Mrs. Ferris" who ventured across the nearly-impassable crest of the central and eastern Smokies to Mount GuyotMount Guyot (Great Smoky Mountains)Mount Guyot is a mountain in the eastern Great Smoky Mountains, located inthe southeastern United States. At above sea level, Guyot is the fourth-highestsummit in the eastern U.S., and the second-highest in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park...
in search of plant specimens. He also discusses the harshness of the highland meadows, and recounts a story of 17 cattle freezing to death at Silers Meadow.
- Chapter IV, "A Bear Hunt In the Smokies," recounts a bear hunt undertaken by Kephart and several Hazel Creek natives. The party includes Granville Calhoun, a Bone Valley resident named Bill Cope ("the hunchback"), John Baker "Little John" Cable, Jr. (1855–1939), Matt Hyde, and Andrew Jackson "Doc" Jones (1851–1935). The chapter begins at Hall cabin amidst a windstorm and ends with the successful killing of a bear. This chapter contains one of the earliest references to the AppalachianAppalachian musicAppalachian music is the traditional music of the region of Appalachia in the Eastern United States. It is derived from various European and African influences, including English ballads, Irish and Scottish traditional music , religious hymns, and African-American blues...
folk song Cumberland GapCumberland Gap (folk song)"Cumberland Gap" is an Appalachian folk song that likely dates to the latter half of the 19th century and was first recorded in 1924. The song is typically played on banjo or fiddle, and well-known versions of the song include instrumental versions as well as versions with lyrics...
.
- Chapter V, "Moonshine Land," discusses Kephart's initial curiosity about moonshiningMoonshineMoonshine is an illegally produced distilled beverage...
, and recount's one mountaineer's justification for the practice.
- Chapter VI, "Ways That Are Dark," continues Kephart's discussion of moonshining, particularly how it is made in Southern Appalachia, the typical size and settings of stills, etc.
- Chapter VII, "A Leaf from the Past," traces the roots of moonshining to the British Isles, and explains how the practice made its way to Southern Appalachia.
- Chapter VIII, "Blockaders and the Revenue," discusses the ongoing conflict between moonshiners and federal revenue agents.
- Chapter IX, "The Snake-Stick Man," tells the story of a federal revenue agent whom Kephart calls "Mr. Quick" (an alias). Quick, who has a hobby of carving sticks into the form of snakes, has a polymathPolymathA polymath is a person whose expertise spans a significant number of different subject areas. In less formal terms, a polymath may simply be someone who is very knowledgeable...
ic expertise that Kephart finds most impressive. He is in the area to investigate illegal liquor sales at the nearby Cherokee ReservationQualla BoundaryThe Qualla Boundary is the territory where the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians reside in western North Carolina.-Location:...
.
- Chapter X, "A Raid Into the Sugarlands," recounts a manhunt led by "Mr. Quick" into the Sugarlands, a remote valley south of GatlinburgGatlinburg, TennesseeGatlinburg is a mountain resort city in Sevier County, Tennessee, United States. As of the 2000 U.S. Census, Gatlinburg had a population of 3,828. The city is a popular vacation resort, as it rests on the border of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park along U.S...
on the Tennessee side of the Smokies. The chapter includes an anachronistic story about a mountaineer named "Jasper Fenn" (based on a real-life Sugarlander named Davis Bracken, who lived near what is now the Chimneys Campground) who claimed to have read a copy of Our Southern Highlanders given to him by the Pi Beta Phi settlement schoolArrowmont School of Arts and CraftsThe Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts is an arts and crafts center in the U.S. city of Gatlinburg, Tennessee. The oldest craft school in Tennessee, Arrowmont offers workshops in arts and crafts such as painting, woodworking, glassblowing, photography, basket weaving, and metalworking, and...
in Gatlinburg.
- Chapter XI, "The Killing of Hol Rose," recounts the killing of revenuer James Holland "Hol" Rose by J.E. "Babe" Burnett and Burnett's subsequent trial.
- Chapter XII, "The Outlander and the Native," discusses the mountaineers' attitudes toward outsiders.
- Chapter XIII, "The People of the Hills," describes the mountaineers' typical physical traits, work ethic, their ability to endure harsh conditions, and their general preference for mountain life over urban life.
- Chapter XIV, "The Land of Do Without," discusses the mountaineers' homelife, their manner of dress, the prevalence of poverty and the mountaineers' scorn of charity.
- Chapter XV, "Home Folks and Neighbor People," discusses gender and family roles, religion and funerary rights, music and dancing, and Christmas and New Years Day customs among the mountain people.
