Rob Tiger ( [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_accordion _builder_version=”3.11.1″][et_pb_accordion_item title=”mountain heritage award 2012″ open=”on” _builder_version=”3.11.1″ title_text_shadow_horizontal_length=”0em” title_text_shadow_vertical_length=”0em” title_text_shadow_blur_strength=”0em” body_text_shadow_horizontal_length=”0em” body_text_shadow_vertical_length=”0em” body_text_shadow_blur_strength=”0em”]<\/p>\n Western Carolina University\u2019s Mountain Heritage Awards for 2012 were presented Saturday (Sept. 29) to Rob Tiger, a Hayesville community leader who has led numerous efforts to preserve that town\u2019s historic and cultural heritage, and the Jackson County Genealogical Society, whose members have been working for more than two decades to advance genealogical research in Jackson County and across the region.<\/span><\/p>\n The awards were presented by Susan Belcher, wife of WCU Chancellor David O. Belcher, as part of activities at the university\u2019s 38th annual\u00a0Mountain Heritage Day festival.<\/p>\n The university bestows Mountain Heritage Awards each year on one individual and one organization in recognition of their outstanding contributions to the preservation or interpretation of the history and culture of Southern Appalachia, or for outstanding contributions to research on, or interpretation of, Southern Appalachian issues. Award recipients are chosen by a special university committee following guidelines set when the award was established in 1976.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_accordion_item][et_pb_accordion_item title=”Rob Tiger” open=”off” _builder_version=”3.11.1″ title_text_shadow_horizontal_length=”0em” title_text_shadow_vertical_length=”0em” title_text_shadow_blur_strength=”0em” body_text_shadow_horizontal_length=”0em” body_text_shadow_vertical_length=”0em” body_text_shadow_blur_strength=”0em”]<\/p>\n Tiger is a founder and organizer of the Clay County Communities Revitalization Association, which includes about 150 citizens who have worked for more than a decade to enhance the quality of life in Clay County while boosting the area\u2019s economy through a series of projects, many of them related to the preservation of traditional Appalachian culture.<\/p>\n A Clay County native and fourth-generation owner of Tiger\u2019s Department Store on Hayesville\u2019s town square, Tiger earned a social sciences degree with a concentration in anthropology at WCU in 1973. He credits his time at WCU with fostering his love of service. Tiger has taken to heart his grandfather often-repeated statement: \u201cYou owe a fair amount back to your community.\u201d<\/p>\n In the mid-1990s, Tiger and other Clay County residents gathered to consider ways to offset the county\u2019s economic decline and attract business. The CCCRA quickly developed and achieved nonprofit status by 2000. Since then, the organization has received $500,000 in funding and has tackled a lineup of ambitious projects, including the exterior restoration of the historic Clay County Courthouse. The building is now on the National Register of Historic Places. WCU anthropology students, led by anthropology professor Jane Eastman, have been involved in helping build the exhibit since the summer of 2009. CCCRA members envision the outdoor exhibit as an enhancement for local quality of life and as a regional destination for visitors. It already serves as an outdoor classroom for regional schoolchildren and as the setting for a Cherokee heritage festival.<\/p>\n A project that the CCCRA would like to tackle in the future is the restoration of the courthouse\u2019s interior. Plans call for gallery, performance and community space in the historic structure.<\/p>\n Tiger\u2019s leadership of the CCCRA has been recognized by both WCU and Handmade in America. He received the Distinguished Alumni Award from WCU\u2019s College of Arts and Sciences in 2009, and earlier this year Tiger was [\/et_pb_accordion_item][\/et_pb_accordion][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Rob Tiger (center) is congratulated by Susan Belcher, wife of WCU Chancellor David O. Belcher, and Scott Philyaw, director of WCU\u2019s Mountain Heritage Center. Western Carolina University\u2019s Mountain Heritage Awards for 2012 were presented Saturday (Sept. 29) to Rob Tiger, a Hayesville community leader who has led numerous efforts to preserve that town\u2019s historic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[136,141,158,374],"class_list":["post-5040","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mountain-heritage-award","tag-clay-county","tag-community","tag-cultural-institutions","tag-mountain-heritage-award"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.wcu.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5040","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.wcu.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.wcu.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.wcu.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.wcu.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5040"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/dh.wcu.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5040\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8251,"href":"https:\/\/dh.wcu.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5040\/revisions\/8251"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.wcu.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.wcu.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5040"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.wcu.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Rob](\"http:\/\/dh.wcu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/award-2012-small.jpg\" "\\"award")
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![\"\"](\"http:\/\/dh.wcu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Rob-Tiger.jpg\" "\\"Rob-Tiger\\"")
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Another project being undertaken by the CCCRA, in partnership with the Clay County Historical and Arts Council Museum, is the Cherokee Homestead Exhibit, under construction since 2007. Being developed just a couple of blocks from the