Zebulon Vance

Zebulon Vance

Perhaps the most influential figure to emerge out of the mountains of Western North Carolina was Zebulon Baird Vance. Vance would become known to history as “North Carolina’s Civil War Governor.” His life represented the challenges, struggles, and accomplishments that...
William Holland Thomas

William Holland Thomas

William Holland Thomas, born in Haywood Country in 1805, was befriended and adopted by the Cherokee leader, Yonaguska.  Thomas’s close ties to the Cherokee promoted his success as a merchant. It is difficult to image their survival as a tribe without his tireless...