- Chapter XVI, "The Mountain Dialect," discusses mountain speech. Kephart's observations in this chapter mark one of the first serious analyses of the Southern Appalachian dialectAppalachian EnglishAppalachian English is a common name for the Southern Midland dialect of American English. This dialect is spoken primarily in the Central and Southern Appalachian Mountain region of the Eastern United States, namely in North Georgia, Northwestern South Carolina, Southern West Virginia,...
, and one of the first to label it a distinct dialect rather than merely the speech habits of the uneducated. While Kephart overemphasizes archaic "Elizabethan" traits in the dialect, linguists acknowledge his keen observations and painstaking scholarship in this analysis.
- Chapter XVII, "The Law of the Wilderness," discusses the mountaineers' penchant for self-reliance and individualism, the importance of family bonds, and attitudes toward government.
- Chapter XVIII, "The Blood-Feud," discusses Appalachian clan feuding, its typical causes, and how it compares to other cultural clan feuds, such as CorsicaCorsicaCorsica is an island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is located west of Italy, southeast of the French mainland, and north of the island of Sardinia....
n vendettas. - Chapter XIV, "Who Are the Mountaineers?", traces the Scotch-Irish roots and migration patterns of the Southern Appalachian mountaineers, and emphasizes that the Appalachian culture is a distinct culture spread across the highlands of several states.
- Chapter XX, "When the Sleeper Awakes," discusses how encroaching commercialism and modernity, brought to the region by logging firms and other corporations, threatened to erode the mountain culture.
Criticism
Criticism of Our Southern Highlanders typically revolves around Kephart's focus on backwoods outlaws or people living in extreme poverty while paying scant attention to the region's middle class landowners and town dwellers, many of whom would not have been too far out of place in mainstream America. Historian John Puckett wrote that Our Southern Highlanders "projected a jaundiced view of the region" in which the mountaineers were portrayed as "'half-wild' creatures." Kephart scholar Gary Carden has argued that while Kephart was an excellent observer, he had a tendency to "romanticize" the mountaineers' more offensive qualities. Hazel Creek historian (and native) Duane Oliver recalled that Our Southern Highlanders "angered" many Hazel Creek residents for the manner in which it portrayed them, but argues that, as a writer, it was natural that Kephart would seek out the region's more colorful personalities.Other critics take issue with Kephart's notion that radical isolation in Southern Appalachia had created a race of "contemporary ancestors"— relics of the nation's pioneer period who were largely untouched by modernity— a belief popularized by Berea College
Berea College
Berea College is a liberal arts work college in Berea, Kentucky , founded in 1855. Current full-time enrollment is 1,514 students...
president William Goodell Frost in the late 1890s. Historian Durwood Dunn, in his seminal work on the history of Cades Cove
Cades Cove
Cades Cove is an isolated valley located in the Tennessee section of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, USA. The valley was home to numerous settlers before the formation of the national park...
(a region on the Tennessee side of the Smokies culturally related to Hazel Creek), lambasted Kephart's constant emphasis on isolation in Southern Appalachia, and argued that people in typical mountain communities were constantly intermingling with people in nearby cities via mail, travel, and (later) telephones. Dunn also argued that, contrary to popular belief, the populations of mountain communities were in constant flux, and that new migrants would have consistently brought new ideas and customs to these communities, regardless of their isolation.
Legacy
Our Southern Highlanders was the "seminal work" of Appalachian nonfiction, and provided a foundation for numerous other studies of Appalachian culture over subsequent decades. In spite of the book's shortcomings, its keen observations went a long way toward demystifying the rural people of Southern Appalachia. According to Bryson City author George Ellison, no book devoted to Southern Appalachia is "more widely known, read, and respected" than Our Southern Highlanders.Kephart's years in the Hazel Creek valley had a profound impact on his life. He abandoned his career as a librarian, and focused solely on writing about outdoor life and studying the people of Southern Appalachia. While he left Hazel Creek in 1907 to tour the Southern Appalachian region, he eventually returned to nearby Bryson City in 1910, where he lived for the rest of his life. He spent much of the 1920s advocating the creation of 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...
, which opened shortly after his death. Kephart was also instrumental in mapping the route of the park's 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...
segment, which was completed in the 1930s. The trail closely follows the Tennessee-North Carolina border, and traverses many of the highland pastures (most of which have been reclaimed by a young forest) that figured prominently in Our Southern Highlanders. In 2007, park archaeologists uncovered the foundation of Hall cabin during a project to revamp the nearby Derrick Knob shelter.
External links
- Horace Kephart: Revealing an Enigma — Western Carolina UniversityWestern Carolina UniversityWestern 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....
site, contains information and photographs about the mountain areas Kephart visited