Cornhusk Crafts

A Corn husk Family from Allenstand, part of the John Parris Collection Appalachian people, of Cherokee, European, and African origin, all share a long history of making useful and decorative items from the outer leaves of ears of corn, known as cornhusks, or corn...

Woolly Worms

Not too many generations ago, before snow plows, central heat, and supermarkets, winters in Appalachia were a much different experience than they are today. Many basic necessities such as mobility, heat, and food were not taken for granted. . .

Horace Kephart

In 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. . .

Junior Johnson

Back in the 1930s and 1940s, when moonshining was a means of survival in the mountains of Western North Carolina, a young man emerged who would go on to become one of NASCAR’s founding fathers. He reinforced the romanticized, cultural stereotype of a “noble rogue.” His name was Junior Johnson.

Qualla Arts and Crafts Mutual

Qualla Arts and Crafts Mutual, located on the Cherokee Indian reservation in North Carolina, was founded in 1946. Its goal is to preserve Cherokee arts and crafts, and provide Cherokee people with a means to sell their crafts year-round. Today, Qualla Arts and Crafts...

Culture

Cornbread

Cornbread

Cornbread is a staple in the Appalachian diet. Introduced to the corn plant by Native Americans, European settlers in the New World quickly adopted it for its ease of cultivation, it’s hardiness, and its versatility in cooking. . .

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Cherokee Storytelling

Cherokee Storytelling

The Cherokee people, like all Native American tribes, possess an extensive, ancient oral history. Before European contact and the creation of the Cherokee syllabary. . .

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Economy

Gertrude Dills McKee

Gertrude Dills McKee

Gertrude Dills McKee, daughter of the founder of Dillsboro, North Carolina, married local businessman Ernest Lyndon McKee. She worked actively for various civic causes. . .

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Mica Workers

Mica, 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. .

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Land

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

America’s first National Parks were created out West.  By the early 20th century, Easterners who feared the loss of nature in their rapidly industrializing region wanted their own park.  Businessmen and outdoorsmen in Eastern Tennessee and...

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Lake Logan

Lake Logan

Thousands of years before the arrival of European settlers, Native Americans, particularly the Cherokees, inhabited the mountain region now known as Appalachia. Within the boundaries of present-day Haywood County, the Cherokee were scattered throughout several villages.

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People

Joe Parker Rhinehart, 1990

  Rhinehart Receives Heritage Award Joe Rhinehart received  Western Carolina University's 1990 Mountain Heritage Award for his work in  preserving the history of the old Jackson county town of Webster, where he lives.   Rhinehart grew up in Webster, where he...

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Mary Jane Queen and the Queen Family, 1999

 Receive 1999 Mountain Heritage Award CULLOWHEE — Mary Jane Queen and the Queen Family, performers who have played a major role in helping maintain the folk music traditions of the Southern Appalachian Mountains, are the 1999 recipients of Western Carolina...

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Institutions

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