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WCU - Great Smoky Mountains - A Park for America

Grave of noted author

  • wcu_great_smoky_mtns-10987.jp2
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  • This undated article is a memorial to Horace Kephart (1862-1931), a noted naturalist, woodsman, journalist, and author. In 1904, he left his work as a librarian in St. Louis and permanently moved to western North Carolina. His popular book, “Camping and Woodcraft” was first published 1906; the 1916/1917 edition is considered a standard manual for campers after almost a century of use. Living and working in a cabin on Hazel Creek in Swain County, Kephart began to document life in the Great Smoky Mountains, producing “Our Southern Highlanders” in 1913. Throughout his life, Kephart wrote many articles supporting the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
  • GRAVE OF NOTED AUTHOR—On a hillside overlooking Bryson City and with the Great Smoky Mountains National park in view in the distance, a huge boulder marks the grave of Horace Kephart, of Bryson City, author of "Our Southern Highlanders" and other books, and who was an active advocate of a national park in the Smokies. The highest peak of the mountains in the distance is Mount Kephart, named in honor of the author. The boulder that marks the grave in Bryson City cemetery was brought from the Great Smokies as a CCC project.

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Great Smoky Mountains - A Park for America

This digital collection was created to contribute to the public's understanding of the forces and ideas that led to the establishment of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in 1934. The most vi...

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wcu_great_smoky_mtns-10987.jp2